Picture Book

sparky · Joined: 29 Apr 2010 Posts: 13

your use of light is beautiful. the composition and depth of the piece draws the eye in and upward. is the medium pure water colour paint, or have you mixed in some gouache? the attention to detail is great to - i particularly like the rust details on the railing.

gggraph · Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 9:16 am Post subject: Re - Picture Book

Hi Sparky - thanks for the nice comments. It's 'pure' watercolour except for where I've added in a white highlight later. These are not for competition so I have no problem with using gouache (or acrylic) if needed - just hasn't happened yet. There is another one with rats, and I think the bulk of the fur will be done with acrylic to get the hairy texture (I hope... still figuring that one out...)

Cheers

Grant

sparky · Joined: 29 Apr 2010 Posts: 13

hi grant, thanks for the reply.

can i ask what is the grade of paper you used for that painting? and the coarseness of it? do you have a certain technique to your style/ for exampledo you paint and then peel back (by dabbing away with paper, or something akin to it), and build up your colours in layers.

i am trying out some watercolur techniques myself:

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3623/1640/1600/geezbeewithsword.jpg

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3623/1640/1600/teddyongeezbee.jpg

gggraph · Posted: Sat May 01, 2010 5:33 pm Post subject: Re - Picture Book

Hi Sparky - these are on 300gsm Arches Medium (cold press). I prefer working on 640gsm, but with these it's crucial that I can trace through on a lightbox, which is harder with the thicker paper. The initial line drawings are worked up fully before I trace up on the final sheet, so there are no lines to erase.

Some areas are lifted off (erased) using a brush loaded with plain water and some paper towel. There's no particular style I'm trying to achieve, just trying to paint what's in my head as well as I can. Watercolour seemed to lend itself to the subject of this book, since so much of it is rubbish Smile

and watercolour lends itself to things like rust and distressed timber.

I do paint some 'layers' over others, but it needs to be done with caution as it will often disturb the paint that's already there. I'm still learning how to do a lot of this properly.

Cheers

Grant

sparky · Joined: 29 Apr 2010 Posts: 13

i had a look at your website- your use of watercolours is beautiful. i take it that all of those works are yours as they look to have a similar style.

i love the suitcases at the railway station and the ability of your skill to take the everyday ordinary and transform it into something that you really see for the first time. instead of dismissing it as an everyday item, you have rendered it visible and arresting with the use of light and texture. you have a great command over the use of colour. the palette compliments each shade.

i only wish that the jpegs were bigger so the viewer can really appreciate the work and talent that has gone into it.

gggraph · Posted: Sun May 02, 2010 9:42 am Post subject: Re - Picture Book

Thank you for that Sparky - If I ever have an Exhibition, I'm using that on the invitation...

I keep the JPEG size low, to make sure the ratio of talent to image size is as high as possible. Wink

For what it's worth, I like tackling subjects like these because I can't do 'conventional' watercolour worth a damn.

Cheers

Grant