Instructor Caroline Marsland took a different take on using pen and ink in our art. She used the water soluble quink ink which comes in a few colors.
She started with talking about the nibs. Dip nibs come in a number of shapes for different uses. The drawing ones are quite sharp and can tear watercolor paper. Smooth paper fairs better. She prefers writing nibs and ones with a rounded tip. They also can have a reservoir added but one has to be careful that ink doesn’t drip out. She does not recommend biros or other felt pens as you can’t get them to widen or become thin with pressure which helps to show emotion in the drawing.
Before starting, one must decide if you want to do the wash first or the pen drawing. These both give different results.
The demo started with using the pen first to outline the chosen art. She used some cross hatching and varied the width of the lines. She said to ask yourself, ‘how much pen do I want to put on or what kind of strokes or dots to make? Once the drawing is completed, you must carefully add the watercolor wash knowing that some of the ink will dissolve into the colors. This effect can also be achieved using charcoal pencil. You can go back over the dried piece to enhance any lines or colors.
Putting the wash on first is done with drawing the image with watercolor and a brush, letting it dry (unless you want it to bleed) and adding the quink ink lines and dots after. See below to note the difference in results.
The Annual Art Exhibition for the Dupont Art Club is being held next week at Ventor Hall off Blatchington Road in Hove (BN3 3YE). It is on from Thursday, and Friday August 24th, 25th from 10-5 and Saturday August 26th from 10-4.
Caroline Marsland demonstrated the use of mixed media to the Dupont Art Club class on January 18th, 2017
It is important to chose the media to match the painting. Layering is the key to mixed media.
She pointed out that almost anything can be used in a this type of painting.
Suggestions for the first layer could be regular or water colour paper which could be painted, layered in tissue which is glued on, or use of old maps, newspapers, fabric, canvas, wood, metals, old books, etc.
Layered materials which can be used are all types of paints, inks, pens, pencils, charcoal, pastels, chalks, waxes, as well as fabrics, pieces of wood, leaves, wire, modelling paste used with stencils, etc.
In her demonstration, she chose a photo of a Maori painted face which she drew and layered with stick charcoal using a child’s birthday wax candle to highlight the eyes and added water colour to the face. She glued on hessian for the hair and painted it black.
She encouraged everyone to search online for demos using mixed media to find new ideas and other sources of inspiration.