Pigeon Cove in pastels

We survived the ice storm without losing power. In fact, in this area it was not as bad as predicted, which meant that I had some studio time to play with pastels. I’ve never used pastels much, but last week my friend Susanne Strater gave me a much appreciated lesson in her studio, and now I am trying to follow up by practicing more on my own.

I found an old set of 36 colours at home so that’s what I used for this sketch. I don’t have any special pastel paper but I wanted to practice what I learned with her, so for this scene in Pigeon Cove, MA, I used some toned watercolour paper from Hahnemuhle. I know there are better surfaces out there, but in an ice storm I wasn’t prepared to drive to the store to get a pad of the good stuff.

In my photo archives I have a series of photos from an early morning outing to Pigeon Cove last year. I’m planning on painting some of those in watercolour, but I thought I’d start with a pastel sketch of moored boats in calm water. Working in pastel is a great way to figure out colour and values since you can layer the rich colours and add white for highlights. But I’m learning a few things about pastels. 1: They sure are messy. 2: I can’t put them on my scanner. 3: It’s hard to get exactly the colour you want (at least from the old set I have) and that takes getting used to. But I sure did have fun doing this and I can’t wait to see how it evolves in the watercolour version.

Waiting for the storm

I’m sitting in my living room listening to the radio, sketchbook and pencil in hand. The forecasts from Environment Canada are for a “potentially critical freezing rain event”. Schools are already announcing closures for tomorrow. Prolonged utility outages are likely. We’ve gone through this before so we are prepared, but there is still some anxiety about how long the power will be out, if that does happen. Drawing helps to calm the nerves as we wait for the freezing rain to start. If you are in the storm zone too, I hope you stay warm and I hope your lights stay on. You can be sure I will be drawing during this event, like I did the last time the power went out.

A brush for drawing and painting

I’ve been having a lot of fun with a new brush I just ordered from Rosemary & Co. It’s the R11 Pointed Red Sable Brush (size 10) travel brush. I’m always a fan of long, pointy brushes because they hold a lot of water and also allow you to create quite precise marks, but this one is extra special because I feel like I can draw with it. I was just reading the description of it on the Rosemary website and I found this: This hair has a beautiful spring and upon retouching the paper, will flow and release water similar to a fountain pen. That explains why I like it so much.

I used it for yesterday’s painting of the fading tulips on my desk. First I drew the gently curving shapes of the flowers and leaves with the point of the brush, and then I filled in the shapes with the wider body of the brush. It’s really a joy to use.

The brush also came in handy earlier in the week with another project I am working on. I used it for drawing quick figures in watercolour, using a diluted colour for the outline of the pose and filling in with colour when the contour line was nearly dry.

Marks that match the mood of the room

My studio shares a space with the only tv in the house. I’ve been trying to remove myself from the excitement of those last few Olympic finals that Canada was in by painting some flowers that I have on my drawing table. But the mood in the room was not conducive to painting anything delicate. I finally gave up and grabbed a big fat clutch pencil holder and a Stillman & Birn Beta sketchbook. Scribbling in the booking instead of watching the games was very calming. I filled six spreads with pencil drawings. Here are a few of them.

When Alice moved, I just started again. She moves a lot right after a walk but then settles down into one position.

As I drew, I think my drawings improved a little bit.

My favourite is the last one. She was calmer and so was I. I think this one was the most successful in capturing the weight of her on her big Ikea cushion.

Green house on Main

I can’t bear the stress in the house when Olympic hockey is on. This morning I escaped to the glass bubble of my car studio and painted in silence. It was unusually quiet on Main Road in Hudson. I suspect other tv sets were on in the vicinity.

The viewpoint that I chose features a curve in the road, a bit like the one I’ve painted often in Pointe Claire Village. Like yesterday’s sketch, I used another limited palette from my Schink swatch sheet. This time it was Lemon Yellow, Cadmium Red and Ultramarine. I love the soft tones and warm browns that you get from this triad — perfect for winter scenes on overcast days. As for the hockey game, it worked out well for Canada so I guess I will be out painting again on Sunday.

Colour experiments

I love trying out pigment mixes, and this month is perfect for that. The warmth of my studio is a great alternative to my cold car during this very long winter.

If you read the most recent issue of my newsletter The Wheelbarrow, you may have seen my short blurb about Christopher Schink’s book Mastering Colour and Design in Watercolor. I’ve been experimenting with some of the pigments that Schink uses. My first exercise was to search through my paint drawers and find the same (or similar) pigments, and create some swatches. Although some of my paint tubes are very old, I managed to squeeze out enough pigment for my experiments. I divided them into the same categories as he does in the book: transparent non-staining, opaque and staining.

From this list, you’ll find some pigments that I use frequently, but I never use Indian Red (too opaque!), Phthalo Blue (too staining!), nor do I use Cadmium yellow or orange, nor Winsor red or yellow.

With the little blobs of remaining colour on my palette, I decided to sketch the supplies on my table. I used primarily transparent staining colours for this: Permanent Alizarin Crimson, Phthalo Blue and Winsor Yellow. Using a triad of pigments allowed me to get to know them really well. I love the vibrant shadow colour that I mixed from Phthalo Blue and Alizarin, as well as the rich grey that came from adding some yellow to the mix.

Winter is not over yet, which means I still have time for lots more experimentation with staining, transparent and opaque triads from Schink’s list.

Recent people drawings

I’ve been keeping up with a promise to myself to draw more people on location. I just discovered a few airport sketches from our trip to Arizona in January as well, so thought I’d share those as well.

I also did the quick one below in Tim Horton’s this morning. I seem to always pick sad sack looking men to draw.

These are both in my tiny Etchr hot press sketchbook, using my Preppy pen. It really has become a favourite pen for quick sketches. It glides beautifully over the smooth paper plus I like the very fine nib for putting in light crosshatching. I look forward to spring when everyone I draw is not wearing a puffy jacket.

Back to winter

I’m catching up on winter by painting in studio this week during yet another colder than cold snap. I’ve been collecting photos while out on walks in the woods with Alice, and I figured that this would be a good week to experiment.

Today’s limited palette includes Daniel Smith’s Lunar Blue — a blue/black very granulating pigment — along with Cobalt Blue, Burnt Sienna and Holbein Umber. I painted this one wet-in-wet because the damp paper allows me to layer the darks to create the depth in the woods. Painted on a quarter sheet of Saunders Waterford CP 140 lb paper.

Alice at work

Alice has three beds in the house, plus one big cushion in the basement for when she is watching tv. Each bed has a purpose. Today I drew her at work in the office. She also has a bed in the kitchen/dining room. She uses that one for digesting. Her third bed is next to my bed. She uses that one for sleeping because working and digesting are very tiring.

I haven’t drawn her in a while but there were some dog drawings in my inbox from the New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly. In her Substack today she shared some dog cartoons, in celebration of Westminster dog week.