June Hay

I began to create watercolor and ink paintings in the 1980s. They sold so successfully that I do not own any from that time period. Combining the paint with ink gives me a freedom from wanting to create detail with watercolor, thus making my watercolor better than straight watercolor. I also like the "graphic" quality that the ink gives to watercolors.

This piece began with a photograph that I took in June, 2009. I love the detail of the hay bale and the bright colors of the plants in the field.
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I always begin with the ink portion of the painting. I used Rotring rapidograph pens, points .35 and .5. As mentioned in a previous post, when ink is used on watercolor paper (in this case, Arches hot press) the paper sizing has two effects: 1) the ink does not spread out making it necessary to use larger points than on other paper, 2) the ink sits on top of the sizing and takes longer to dry so the artist must be careful to avoid smudges.

This was the first time I have used hot press paper. It ended up being an excellent surface for both the ink and the watercolor, and I highly recommend it.

It is often recommended to not use multiple ink techniques in the same piece. however, I decided that I wanted this piece to be about the lines I found interesting in the original photograph. As can be seen in the ink enlargement, I used angular scribble, writing scribble, and contour lines, along with some cross-hatching. This combination gave me the effect that I wanted.
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Looking at the photograph. I found the single pieces of hay in the bale that showed as white in the sun light fascinating. They gave a very "sunny" effect. I decided to use mastic to give the same effect in this painting. This can be seen in the enlargement of the bale to the right.

I used Winsor and Newton yellow mastic, and I applied it on top of the ink, prior to any watercolor. I wanted to create the white pieces in the bale and some white areas in the plants in the far end of the field. I then applied the rest of the watercolor. In a watercolor class taught by Eleanor Cox, I learned the importance of always using fresh paint. She also stressed the importance of using good quality brushes and paper.

For this piece, with the exception of Leaf Green which is Holbein, I used Winsor and Newton artist grade watercolors. My primary palette was Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Quinacridone Gold, Raw Umber, Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Yellow, Winsor Yellow, Leaf

Green (Holbein), Permanent Sap Green, Hooker's Green, Manganese Blue Hue, Viridian, and Winsor Green. Touches of Cobalt Violet, Cobalt Turquoise Light, and Burnt Sienna were also used.

In the enlargement to the left, can be seen the watercolor over the ink. I worked in layers with the lighter colors first. The ink prevented me from needing to work with very dark colors as they helped create the dark while preserving the freshness of the paint.

Sand Pattern 1

Sand Pattern 1 is the first ink piece I have tried on watercolor paper. I used Rotring rapidograph pens and Arches cold press watercolor paper.

When I started this piece, I was surprised at the width of the line produced by the pens. All size marks were significantly smaller than I anticipated. Small points such as the .13 and .18 were virtually invisible. I believe it is the sizing on the watercolor paper (I do not wet and stretch the paper ahead of time) that made the ink "sit" on top of the paper. In fact, as I was working on this piece, I had to be very careful about avoiding the recently inked areas as the ink did not soak into the paper resulting in a long drying time.

Most of the drawing was done with .35, .5 and .7 points, although some section also included .25, ,3, 1.0 and 1.4 points. You can click to enlarge full image of this drawing at the top right of this post. A section of the bottom is shown above. In this section, you can see the use of different point sizes in order to create varying shades of gray and varying textures.

Clicking on the picture to the left will give you a clear image showing the varying point size stipples along with the filled in plants. In order to contrast with the stippling of the sand, I decided to give the plants a "solid" feel by filling them in. I used a .7 point for the plants. I also used my "scribble" technique along with the plants.

Nature Trail

This is one of a three piece self-portrait series. In the fall of 2008, I switched to Rotring pens so this piece was done with these pens. It was completed on a 22" by 30" of Swathmore acid-free drawing paper.

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The photograph below was used for this drawing. Photoshop CS4 was used to create a black and white image. The image was also cropped to include only my figure. As the pants are black, the folds did not appear. Photoshop was used to lighten this portion of the image until the folds of the cloth in the pants showed up.

Photoshop was also used to enlarge the photo to the size of the paper. The computer image was then sliced into smaller pieces that could be printed. These were literally (with scissors and scotch tape) together. This image was not only used as reference, but the image was traced onto tracing paper and then transferred to the larger sheet of Swathmore paper.

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After the image was transferred, it was then outlined faintly with F lead. However, these lines were used only as reference.

As can be seen in the close-up to the right, the images in the final drawing do not have edges defined by solid lines. Instead, the images are defined by the cross-hatching marks on either the object itself or the background for the object. This technique gives a wonderful "sense of motion" to the drawing.

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The "edge-less" technique of cross-hatching is particularly apparent in the folds of the fabric of the pants. The above close-up shows the folds. Also shown are the multiple layers of cross-hatching used to create the darker areas. Most of the drawing was created by a .25 point. however, the lighter areas were created by using .13 and .18 points. A .35 point was used for some of the darker areas of cross-hatching.
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For years, I used cross-hatching that consisted of straight across hatches. i changed this method after reading Gary Simmons "The Technical Pen". Simmons recommends using a cross-hatch that varies in length creating a simple texture in the ink surface. I think it works very well. Several close-ups show this technique, including the one below.

Inked Dunes

As Inked Dunes was done in 1985, I used Koh-i-noor rapidographs. This piece was done with a .35 point. I also used Canson acid-free sketch paper.

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I did this ink drawing while sitting on a dune in the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Before beginning the drawing, I tried to note the darkest areas. I also decided to use a "writing" style to define the dunes. This can particularly be seen in the close-up crop to the right. Note the writing "scribbles" defining the base of the dunes.

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I used multiple repetitions of connected lines to reinforce the darkest areas which was most of the bases of the dunes, as seen below.

Pen Choice

The first time I used a rapidograph pen, I was in love. The precise tip is a good match for what I want to produce via ink.

The first rapidographs I used were Koh-i-noor. They would clog and I would shake them. Then I saw Rotring brand rapidographs in a catalog. They were $35 per pen but I thought I would give one a try as they promised that they did not clog. The claim was true. They do not clog! I have been amazed by this fact after years of shaking and tapping. Even my .13 after weeks of not being used, still flowed. These are the only pens I now use.