Martin's Online Sketch Book

This little piggy

Covid has been a strange beast. This little piggy has been created using a Covid mask advert!

I have been watching the Morning Show on Apple, and I have noticed in other shows, where Covid has crept into the scripts. When I saw the mask advert, I knew I wanted to use it in a collage.

It’s strange to watch it back, even though we all lived through it. Most of the scripts catch the complete disbelief that the virus will catch hold and spread around the world.

I’m finding myself draw to using text in my images. A lot of people ask me why I put text back-to-front on my collage. Very simply, it’s because I like it backwards, and also it make people stop and read it.

This is turning into a very random post!

Painting birds

I find some subject tricky to paint convincingly, birds are one of them.

I started using collage to add interest to my paintings and also to spice things up a bit! I like to work with a mess of collage and reduce it back to reveal details.

Do people try to read the revealed text, yes. Do I choose relevant text? Not really.

The starting point is the most important part of collage for me. Creating big shapes that I can then reduce to the shapes that I want.

Try it yourself. Mess up a piece of paper, use watercolour, coffee, tea and using the shapes that emerge create a drawing on top.

Explain the marks with ink.

You’ll wet the bed if you pick them…

You may or may not know this, but picking Dandelions does not make you wet the bed! You have to eat them to do that.

The popular myth is based around the french word for Dandelion – Pissenlit – which translates to ‘Pee the bed’. Another french word is Dent de lion to describe the weeds. So called because the shape of the leaves look like a lions mouth.

Dandelions are now being grown for use in salads! They contain many vitamins including, 112% of your daily vitamin A requirement. The leaves, flower and roots are all edible. Probably why rabbits love ’em.

And don’t forget that making a wish by blowing the seeds of a dandelion is believed to be very lucky…but not so for the gardener. The seeds are very adaptable and will grow anywhere! Don’t fear them though, a quick drenching in hot water is enough to kill them.

And here ends the lesson on Dandelions!

Sandpiper

How to create an easy reflection in watercolour!

I’m quietly proud of this image! Using collage and tearing a folded piece of newsprint has really helped create 2 the reflection of the sandpiper. You will see in the time-lapse video how this was created as the gouache wash has covered up the newspaper image. Maybe more than I was expecting!

The Process

There is a reflection painting competition on the Painters-online website. I’ve got a hankering that I will enter an image. I tried to create a painting of a canal with refections but I was never happy with it. I’m thinking I can collage it up a bit.

Something to think about!

Criminal Pets

I will be launching my new series of Criminal Pet illustrations at the Woodley and Earley arts group spring exhibition.

These new images are based on stories from friends and their pets!

Ozzy the illegal fisher – A cat with a natural talent for pond fishing in the neighbourhood where he lived.

Peaches the post snatcher – Scaring postmen with his tenacious ability to go from sleep to post snatching in seconds.

Cosmo the carrot cruncher – a house rabbit who keeps the whole family awake during night time raids on his food bowl.

All these wonderful characters are available as square canvas prints and cards.

My favourite little collage dog is also back, taking to the air in his bi-plane.

And I have started a new series of dinosaur images. Crossword-o-saurus is a daily mail reading crossword addict.

Please come along and support artists doing their thing this weekend.

Tumbler

Ordinary, extraordinary

I love primary and bright colours. The secret to a good painting is not perhaps the colour you use, but more the tone you apply the colour.

Using painted newspaper to set-up the big shapes I used watercolour to add tone to the image and make the ice in the glass stand out. Lights against darks really help and to enhance this I have combined gouache on the image.

Caterpillar

Ugly or what. This is a puss moth cesura vinula!

I used to be a pure watercolourist. I sometimes hated the wishy-washy images that I produced. I started to mix things up with acrylic and gouache but recently I have found collage and text adds something that makes give watercolour a bit of impact.

I love the way text shows through.

Today’s lesson then is experiment. Don’t worry that your art technique is not in an art instruction book. Make it up as you go along and enjoy the process. It will be daunting and you will wonder if what you are doing is right. But I say hang-up those thoughts and paint the way you want to, paint what makes you happy. And it will show in your work.

The recipe

I started baking during lockdown, like a lot of people! I used to bake cakes for my dad to take to work in his lunch, when I was at school. I guess the cooking bug never it just lay dormant.

My Favourite Lemon cake recipe

275g self raising flour

225g caster sugar

225g butter

3 large eggs

2 large lemons

A little milk

Method:- pre-heat the oven to 180c. Cream the sugar and butter, add the grated rind of the lemons to the beaten eggs. Add the flour, eggs and lemon rind to the mixture and mix well. Pour into a grease proof paper lined tin and cook for 40-50 minutes. Allow the cake to cool for 5 minutes. Meanwhile juice the lemons and add some sugar. Pour the lemon liquid over the cake and allow to continue cooling.

Alpaca

It’s easy to fall into habits and places of comfort so I have started experimenting with Watercolour and collage.

I have been having a lot of successes with collage but I’m not always happy with the colours of paper that I find. I have also become attracted to newsprint in my work. I spent some time over Easter tearing and painting newspaper to create a library of collage papers.

So what am I going to do with them?

I have decided for the month of April to follow the Doodlewash prompts. Today’s effort is day 2 – Alpaca. Starting with Collage I created big shapes that I then developed with ink and watercolour. It’s a great way to loosen up your watercolour techinique!

As always I have recorded a timelapse of the process. I think it is good practise to do this and to watch it back to see if there are areas of improvement and also to help you realise when to stop and put down your paint brush on an image.