From sketchbook to finished work

"My sketchbook is one of the most important tools of my trade, it is my ‘aide memoire’, a record of my working drawings and trial colours. This is my way of experimenting with line and colour, techniques of form and understanding perspective, shape and movement of living things from the inside out.
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An easy explanation of the process is that the inside of a vessel is as important as the outside, you cannot have one without the other, and so it is with a working drawing and the finished painting."

“An artist draws with the eyes, not the hands - seeing clearly is the most important factor and the hands record those images.”

 My sketchbook is the beginning, allowing the trial drawings, written ideas and colour washes from nature. Pencil, charcoal and graphite can be just a sketch and used as a reference for a finished work or a more detailed drawing. Aquarelle pencil gives the ability to wash areas to create more dramatic light and shade. I use pencil to create the form on the paper when I start a watercolour painting. 

Watercolour has varying qualities of opacity and this is learned through experimenting with colour washes, over painting and sometimes the use of gouache body colour. The body colour is particularly useful for white highlights on coloured paper; there are multiple options and artists usually find ways of using watercolour to suit their style of painting. When I am painting with watercolour the techniques I use are wet on wet, dry brush strokes, and for detailed work, waiting for areas to dry, using the palest colours and building up to the deepest colours. It is really the opposite of oil painting! Watercolour is both a challenge and a joy, I am always discovering colour mixes and the different application for my vast selection of handmade papers. 

Oil painting is a choice I make for some subject matter. The pigments suspended in drying oil can be used in many ways, thinned to create fluidity, using a small brush for detail or large flat strokes for texture and a palette knife for both mixing and painting. I begin either on canvas or plyboard primed and  prepared with rabbit skin glue and gesso using the old methods. I 'draw' the painting first with a thin wash of a basic earth colour and linear form. Oil paints are good for a painting with intense dark areas and bright light. 

Pastels are another form of drawing and work beautifully using soft rubbed areas building up with strong strokes of colour. Using a wash and mixed media gives pastels another dimension! 

​In all my work, I use the highest quality pigments and acid free papers ensuring longevity of the the artwork. ​