Two Things...

1.  I'm finishing my latest watercolor by adding pen and ink, using a dip pen and Sepia ink I bought in Venice.  I inadvertently dropped my pen last night, and bent the nib. 😧I used pliers to try to fix it but nothing helped (it just wouldn't hold the ink). I panicked. I only had about 5 more minutes left to finish the piece.  Tried shopping online, and then I remembered....!

Two years ago I bought this child's version of a dip pen for my then 6 yr old granddaughter/artist. I felt she did not yet have the dexterity to handle it or the ink bottle, and who knows? She might even drop and break the pen!  💚

Her pen saved the day! I've been recording (at high speed) the painting process for this piece. I just have to figure out how to stitch the various videos together now.  😕 

2) Because I wanted a variety of yellows for my aforementioned painting, I pulled out several tubes and created "drawdowns" for them.  (I used to work as Purchasing Manager for a household paint manufacturer in my 20's. In their world, a drawdown is a large sample of paint from the actual can of paint being used for the job.)

Here I sampled two Daniel Smith pigments and realized they were beyond "extremely similar", although the New Gamboge does seem to be more vibrant by just a hair. It made the cut!

WORKSHOPS

Admit it! We've all felt too cooped up!  Please REPLY to this email if you'd like to be added to my Notifications about upcoming workshops.  In the Fall of 2021, we are going to Venice, Florence and Portugal!

THIS November, if all goes well, you'll have the pleasure of painting with Kim Minichiello, an awarded artist from Florida. I invited her to Summerville, SC to teach you!  Summerville is only 20 miles from the Charleston airport (airport code CHS if you want to research flights).  You may find details for Kim's workshop HERE. Just the "proverbial" few spots are left at this point! You will paint both of these reference images, as small 8x8 to 12x12 paintings. Please share this info with a painting friend? Thanks!!

            

Paintings copyrighted by Kim Minichiello (Workshop Details HERE).

https://www.helenkbeacham.com/

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All my best,

Helen 💟

Depicting Bricks in Ink

Today I was asked, by one of my students, how I incorporate line work (ink) into my paintings that have brick in them.  

"When you do brick outlines in permanent marker do you do rows or start in a corner and fan outward? I think I want to attempt that on this picture."  Then she included her painting, along with one of mine that she wanted to emulate the look and feel of.

Her painting, along with her reference photo.

My painting that shows the bricks she'd like to emulate.

So, here's the input I gave her...I'm hoping it helps others of you as well.

1) First of all, be aware of how large to make your bricks. They will not necessarily be the size I used. Depends mostly on how close the building is. 

2) I do draw my brick rows in pencil lightly first to get the angles of the lines as they either move away from me or not (perspective).

3) then, again in pencil, I start to draw in some of the bricks nearest my main focal area (not on the outside edges of the building). Maybe around a door or a window.

4) I either then finish by using pencil or, if I feel confident enough, I jump in with ink. (I use a variety of inking options, but on this one, I used a Sharpie Ultrafinepoint marker.  Since this painting was done en plein air, it was easier to travel with.)

5) For interest, some lines are fatter than others and I never use a ruler in order to keep it fresher.

6) I don't always use ink in my paintings.  But I still try to give the bricks some individual character so that it doesn't look mechanical. Here's an example.

No ink used in this painting.

Please feel free to leave your own watercolors with brick work in the comments section.  We can all learn from each other.

EARLY BIRD REGISTRATION IS NOW OPEN FOR SOME OF MY 2018 WORKSHOPS.

FIND THEM ALL ON MY WEBSITE HERE.

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