Artiplace on LinkedIn

There are many Art Groups available on LinkedIn and sometimes they prove to be useful places to ask questions and discuss art. Sometimes however the forums can be swamped with self promotion round robins and sales pitches. For this reason I have started two groups on LinkedIn

Artiplace - This is an Art forum for discussion of paper pencils art and the way we work. This is a closed group which means that it is not open to Galleries and Salesmen. Round robin sales pitches will be removed and those making them will be taken from the group list. This is a good place for technical discussion and work critique.

Professional members need to use LinkedIn to make new work connections and to promote their work. I have started the sister group
Artiplace Networking and Promotion- This is the place for artists to list their websites, give notice of exhibitions and place all round robin self promotions. The reason why this is a good place to be seen is that I will be encouraging galleries and gallery owners to join and to list their open  exhibitions and calls for work. If you list your website and availability here then all the subscribing galleries will be notified when you update your details.

This is free advertising. To join please go to LinkenIn Art groups and make a request to join.

Ancient Hills...Sketching in ink

Sometimes it is fun to use Ink in your sketch book. It is almost difficult to go wrong with pen and ink. Experimenting with mark making will help in all areas of your drawing and is hugely enjoyable. It can be very freeing to know that once a mark is made it is permanent...so why worry?  For sketching I usually use Black Kandahar Drawing ink. I have a selection of nibs but one of the most useful is a Post Office nib which has a medium/broad nib. I also like to have one narrow nib for finer detail. It is possible to make mant different marks with each nib.

Quick Impressions

It is worth trying to use a mid tone paper to catch sketches of people and things around you. It teaches the eye to pick out the darkest darks and the lightests lights and the form appears almoest by magic. Here I caught a quick sketch of a friend's daughter giggling with her friends. A black white and a little sanguine on the cheek. Maybe less than 4 mins work You do not always have to sketch in a white blank sketchbook. There are books available with both white and sand toned paper on alternate pages. I find it sometimes helps to draw the same image in graphite pencil ( B ) and using the 3 pencil technique.

Three Pencil technique

This quick pencil sketch shows an example of Three colour work. In this piece I have used a black coloured pencil, a white and a sanguine. Three colour work uses the background colour of the paper to produce a mid tone in the picture. This is particularly useful if you need to make a picture which seems coherent throughout. The use of the paper as a mid tone also means that you are able to work up the image much more quickly. This is 10-15mins of work. The paper used here is Canson mi tientes in sand. The pencils were Caran d'ache luminance. I use a softer pencil on the canson paper because it is quite soft and can tear if you use a harder pencil with a sharp point.
On this picture the sanguine( blood red) pencil is used only on the mouth. It lends warmth to the face.

My Quiet Place

Another Example of Illustrative Pen and Ink work. This time I have have used several mark making methods to achieve texture and tone. I like to produce a picture that allows for narrative. That is a picture which invites people to create their own story. This picture I have used to create greetings cards.

Working in Pen and Ink

An Illustration piece in Dip pen and Kandahar Ink. I prefer to work on these directly without pencil drawing. This was completed using a narrow nib. the shading was achieved by using many very light dots of ink. this doesn't take as much time as you might think. I like the clean lines that you can achieve with something as simple as Ink.