Inktober 2016 Round-up of my Drawings

This year I decided to join in with Inktober for the first time - Inktober is a drawing challenge started by Jake Parker to make one ink drawing a day for the whole month of October. (You can find out more about Inktober and see Jake's fantastic artwork on his website).
I wanted to join in with the challenge to practise my own ink drawing and to have some fun drawing different subjects. It was also great to see what other people were drawing each day.  I started the challenge with good intentions to draw every day, however, I did fall behind and ended up continuing the challenge into November. I have been posting pictures of my drawings onto my facebook and instagram pages but thought it would also be good to share a round-up of them all here...

(Days 1 - 9)

Dye vs. Pigment Ink

I've had my HP printer for several years now and I've always been very happy with the quality of prints it produces.  I use it to make all the prints (ACEO / 5x7 inch / 8x10 inch) in my shop.  The printer takes two cartridges - one tri-colour (cyan, magenta and yellow) and a photo cartridge (black, light magenta and light cyan) so I get a good range of colours in the prints.  I print on HP's Premium Plus range of photo paper to get the best results - it also means that if kept out of direct sunlight the prints will resist fading for over 100 years.  Photos which I printed on Premium Plus paper at least 5 years ago look like new, whereas photos I printed on cheaper paper look faded after only a short time.  (I've not been around long enough to test the 100 years yet!!)

The HP inks I use are dye based which, although good for my art prints, has one downside for printing scrapbooking papers - the ink runs if you use PVA glue or glitter glue on them.  Dye based inks are water soluble coloured liquids which are absorbed by the surface they are printed on.

Pigment based inks - like those made by Epson - are made from ink particles encapsulated in a resin coating which sit on the paper surface and are not absorbed into it.  They produce bright colours, will last up to 200 years and are water resistant - so are great for printing scrapbooking papers.  I have access to an Epson printer (which produces great prints!) and I'm using it to produce the papers for my cardmaking kits.

One downside of the pigment inks is that they're not so good for printing on fabric that will be washed often as the ink sits on the surface instead of soaking into the fabric like dye based ink.  I'm experimenting with some fabric printing at the moment, so I'll have to see how the two printers compare.

Manningtree High Street - new work

Since I've been having a go at a few different things recently I thought it was time I did some more drawings/ paintings of buildings. It's a subject I enjoy working on and I'm generally quite pleased with the results.

So I've been looking through my collection of photos for inspiration and decided to start with a painting of Manningtree. This was drawn in dip pen and peat brown ink, then painted in watercolours and Quink.

Manningtree is England's smallest town, located on the banks of the River Stour at the Essex/ Suffolk border. It is also a place which has provided me with a lot of inspiration for my drawings of Hexley street scenes!

I'm planning on making some more paintings on a similar theme - so keep an eye out for those. I expect there will be more old buildings as I much prefer drawing those to newer ones. Old buildings always seem so fascinating to me - much more character and I can't help but wonder about the people who used to live there and what the buildings have 'seen' over the centuries.

By the way, if you like this painting it is now available in my Etsy shop as a 5x7 print (if you would like another size please let me know). :)

Crows!

My last fayre at Aldham on Saturday went well. There was a good range of stalls and it was nice to get to talk to customers and other stall holders rather than only selling online :D

Now that the fayres are over I am getting back to painting. Yay! I'm working my way up to Hexley again, but have started with some crow paintings. There are two new ACEO crows, painted in Quink and watercolours. I also have a larger Quink crow painting, which I will be selling 5x7 prints of and making into bookmarks. So keep an eye out for those in my Etsy shop very soon!

Another treasury feature!

I just discovered that I am featured in a second treasury! It had been a while since any of my work had been featured so it's a really nice surprise to find two treasury features at the same time!

'Sunshine in the Dark' features items by UK artists, chosen by AmandaSainsbury. It includes my Storytelling of Crows ACEO - you can take a look at the treasury here.

Clockwork Robin...

I have a new Hexley illustration for Christmas! :D It's a Clockwork Robin - what else would you expect to see on a Hexley Christmas painting?!

I was really pleased with how this turned out - it's now my new favourite Hexley piece :) I enjoyed doing the border too - all the holly and cogs took quite a while to do but it was worth it. It reminded me of a few years ago when I spent hours drawing a William Morris style border - time consuming but actually quite fun! I'll have to do some more things like this again soon.

When Edwin Cracknell was asked to make a clockwork animal for Christmas his first thought was a robin. His clockwork birds were held in such high regard that the Clockwork Robin soon became a much sought after item in Hexley.This illustration was drawn in dip pen and ink then painted in watercolours. A print of this illustration will soon be available in my Etsy shop.

Elizabeth Bridges

The first in my new series of Hexley people is complete! Inspired by Victorian and other old photos this will be a series of illustrations drawn in dip pen and ink and painted in watercolours.

Elizabeth Bridges first visited Hexley in June 1895. During her two week stay she toured the area making plenty of notes and sketches which were complied into a book on her return home. In the following months Elizabeth travelled to Hexley on numerous occasions and having become so fond of the place and people there she became a permanent Hexley resident in 1896. With her minature notebook and pencil always close to hand she could often be seen sketching or taking notes on one of the latest discoveries or inventions.

This illustration of Elizabeth Bridges is available to buy as a print in my Etsy shop.