Words I would associate with this landscape would include peace, tranquil, lush, temperate; a calm energy. Originally I wanted to follow the lush and temperate feel by using thick, ‘full’ medium of oil pastels, texture could be scrapped into the oil pastel with a wash over the top.
I had three ideas forming – oil pastels, textured, and wash; watercolour pencils and pen and ink; pen and ink and watercolour. I considered the oil pastels as they offered an unpredictability and a full thickness to match the lush feel of a temperate landscape. However, in the end I chose not to go this route after I lost myself in John Virtue’s tonal pencil drawings from the 1970s.
I know that one of the points in the assignment outline was to create preliminary drawings for this assignment. I worked on basic composition but wanted to get this piece out in its simplicity, with John Virtue in mind the whole time. Hence I knew I would work with pencil only. I might have added ink if there were any distinct, man-made lines, like the telegraph poles in Green Haworth from South. I did not want to risk overworking this piece and I am a lot happier this time round. Not satisfied entirely, I’d like to continue practicing building and layering the Virtue-style marks to create depth as well as tone but for now, I need to step away and move on.
My inspiration:
Below are photos from the process, plus the earlier composition ideas I had. I started with a black ink wash, with the cloud area tissued away. Ink does not seem to react to this as well as black watercolour may have done as I was looking for more of the delicate cloud edges to appear from the tissue. Nice enough though.
I’d like try this again with pen, ink and wash.
Tea and Doodles 