Experiment (3)

Just realized I didn’t tell you about experiment # 3: claybord by Ampersand. I had big hopes for this one because on the leaflet that comes with the claybord it says: ‘absorbent (…), perfect for inks, gouache, egg tempera, pencil (…)’ so I thought it would be perfect for my ink and pencil combination.

When I got it out of the wrapping the surface felt smooth. I wondered how this was going to absorb and hold watery materials. Well, it didn’t.

To save the mess I tried to sand the surface and that helped a little but didn’t give the results that I was hoping for. So as for Ampersand surfaces I’ll stick to the aquabord.

For the drawing below I used Derwent Inktensepencils, Lukas Illucolor Pigmented ink and it is done on Ampersand aquabord.

Time to move out of the sketchbook

Then it got time to move out of the sketchbook and into the open.

Because I use Indian ink (and bistre) I like using Saunders Waterford watercolour paper. Even when the package says ‘white’ it has a creamy colour and very little grain, the latter making it perfect for detailed work.

The orchids bellow have had their blooming time and have completely dried out. The shapes they take on are very beautiful to me. Like I said before, they take on a different persona. Blooming they were all looking pretty much the same, now they are their own person.

More orchids...

During a whole month I drew (apart from a few exceptions) nothing but orchids. I was getting more and more into the details. Disappearing into the flower or drawing(?) reaching a very comfortable almost meditative state of being.

My sketchbook was starting to fill up with these wonderful creatures.

Start again!

Do you know that moment where you want to start drawing but you just can’t? I was at that moment March 2013. To overcome this problem I decided to draw what was close to me or what was literally near to me.
The orchids on my windowsill were about to bloom so I tried drawing these. I love flowers but never took the time to draw them, I thought it would bore me. From the moment I started those first lines I was hooked, I couldn’t stop!
The idea to draw the orchids throughout their blooming period came to mind. Orchids tend to bloom for very long periods of time so next to orchids I started to draw tulips, sunflowers, hollyhocks…
Doing this I noticed that I enjoyed one moment most: when a flower starts to dry out, becomes translucent in a way and takes on a whole different persona.