LESSON #9 - Pen and Ink Washes

[Martina]

  all for your friendly and encouraging comments on my painting

[C.Bodine]

My attempt at the pen and ink "process". Not sure if I did it correctly. To be honest, it didn't start out as pen and ink.  I did a wc and then decided to try to add the ink.  Not sure if it is the way it's suppose to look.  Really scary adding it to your completed painting!

Details

[Lillian]

Wow!  That's beautiful C.      regardless of how you arrived at putting in the pen and ink.

I really like the depth.  The background is very nice too!

[Martina]

I don't know if it is a correct pen and ink painting, but I really admire the composition, the way the foreground and background harmonize with eachother.

Brilliant

[dennis]

Martina, if you want to subdue a line (make it look softer and lighter) don't draw a full line - break it up into shorter lines and use a pen with a thinner nib. Have a look at the lioness pen and ink in the lesson. Hope this helps.

[Martina]

Thank you Dennis!  Helps a lot!
I looked at the lioness again. The typ of little broken lines as e.g. the outline of the ears an the upper head would fit much better for creating the backgound.

[Dham]

These are little 4x6 of the sketches in the lesson. I learned a lot about paint thickness etc. in doing these. Some of the in was totally obscured by a heavy wash.

Details

[C.Bodine]

Thank you, Lillian and Martina.  I was just about to give up on watercolors! If this one wouldn't have turned out, I was going to pack them away! I like them, but they don't always like me!

[Lillian]

Oh my heavens!  C, don't you dare give up on watercolor!!!  You do awesome  paintings!

[dennis]

Unfortunately the sketched are too small for me to see any detail at all. Post them as 3 individual paintings.
The trick here is to apply very thin washes and not to add heavy pigmented colour as you normally would.

[Val]

C.  ....    You must not pack in w/c. Your work is brilliant. Besides, that would be a very poor message to send to our younger Bodine    (feeling guilty yet?) 

You pen & wash is superb. Dennis told me the ink can be added before or after the painting. If used before and the ink gets a bit washed out you can go over the ink after the painting is dry. So....you have done another beautiful painting in a new technique, accept it...your w/c work is brilliant...deal with it! 

[C.Bodine]

Val, it's not the ones you see that is the problem, it's the one you DON'T see that is the problem! I get one right occasionally! I suppose if I can get one right occasionally, with more time and practice the mess-ups will become less and the "showable"  ones will be the norm. I think wc is wonderful! I know I just have to stick it out! Now, if I can just keep up with both the oil and watercolor lessons!!!

Dennis, I do plan on doing the girrafe! I did this one as a gift for my daughter who is struggling with some things.(Working full time, going to college full time, having a 2yr old and medical issues, to name a few!) The Iris represents faith, hope and wisdom. By the way, thank you for being such a great teacher!

[Lillian]

C, I have lots of failures in a big file.  Don't throw them away.  Someday, you may be able to fix them up, or as you know, you can try using the back. 

Yesterday, I was looking around on the internet and saw where someone tore their old ones in pieces and arranged a mixed media collage with them.  To each his own.

What a thoughtful gift for your daughter!   Prayers going up for her today

[Rkymtnmary]

What scares me is that the ones I do post are NOT the failures!  I'm still recovering from the folds in clothing attempt...my son took a look at it and said "oh, what is that?  A pear in hell?"  LOL...and worse, he was right!  It was just one of those things where once the first problem occurred, all the rest snowballed from there.  I'm going to keep it though to remind me from whence I came...

Thank you, Lillian, for making me go to Michael's and get every quill pen and ink colors I could find!   

[dennis]

Whether it is sport, performing arts, visual arts, or whatever subject it is that takes skill there is always this big problem:

Everyone forgets about all the stress and strife, the heartache and frustration, the long, long hours of practice, the time and money that had to be spent and perhaps many kilometers one had to ride, to achieve what they are NOW.

Don't compare yourself to someone else: rather compare where you were to where you are now!
Stay true to your self, your goals, your principles and before you know it you will be an achiever