Painting to see : Peindre pour voir

A time for celebrations

Finally have internet high speed! Yeah! We are settling in nicely in our new condo in Sandy Hill, Ottawa. So happy with our choice and a new style of living begins. Our bikes are being tuned and ready for the great bike paths of Ottawa. I can hear birds chirping away all day long, so the Mrs. is happy -) This is a view from our balcony which overlooks many embassies… Australia, Brunei, Brazil, Germany, Kenya, Croatia, Serbia, Egypt and many more. You can see the Australian Embassy’s flag just to the right of the red brick house on the left… if you wish to take out your magnifying glasses…

Finalement nous avons l’internet! C’est comme manquer d’électricité, aussi pire à mon point de vue. On s’installe tranquillement et sûrement dans notre nouveau condo de Sandy Hill, Ottawa. On est très contents de cette nouvelle vie en ville… et j’ai des oiseaux qui chantent aussi -) Nos bicycles sont en train de se faire tuner pour rouler sur les pistes cyclables de cette belle ville. Contente la madame! Voici une vue de notre balcon qui donne sur de nombreuses ambassades… Australie, Brunei, Brésil, Allemagne, Kenya, Croatie, Serbie, Égypte et bien d’autres encore.

#inktober, #inktober2023, Drawing, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Angel :: Inktober 16

Featuredby Jane Hannah4 Comments

I’ve looked at life from both sides now
From win and lose and still somehow
It’s life’s illusions I recall
I really don’t know life at all.
— Joni Mitchell

Had a lovely night with dear friends yesterday, and I am energized even though a tad tired as we went to bed quite late.

During our trip to Greece in Fall 2022, I bought a statue that celebrates Nike, the goddess Victory near the Acropolis in Athens. The real statue resides at the Louvre in Paris, and I think that it should be returned to Greece, which is her homeland after all.

The Winged Victory of Samothrace is one of the rare Greek statues whose exact original location is known. It was made as an offering to the gods for a sanctuary on the Greek island of Samothrace. Placed at a height, people could see her from afar. Nike, the winged goddess who heralds victory, is seen just as she is about to alight on a ship. — https://www.louvre.fr/en/explore/the-palace/a-stairway-to-victory

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star & Pen-White
Pen: Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: 3 Kuratake water brushes & 2 Princeton “cheap” watercolour brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: my imagination -)

#inktober, #inktober2023, Drawing, Ink, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Sword :: Inktober 15

Featuredby Jane Hannah4 Comments

History is herstory too.
— Author unknown

The Inktober prompt today was “sword” and I thought of my scottish Hannah family motto Per ardua ad alta which means Through straits to heights. I tweaked our family motto to fit the “sword” prompt, adding a sword on the left-hand side. It’s always nice to dabble with your surname.

#inktober, #inktober2023, Drawing, Handbook Travelogue, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Castle :: Inktober 14

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

There are worse crimes than burning books.
One of them is not reading them.
— Ray Bradbury

One of my best books that I read at about 14 years old was Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. Read this at any age, it is so good.

Just wanted to mention something about the Pilot Falcon Soft Pen EF. It took me months and months to start enjoying this pen, which I paid a hefty sum in my view, for a pen that I didn’t really appreciate. But oh boy! Has it turned around? At the beginning it felt scratchy and didn’t fit my hand that well. But I have adapted and now it has become smooth and fits perfectly. Weird huh? Maybe that the scratchiness has disappeared because I have used it a lot? Also, I used to swear by other pens because of their fine line, but this one surpasses all of them. So you never know, until you use a tool enough and that you adapt to it.

#inktober, #inktober2023, Ink, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Rise :: Inktober 13

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

To learn is to broaden, to experience more, to snatch new aspects of life for yourself. To refuse to learn or to be relieved at not having to learn is to commit a form of suicide; in the long run, a more meaningful type of suicide than the mere ending of physical life… Knowledge is not only power; it is happiness, and being taught is the intellectual analog of being loved.
— Isaac Asimov

I must still be in Halloween mode as it is a bit scary. I’m scared of snakes but I love mushrooms and trees. So two to one. Snakes are so beautiful though, aren’t they? Mushrooms and snakes are so bloody nice to draw… and trees of course! So if you don’t know what to draw, just draw trees and the flow in their bark will inspire your hand to draw more.

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star
Pen: Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: 3 Kuratake water brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: my brain -)

#inktober, #inktober2023, Ink, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketches / Drawings / Paintings

:: Spicey :: Inktober 12

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Time is not a thing that passes…
it’s a sea on which you float.
— Margaret Atwood

My idea was good!…. at first. Then trying to make it happen, well.. not quite so good. My first thought for spicey was a dragon with fire coming out of his mouth. Not bad, huh? Then I told myself: “What if he was gripping a hot pepper?” Well, now the difficulties arose, as I muffed up the dragon’s face so he is barely recognizable and then the hot pepper is just too “soft”? Anyway, you get the gist of it all -))) Some days you have it, others less so…

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star
Pens: Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: 3 Kuratake water brushes & 2 Princeton “cheap” watercolour brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: my brain -)

#inktober, #inktober2023, Drawing, Ink, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Wander :: Inktober 11

Featuredby Jane Hannah1 Comment

There’s nothing like drawing a thing to make you really see it.
— Margaret Atwood

Never thought that drawing sand dunes would be so difficult.

#inktober, #inktober2023, Drawing, Ink, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Fortune :: Inktober 10

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The flower’s pollen is the bee’s fortune,
but for humankind, the bee is our fortune.
— Jane Hannah

A busy bee this one… even though it looks like something that could be in Starwars –))) Had way too much fun drawing this “fortune” prompt and I think that I slightly overdid it.

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star & Pen-White
Pens: Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: Princeton “cheap” watercolour brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album (last page).
Location: my mind -)

#inktober, #inktober2023, Drawing, Ink, Moleskine Art Collection Japanese Album, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Bounce :: Inktober 9

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

I love fiction’s ability to allow me to inhabit a wholly different life.
— Rumaan Alam.

I am presently reading with my Book Nuts Club “The Librarian of Burned Books” by Brianna Labuskes and am enjoying it so much. It is a captivating WWII-era novel about the intertwined fates of three women who believe in the power of books to triumph over the very darkest moments of war. I actually dreamt about it last night and I woke up sweating. Hah-hah!

One of my two favourite wild animals in the world are whales and elephants. These giants are so intelligent and they amaze me with their curiosity. Still can’t believe that we are killing these gentle giants in 2023. However my favourite domesticated animal is surely the dog, especially Golden Retrievers, as I consider them to be gentle giants too. Do some of you remember The Gentle Giant TV show in the 60s? I am discovering the world of parrots at the moment and boy are they mischievous, intelligent and fun! If I had known I would have adopted one in my 20s and still have it. Aaahhh, things that we ignore when we are young even though we tend to think that we know everything.

Coming back to painting and drawing, I was reading Roslyn Stendahl’s “Patience in Watercolour” yesterday and she is so right. I become a very impatient painter with watercolours as when I am in the flow, I tend to think that if I stop painting to let it dry, that the flow will disappear… I won’t be able to get back into that state. But she talks about the type of watercolour paints that we should buy, which colours to pick and so on. She has years of experience in teaching also and is very generous with her knowledge.

#inktober, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Toad :: Inktober 8

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

I would have artists be convinced that the supreme skill and art in painting consists in knowing how to use black and white…
because it is light and shade that make objects appear in relief.
— Leon Battista Alberti

Well I had a heck of a fun time drawing this. Don’t ask me what I tried drawing though, what kind of a world, but it fits just fine with my love of sci-fi books. I just went with the creative flow. Funny, I used to teach a Creative Workflow course at John Abbott… seems years ago to me even though it has only been two years since retirement. I do hope though that you can see the two toads here? At the rhythm that I am drawing with Inktober this year, I’ll probably have done my 30 drawings by the end of the year? Doesn’t matter, this is fun -)))

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star & Pen-White
Pens: Tachikawa Nikko G Pointed Nib & Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Brushes: 3 Kuratake water brushes & 2 Princeton “cheap” watercolour brushes
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: my imagination -)

#inktober, Drawing, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Drip :: Inktober 7

Featuredby Jane Hannah3 Comments

It is no longer sufficient to describe the world of nature.
The point is to defend it.
— Edward Abbey

Love this conversation between Ricky Gervais & Stephen Colbert. Here is the link if you want to listen to it on YouTube. I was thinking of nature and science at the same time… and war. And sometimes, our brains are wired in a funny way and it led me to this memory of a conversation that was quite interesting, to say the least. I had to start all over again for this drawing as the first one that I did, I really really muffed it up! LOL -))) This is is simple… and safe.

RG: I’m an agnostic-atheist technically. Agnosticism means that no one knows if there is a God so everyone is Agnostic. An atheist is someone who doesn’t know if there is a God or not, as no one does.

SC: So you’re not convinced of your atheism?

RG: Yes I am! Atheism is just rejecting the claim that there is a God. Atheism isn’t a belief system. This is Atheism in a nutshell. You say: “There is a God. I say: “Can you prove that?” You say: “No”. Then I say: “I don’t believe you then.” So you believe in one God I assume? There are about 3000 Gods to choose from. So basically you deny one less God than I do. You don’t believe in 2999 Gods and I don’t believe in just one more.

RG: We want to make sense of nature and science and it is unfathomable that everything in the Universe was once crushed into something smaller than an Atom.

SC: But you don’t know that! You just believe Stephen Hawkins and this is a matter of having faith in his abilities. You don’t know it yourself, you’re accepting it because someone told you.

RG: But science is constantly proved all the time. You see, if we take something like any fiction book, or holy book and we destroyed it, in a 1000 years time, these books would never come back. However, if we took every science book, and every fact, and destroyed them, in a 1000 years they would all be back, because all of the same tests would give the same results.

Pen: Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: my brain in Rigaud -)

#inktober, Drawing, Ink, Painting, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Golden :: Inktober 6 prompt

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

A box without hinges, key or lid
Yet golden treasure inside is hid.
— Bilbo The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Getting a tad late with my Inktober prompts, but oh boy! Am I still enjoying using my imagination? Love it! I should have put the egg much bigger and downsized the cockatiel, but still. Playing with proportions is part of the imaginative process… and you ask yourself: “What if…?”

#inktober, Drawing, Ink, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Map :: Inktober 5 prompt

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

To know that we know what we know, and to know that we do not know what we do not know, that is true knowledge.
— Nicolaus Copernicus.

The “map” prompt made my head swirl with ideas and being a neophyte in astronomy, what better chance than to map out the stars above my head in Rigaud? In order to do this I went to the exquisitely rendered Stellarium website, accepted to share my location, and voilà, the view from my house looking North. There was even a Starlink satellite passing by while I was looking (Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite company). You can see the URSA MAJOR & MINOR URSA constellations, which we call here the Great Bear & Little Bear and in French la Grande Ourse et la Petite Ourse. At the top left there the VEGA star which is 25 light years away from us which is part of the LYRA constellation. There is also the PLEIADES, an open cluster of stars commonly named the Seven Sisters or Subaru. Such an interesting topic by the way. Anyway, I had fun learning about all of this.

#inktober, Drawing, Ink, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Dodge :: Inktober 4 prompt

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

Definition of inertia: ‘The vis insita, or innate force of matter, is a power of resisting by which every body, as much as in it lies, endeavours to preserve its present state, whether it be of rest or of moving uniformly forward in a straight line.’
— Isaac Newton

Dodge Challenger for the 4th Inktober prompt. I really struggled with this car, but in the end, after erasing a few times, I got it mostly right. Now that I have drawn & painted this car, I know its characteristics by heart. It’s a mean looking dude and the sound of the engine is so nice. One of my teacher colleagues has one… needless to say, the students enjoyed watching her arrive in her Challenger. Have a good one Kellie-Rae -)

#inktober, Drawing, Ink, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Path :: Inktober prompt

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack in everything
That’s how the light gets in.
— Leonard Cohen

I had so many ideas for the path… and some of them really difficult to draw/paint. So here is Dorothy’s path in the Wizard of Oz going towards Emerald City. The cracks in the path show the hardships that they had to go through to make it. A bit of symbolism here.

Drawing, Ink, Painting, Sketchbook Molesine

:: Spider :: Inktober prompt

Featuredby Jane Hannah3 Comments

Let judges secretly despair of justice: their verdicts will be more acute. Let generals secretly despair of triumph; killing will be defamed. Let priests secretly despair of faith: their compassion will be true.
— Leonard Cohen

My second day with Inktober 2023 and the prompt is spider, the ideas are here so all is good. It just feels so right to be drawing & painting again. I’m just a very messy painter… now the room is a mess, so guess what I’lll be doing next? LOL.

I have 3 Kuretake water brushes that I pre-filled with water. The first one received 1 drop of black ink, the 2nd one 3 drops of black ink, and the 3rd one 5 drops. This way I have immediate access to 3 different levels of grey. And if I find that the grey is not intense enough, I just go back in… the sky I went in twice, using the lowest value brush.

At the National Gallery in Ottawa ‘Maman’, the giant spider sculpture stands just outside the entrance… and what a scene it makes.

Ink

:: Dream :: an Inktober prompt

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

Without dreams the artist would perish. Dreams are the initial catalysts which launch us into a position of faith that tells us we can accomplish that which is not already done.
— Roger Asselin

I’ve decided to jump into the Inktober prompt, even though I am 7 days late. Having retired, let’s say that procrastination rules the house, rules our habits, rules my painting habits. As I have not painted in a while, my eye coordination is not up to par, and my wetting ability either but even with mistakes we always learn, don’t we? At least I got the general idea of what I wanted to do, so that is a good start. Take care everyone, our world is changing…

I wanted to share this thoughtful philosophy that Margaret Mead said.

Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones. But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an ancient culture was a femur (thighbone) that had been broken and then healed. Mead explained that in the animal kingdom, if you break your leg, you die. You cannot run from danger, get to the river for a drink or hunt for food. You are meat for prowling beasts. No animal survives a broken leg long enough for the bone to heal. A broken femur that has healed is evidence that someone has taken time to stay with the one who fell, has bound up the wound, has carried the person to safety and has tended the person through recovery. Helping someone else through difficulty is where civilization starts, Mead said.” We are at our best when we serve others. Be civilized.

Ink: Dr. Ph. Martin’s Black Star & Pen-White
Pens: Tachikawa Nikko G Pointed Nib & Pilot Falcon Soft EF Japan
Sketchbook: Moleskine Art Collection, japanese album
Location: from my imagination.

Drawing

Jinhao Fountain Pen with Zebra G Nib

Featuredby Jane Hannah3 Comments

Les coquillages, dans ses mains,
Je ne sais pourquoi,
Changeaient de destin.
Elle les caressait, les palpait
Elle en extirpait la poésie cachée.
Ils ont sûrement un langage
Eux qui subissent les marées et voyagent.
Les plus ondulés, quelle merveille!
Ils chuchotent tous à l’oreille…
— Marie Dionne, Peintre, poète, artisane. Sainte-Barbe 1993

I’ve been fiddling with the Jinhao X750 Fountain Pen in order to modify it to fit a Zebra G Nib instead of its regular nib. Why? Because the Zebra G Nib is a very flexible nib which is usually used with dip pens, not fountain pens, and I don’t really like dip pens as you constantly need to dip your pen in ink. So why not convert it?

The Zebra G Nib is very cheap (it comes in a box of 10 nibs on Amazon for about $19 CAD) and the Jinhao Fountain Pen is also a very cheap fountain pen (on Amazon about $15 CAD), so if I am to break or damage the fountain pen, it is not a great loss. But thankfully, nothing bad happened and the pen is working very well thank you!

As you can see below, just by pressing harder the line thickens and when you lessen the pressure, the line is very very thin. Nice -))) The only drawback is I could not really draw very fast as it seems as though the ink takes more time to flow… not a great deal, but I will still tweak it tomorrow.

Moleskine Sketchbook 3″ x 5″
Ink: DeAtramentis Document Ink Black
Fountain Pen: Jinhao with modified Zebra G Nib

Techniques, Watercolour

Greens

Featuredby Jane Hannah4 Comments

Do not try to do extraordinary things
but do ordinary things with intensity.
— Emily Carr.

Testing out different green swatches today for my next trip to Costa Rica this year. These look quite boring but they are quite difficult to do, well for me anyway. I could have chosen for each swatch more saturation or less, more intensity for one colour as opposed to the other, so I tried to do to get consistently equal washes in both colours. That was the main difficulty. Some of the colours that really stand out for me are the following. The spring green, olive, khaki, dark green, rich green, mahogany, grey, and moss green. Generally, Lemon Yellow and Cobalt Green gave the lightest greens and the Hansa Medium made the brightest greens. The Raw Sienna gave the dullest greens and the phthalo green gave the most intense, bright greens.

I have always bought the DS Ultramarine, but the last one has been granulating, which I do not like, so I did another Ultramarine by W&N, which I prefer. The Prussian DS makes gorgeous greens; I will add this colour to my palette for Costa Rica in April.

If you like learning, you could look at Shari’s online classes. This is one of the exercises in her new “trees” course. She is well organized and her classes are always fun, especially since they are online.

DS: Daniel Smith :: DV: Da Vinci :: H: Holbein :: W&N: Winsor & Newton

Paper: 12″x9″ Hahnemulhe CP

Drawing, Handbook Travelogue

Small dominical pleasures…

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

It is wonderful to feel the grandness of Canada in the raw,
not because she is Canada but because she’s something sublime that you were born into,
some great rugged power that you are a part of.
— Emily Carr

Here is a small sketch of today’s small pleasures… with a small clip. We are leaving in April and I am preparing my painting paraphernalia. It grows and shrinks as I put in stuff and then take it out! Hah! The story of my life, I should say. The question of the day was: “How many clips should I bring? And what size clip should I bring?” It seems as if today, I do have time on my side. I had the time to ask myself these silly and mundane questions, but still necessary questions for a painter. Just imagine. When I think of people all over the world that are going through a rough patch, war, hunger, migration, poverty… Emily Carr’s quote feels so real to me, as I have been blessed living here.

Sketchbook Molesine, Techniques

Chill Mama

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

For art and joy go together, with bold openness,
and high head, and ready hand — fearing nought and dreading no exposure.
— James Abbot McNeill Whistler

Forget everything I wrote about my scanner problems as I have resolved them. So here goes. Mac OS Ventura and Silverfast software 8.8 on my Epson Perfection V600 Scanner — which I love by the way. So I twiddled around with the settings and looked up info on Google. Hah! Who doesn’t do that nowadays? Anyway, I listened to one of the “specialists”. Argh! Everything that he mentioned was causing more problems than resolving them.

So yesterday I started tweaking the settings again and Eureka! Now everything is fine. Can’t believe it. Under “Preferences” –> CMS Input at Epson Perfection V600 –> Reflective –> Internal at EPSON sRGB. And that’s it. Everything is back to normal. So this is the image that I tested everything with.

This is my Chill Mama that started out as a tree and ended up as the Chill Mama. Sometimes I just let my brain and fingers do their own thing, without any guidance whatsoever. This can end in utter disaster, or just plain fun. For me, it was the latter.

Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook 5″x8″

Handbook Travelogue, Ink, Watercolour

Longing for Greece

Featuredby Jane Hannah5 Comments

It’s not what you look at that matters,
it’s what you see.
— Henry David Thoreau

What better way than to paint what you long for? This painting is vastly overdone in many places, but I am happy with it. I like the grunginess of it all. It is very characteristic of what I have seen throughout my travels in Greece. Some of my shadows are not the right colours and some are too intense. I could call myself an eager painter as I paint in haste.

Paper: Travelogue Handbook 8″x 8″
Colours: Yellow Ochre, Q. Gold, Q. Rose, Cobalt Blue, Prussian Blue, B. Sienna
Fountain Pen: Pilot Penmanship Fountain Pen, Clear, EF Nib, Japan
Ink: Noodlers Lexington Grey (bulletproof), my favourite colour

Drawing, Ink, Sketchbook Molesine, Watercolour

Flowerets II

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity…
Any activity becomes creative
When the doer cares about doing it right, or better.
— Author unknown

My flowerets in colour. I tested out 2 new colours today, Lavender which is an opaque watercolour and Cobalt Green. Then I got going with all of the other colours that I felt like putting in… must be because of the weather outside, cold and snow with no sun. This is my way of enlightening my days -))) To note that Moleskine Sketchbooks are not really made for watercolours… but they are definitely made for drawing with a fountain pen or technical pen as the paper has a velvety finish that makes ink go so smoothly… it’s as if you are drawing with butter.

And I’m still having problems with the calibration of my scanner since I have updated to Ventura… humph! The background paper is turning dark grey once I post it on WordPress so I have to calibrate each channel (RGB) individually. A real pain! If ever some of you are having the same type of problem, let me know what your solutions are…

Drawing, Ink, Sketchbook Molesine

Flowerets

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We are not going to be able to operate our
Spaceship Earth successfully nor for much longer
unless we see it as a whole spaceship
and our fate as common.
It has to be everybody or nobody.
— Buckminster Fuller, 1895-1983
American engineer, inventor, designer, architect

A bit of line drawing today as I think that this is what I love the most. Drawing lines. Then paint. That will be for later. Hope that you enjoy this very unusual flower… my mind got the better of my fingers and started playing around with them. And by the way, this ink is permanent and indelible, so it will not mix with the watercolours.

Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook 5″x8″
Fountain Pen: Carbon Pen
Ink: DeAtramentis Document Black Ink

Ink, Sketchbook Molesine, Watercolour

Paintbrushes for Valentine’s Day

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

Oh boy! When I start on something, I don’t let go! Meaning that I am still testing my scanner today and I am pretty sure that now my colour calibration is on the dot. Yeah! What really helped my quest was that I did not sleep last night — not a wink — and after tossing and turning and wondering how come I could not sleep I started doing calibration tests in my head. Oh bo-boy! When I start doing that, I am so screwed. But, the results are good! Hah-hah! My mother always used to tell me not to worry as a good night’s rest heals everything… well, perhaps that no rest heals other stuff?

Oh! Posted the wrong painting… ah! No sleep, that’s exactly what happens -)))

Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook 5″x8″
Watercolours: M. Graham’s Payne’s Grey

Techniques

Scanner problems with MacOS Ventura

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

I’ve been having problems with my Epson Perfection V600 since I updated my iMac to the latest MacOS Ventura and eureka! I have just figured everything out. You can disable the colour management completely in the preferences’ CMS tab and lo and behold, it worked.

I just wanted to let you know, if ever anyone is stuck with the same problem as I was having. Of course, you have to do the colour correction yourself, and I went to the histogram tab and readjusted my painting in no time. So here is the same painting as today, but with a new scan.

I had been using Apple’s default Image Capture application which is far below the Silverfast 8.8 application that I am currently using. The Silverfast is so much better. You can see for yourself right here. It is much closer to the real painting.

Sketchbook Molesine, Watercolour

Fooling Around…

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

A smile is a curve that sets everything straight.
(Phyllis Diller)

Fooling around with non-permanent pens… and wow! I did not realize that it would make such a mess of the colours. On the bright side, if you want a grungy look this is the way to go as the ink from the pen washes away and mixes with the watercolours. On the other hand, I like my colours to be “clean” so this was the downside. It doesn’t matter as I am experimenting and enjoying my time doing so. Ahhhhhh… the joys of retirement.

Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook
Pen: Staedtler triplus fineliner
Watercolours: Hansa Med., Q. Rose, Prussian Blue

Techniques

Pretty colours palette

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

Quarrel
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
Ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh-ooh
He who asks for much
Has much to give
I don’t ask for much
Just enough to live
Ooh, in the light
Morning will reveal the spoils of night
Through the walls of Jericho
Ooh-ooh, lies a heart of stone
With you, half the battle is proving that we’re at war
I would give my life just for the privilege to ignore
Don’t call it a lovers’ quarrel
Don’t call it a lovers’ quarrel
— Moses Sumney on Aromanticism Album

I’ve been working digitally on my watercolour palette’s next colour combos. I think that this one will work out fine -) This song, Quarrel, has a softness to it that feels so good in these troubled times.

Drawing, Painting, Sketchbook Molesine, Watercolour

Wonky Crooked House

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

There was a crooked man
There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a little crooked house.
— Mother Goose

There is this wonky crooked house in Windsor, England which I adore. I’ve been looking at pictures of this house for a while now, and today what better day to draw and paint this in? The weather is a balmy -13C, compared to the -30C that we have had in the past few days, and seeing the birds sauntering around today, why not paint?

For the past few months I have been painting without any lines whatsoever which is called direct watercolors, and even though I love painting this way, it felt so good to have a pen in my hand and draawwwiiiinnnnnggggggg! I missed it so much. I think that I’ll be going on a drawing spree. This girl does not do shopping sprees, she does drawing sprees — hah-hah!

Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook 4″ x 6″
Watercolours: Hansa Medium, Yellow Ochre, Q. Rose, Burnt Sienna, Cobalt Blue

Painting, Watercolour

Nocturne II

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

Life isn’t about finding yourself.
Life is about creating yourself.
— George Bernard Shaw

Here is my second Nocturne and I find it quite light… hah-hah! Even if you have the best of intentions, sometimes it just doesn’t work as you had planned. What do I like? The sky and the glow of the buildings on top of the tunnel. I like the tunnel too. What I don’t like? The buildings leading to the tunnel and their insignificance. However, I wanted to put the emphasis on the tunnel and the buildings above… but they did not turn out as I wished. The joys of painting, sometimes you get it, sometimes you don’t. If I have the time, I will repaint this scene, as I believe that I could turn it into a lovely painting… “if” I put in the time.

Paper: Arches CP 9″ x 6″
Watercolours: Hansa Med, Yellow Ochre, Q. Rose, Cobalt Blue
Location: Prague photograph

Painting, Watercolour

Happy Burns Night!

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

O my Luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June:
O my Luve’s like the melodie,
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
And fare-thee-weel, my only Luve!
And fare-thee-weel, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho’ ‘twere ten thousand mile!
A Red, Red Rose
— Robert Burns.

Robert ‘Rabbie’ Burns sits proudly atop the pantheon of Scottish poets. From ‘Auld Lang Syne’ to ‘Address to a Haggis’, his work is intrinsically linked with Scottish culture. His journey from humble rural beginnings to international renown tells the story of a man inspired by nature, class culture and love. It was his birthday today in 1759.

This painting does not look like much but it’s the technique that is so bloody interesting. Totally wet-on-wet, so this means that you need a high level of water control, which is excellent for practice purposes. It forces you to look at your paper and see if it has absorbed enough water or not, if it’s time for you to charge back in or wait a bit… it is kind of a dance with water, watercolours, and paper.

Paper: Arches CP 9″ x 6″
Watercolours: Hansa Med., Q. Gold, Alizarin Crimson, Payne’s Grey

Drawing, Painting, Sketchbook Molesine, Sketches / Drawings / Paintings, Watercolour

The Lee Shore

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

All along the lee shore
Shells lie scattered in the sand
Winking up like shining eyes at me
From the sea
Here is one like sunrise
It’s older than you know
It’s still just lying there, where some careless wave
Forgot it long ago
When I awoke this morning
Dove beneath my floating home
Down below her graceful side in the turning tide
To watch the sea fish roam
There I heard a story
From the sailors of the Sandra Marie
There’s another island
It’s a day’s run away from here
It’s empty and free
From here to Venezuela
There’s nothing more to see
Than a hundred thousand islands
Flung like jewels upon the sea
For you and me
Sunset smells of dinner
Women are calling at me to end my tails
But perhaps I’ll see you, the next quiet place
I furl my sails
— A small tribute for David Crosby

Any artist will tell you, a complicated painting needs simplifying and a certain amount of study. I have this complicated painting to do and first of all the perspective is challenging. So I had to work on it. I found the horizon line first (where the eyes of the viewer “photographer” were) and traced a horizon line. Then with a ruler acting as a pivot, I found my two vanishing points. There are actually three, but I winged that one (the vertical one).

Then I drew the scene in small thumbnail size, about 4″ x 3″, and then painted in the different values with Payne’s Grey. Yes, I have used a pencil for this, as I think that it would be impossible for me to paint in direct watercolours. Some painters might be able to, but not I.

Now let’s hope that tomorrow the final result is somewhat good. We’ll see -)))

Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook 4″ x 6″
Watercolours: Graham Payne’s Grey

Direct Painting, Painting, Watercolour

Nocturne

Featuredby Jane Hannah3 Comments

Music : a short composition of a romantic or dreamy character suggestive of night, typically for piano.
Art : a picture of a night scene.

Did you know that trying out a new way of painting is so bloody difficult? So difficult that I do not even recognize myself in this painting. I can’t find myself in it, even though I know full well that I am the one that painted it.

It’s funny as the same thing happened to me when I handed in my Master’s thesis. When I reread it, I could not find myself in it, as there is a certain “way” of writing that you must follow when writing a thesis… and I was not there. It all looked well and dandy, but nowhere could I be found.

So the same thing goes with painting. Learning a new way of painting is making me “see” differently and I have to apply the paints in a different manner. I could say that I am an apprentice of some sort. Again no lines were put down at the beginning, I laid down a wet wash throughout the paper, then right away added some mountains and reflections in the water. Then waited a bit for the wash to dry a bit, and added the forest. Then waited for it to totally dry and then added the foreground forest and reflections in the water.

Paper: Arches Watercolour
Colours: New Gamboge, Q. Rose, Cobalt, Payne’s Grey

Direct Painting, Watercolour

Clarity

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

There are moments in our lives,
there are moments in a day,
when we seem to see beyond the usual — become clairvoyant.
We reach then into reality.
Such are the moments of our greatest happiness.
Such are the moments of our greatest wisdom.
— The Art Spirit by Robert Henri

I painted this evening scene three times before I was happy with it. At least my horizon line is lower, and I could have lowered it even more. But it’s ok all in all. The scanned painting is not as nice as the real thing, it seems flatter.

Watercolours: New Gamboge, Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, Cobalt Blue, Burnt Umber, Payne’s Grey
Paper: Arches 15″x10″

Sketches / Drawings / Paintings

Five hundred seasons…

Featuredby Jane Hannah7 Comments

Sun warms the lizard’s back
and the humble back of the mountain.
A raven croaks from the top of a thermal.
The valley oak above the barn,
dying a huge branch at a time,
stands in calm mortability, content
with the warm light that has fed its leaves,
the dark waters that have fed its roots,
its acorns that have fed the woodpeckers
for five hundred rainy seasons.
— Ursula K. Le GUin

I have always loved being a student, and I remember in my very young years when school stopped in summer I would be one of the only ones that was sad. In retrospect, during the winter months, my family and I lived in a middle-sized city and in the summer months, totally reclusive… on a beautiful and wonderful lakefront. So my friends got to be divided in two… the winter friends and the summer friends.

This is a bit like this. Some of my winter friends are right out there in the past, and my summer friends seem to be closer to me. So weird in a sense, if you get what I mean.

This is totally unfinished as I am starting over tomorrow morning. The first mistake that I made was the horizon. The horizon, right smack in the middle of the page? No. So tomorrow you will get another version of this… hopefully improved. Even though I really like this.

Paper: Saunders Waterford 12″x9″
Colours: Hansa Deep, Cobalt Blue, Raw Umber, Payne’s Grey

Sketches / Drawings / Paintings

Travelers

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

We came from the far side of the river
of starlight and will cross back over
in a little boat
no bigger than two cupped hands.
Thinking about compassion.
A firefly in a great dark garden.
An earthworm naked
on a concrete path.
I think of the journey
we will take together
in the oarless boat
across the shoreless river.
— Ursula K. Le Guin

I remember the first time that I biked with no hands… exhilarating to say the least. Well this painting is a bit the same. I painted this with absolutely no lines before… straight with watercolours. A feat for moi, for sure! So bloody difficult even if it does look easy… It certainly is a challenge, for someone who loves drawing and using “lines” everywhere. Hah-hah!

Paper: Saunders Waterford 12″x9″
Colours: Hansa Medium, Q. Rose, Cerulean and Ultramarine

Direct Painting, Painting, Watercolour

Westering

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

From sunrise the wind blows
always to sunset
going where the stars go
my breath the wind
this little boat my body
its ragged sail my soul
going where the stars go
— Ursula LeGuin, Final Poems 2014-2018

Painted the same image three times and it gave three different results. The aim was to create a morning atmosphere as this was an early photo scene. I am presently following Uma Kelkar’s amazing class, and she is making us work on morning landscapes, evenings and nocturnes. Can’t say enough good words about her as she is an amazing teacher. I am really not used to painting without lines, so this is a huge challenge for me. Which one do you prefer? I’d love to hear from you…

I’m still seeing the Lonely Mountain Erebor today…

Direct Painting

Lonely Mountain

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

A dry-voiced chickadee
reproves what’s gone amiss.
From our crab-apple tree
she gazes critically
at autumn’s entropy
and quietly says this:
I am Chickadee,
and things have gone amiss.
— Ursula K. LeGuin

When I finally looked at my painting, I thought that this could be the Lonely Mountain Erebor in The Lord of the Rings. I have not painted in a while, because of an erratic schedule. When I was working, my schedule was the same, day in and day out. With retirement in tow, it is now all over the place, a haphazard array of classes, fitness sessions, drinking my coffee oh so slowly… the sublime gesture of it all! There and here!

This painting was done in direct watercolour with no lines before. Just to remind me why it looks the way that it does. Humph!

Direct watercolour painting… no lines.

Drawing, Sketches / Drawings / Paintings

Red Poppies… at last!

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.
— Isaac Asimov

Yesterday’s black and white poppies were just too sad. So I had to paint them today.

Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook
Fountain Pen: Pilot Penmanship Fountain Pen, Clear, EF Nib, Japan
Ink: Noodlers Lexington Grey (bulletproof), my favourite colour
Watercolours: DS Cobalt, DS Green Gold, DS Cadmium Red, DS Alizarin Crimson, Payne’s Grey

Sketches / Drawings / Paintings

Let us remember… and not forget

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

:: Flanders Fields ::

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
— by John McCrae, May

This seems to be a common theme of mine lately. Well yes, let us remember and not forget… in these troubled times.

Sketches / Drawings / Paintings

Revisiting a lesson learned, and also forgotten

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

“I suppose what you’re doing as a painter is making a record of your trip through life.
I can’t think of any job that is quite as satisfactory as doing a painting.”
(Robert Genn (1936- 2014))

The quote above rings true for me… it is true that this blog records part of my life in a way. After preparing for my Book Club for tomorrow night, I now have the leisure of time on my hands… and what do I do with it? Going through some of my older paintings and see what comes up. By the way, her class is spectacular. As a teacher, she invests herself totally in it and she expects you to be totally invested too. An awesome combo.

I had not looked at this painting for over a year as this was done in a class given by Uma Kelkar. Quite interesting to revisit after this time. I really had a lot of fun doing this as it was difficult and challenging. The aim was to look at the reflections (incident light coming from the sun), cast shadows, diffused shadows and shadows and make them believable. I changed some of the blue colours along the way too.

Drawing

Compromise or surrender?

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

Come, come, whoever you are.
Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving – it doesn’t matter,
Ours is not a caravan of despair. (Rumi)

I have been furiously scribbling away while waiting on the phone for the credit card company to fix my compromised card.A full 2 hours later, it has been done at last! So in want of a better means of entertainment, I just scribbled away while looking at a photo. I think that he reflects my state of mind… LOL -) Purchases were made on the credit card that I was not even aware of. Thankfully, the fraud department saw through it, and I have not been charged… phew! I wonder why they use the term “compromised” but hey! I won’t argue with them.

Moleskine Sketchbook
Fountain Pen: Pilot Penmanship Fountain Pen, Clear, EF Nib, Japan
Ink: Noodlers Lexington Grey (bulletproof), my favourite colour

Sketches / Drawings / Paintings

No promises, back & front, forwards & backwards

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

When Joni Mitchell was nine, she contracted polio. After recovery, she taught herself how to walk again. In 2015, after her brain aneurysm, Mitchell again taught herself to walk. As a tween, she had taught herself to play the guitar from a Pete Seeger songbook. With her left hand weakened, she devised daring alternate tunings, which led to innovative voicings, and intuitive approaches to harmony and song structure.
— The Painter’s Key

This time I will not promise that I am back in business and that I will be painting a number of paintings…. I’ve learnt that lesson far too often. But what I will say is that I am hopeful, that with the turn of the seasons, I get back to drawing or painting for my heart’s desire.

Yesterday I found one of the photographs that I took in Turkey a long time ago, about 7 years ago I guess, that had always fascinated me and I thought that it would be fun to draw. Well, then, once I had drawn it, I thought it would be fun to add colours to this and practice with rusty eyes with new colours. So here it is. It developed into the front and back of a person… search me how come, but hey! I was having fun. Don’t know if you noticed, but the one on the left has a door as it is a police station in Turkey… can you imagine working in such amazing architecture?

Sketchbook: Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook
Colours: Ochre, Alizarin Crimson, Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine, Burnt Umber
Location: Rigaud, Québec, Canada

Watercolour

Practicing looseness

Featuredby Jane Hannah4 Comments

“I never get tired of the blue sky.”
— Vincent van Gogh

With this experiment, I tried playing with different values and staying the loosest possible and it gave me quite an abstract result. I had to go over the trees with a black pen afterwards as the values were too similar…. had trouble distinguishing the trunk from the background. Here the leaves have not started to burgeon yet, but soon…. very soon!

Direct Painting, Watercolour

Direct Painting in Watercolour

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep.
— Scott Adams

What does direct painting mean? It just means that you do not draw any lines whatsoever beforehand. You take your brush, and your brush becomes the calligraphic tool. Very very intimidating at first, but then you get a thrill of doing it. So for this painting of the Joshua Tree National Park in California, I find that it is rendered very softly… a tad too soft in a way. I should have painted a level 5 value in the end to add contrast but I decided to keep it this way. Still happy with it!

Paper: Saunders Waterford CP
Colours: Yellow Ochre, Cerulean Blue, Burnt Umber

Drawing, Painting, Watercolour

To have spunk…

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.”
— (Frank Lloyd Wright)

Even though this dog is unknown to me, he has spunk! Like many small dogs that I know, they are fierce little creatures when taunted and show courage and determination. I like his badass attitude when painting, but I really do not enjoy when they constantly bark at you. LOL -) My own big Golden Retriever is nothing like this. He is soft, gentle, intelligent, never barks (or hardly) and is very affectionate. He is also getting very old, on our daily walks he lags behind and is walking very very slowly. I fear that not much time is left for our big guy.

Paper: Pentalic Sketchbook
Colours: [W&N] Yellow Ochre, [W&N] Payne’s Grey and [DS] Alizarin Crimson

Drawing

Just a little push…

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

I want to remind you that regardless of the turmoil you have in your life, or the errands, or daily tasks, it’s important that you stop and make a sketch, even if you only spend 10 minutes on it. That connection to your creativity will bring you back each day to your creativity. It will help you stay limber for those days when you might actually squeeze in an hour (gasp!)
— https://rozwoundup.com

Sometimes what you need is just a little push and you start doing it. I have been busy, yes busy, but not busy enough to stop drawing or painting as it fills your heart and purpose in life. So I just needed this little push and https://rozwoundup.com/ did it for me.

Here are some of her words, and I thank her.

So here is a dog that she painted that I drew, in gratitude.

Sketches / Drawings / Paintings

Meteora, Greece

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

La fin du monde est à sept heures
Annonçait le téléviseur
La fin du monde est à sept heures
La fin du monde est à sept heures
On voit les signes avant-coureurs
Les voisins ne se parlent plus
On ne rigole plus dans la rue
Les gens ne font que travailler
Ils sont chanceux et occupés
Le samedi, ils magasinent
Avez-vous vu leur triste mine
— Jean Leloup, “La fin du monde est à sept heures”

Painting done in direct watercolour, no lines, directly on watercolour paper, Saunders Waterford CP. So hard to do and so proud too. Wow! Never thought that I would be able to pull this off. All a question of values… value 2 for the mountains, value 4 for the strokes in the stone and value 5 for the shadows. Still so much to learn, but I am following a path…

Sketches / Drawings / Paintings

:: Desert ::

Featuredby Jane HannahLeave a Comment

There is a town in north Ontario,
With dream comfort memory to spare,
And in my mind
I still need a place to go,
All my changes were there.
— Neil Young, “Helpless” Canadian singer, songwriter extraordinaire.
— https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8LYOyqJE7k

The same landscape as the previous ones, but the elements of design are different, as in this case colours. Hot, fiery desert winds and sparks of light. In our sub-zero temperatures here in Quebec, it feels good to delve into a bit of warmth… once in a while.

Sketches / Drawings / Paintings

Unreal II

Featuredby Jane Hannah2 Comments

I’m really starting to have fun with these “unreal” landscapes…. they are pushing me in another direction which I like. They are pushing me to throw in elements from my imagination into a landscape instead of painting what I see in front of me. As an urban sketcher I often see myself as a recorder, a gatherer of information, painting a memento of what lies in front of me, of the landscape or cityscape around me.

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