insect

More Mushrooms! Watercolour explorations

Angela PorterLeave a comment

Link to today’s vlog

Ecoline watercolour inks, insects and mushrooms

As you can see, I finished the insect painting. I’m really quite happy with this artwork, even more so as it’s the first one done entirely with a new medium to me – Ecoline watercolour inks.

Of course there’s a lot more exploring and working with them to come, including a rather cute bunch of mushrooms!

I started drawing the mushrooms with a grey unipin pen. Then, I had a flash of inspiration; try using watersoluble fineliner pens instead and see if the line will disappear even more!

So, I dug out a fairly pale Chameleon fineliner pen (NU4), which was darker than I thought it would be. All the same, it would suit my purposes for this experiment.

The pen didn’t react with water/ink as easily as I thought it would. Perhaps that’s because I’m working on watercolour paper…maybe. Or perhaps because I’m using a fairly dry brush with the watercolours. If there’s too much wetness, the colour migrates to the edge of the wet area and the centre becomes pale to colourless.

No problem now I have recognised this. I just use a paler fineliner in future explorations.

I am still really enjoying the Ecoline watercolour inks. I know I said I thought I’d found my water-medium of choice with the Mijello Mission Gold watercolours. The Mijello’s are great, the best watercolour paints I’ve used so far. But, the Ecoline inks just seem to work so much better for me and my style of art.

Am I going to abandon the Mijellos? Nope! But for a while they’ll be put to one side as I work with Ecoline inks. It may be that I work out how I can best work with the Mijellos as a result of using Ecoline inks. Perhaps I’ll end up using them in concert from time to time. I don’t know for sure!

Of course, I won’t be abandoning digital art/coloring. Ideas, techniques, inspirations flow from one medium to another.

Watercolour Experiments

Angela PorterLeave a comment

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I’ve been experimenting with water-based media over the past couple of days. I’ve finally completed a watercolour painting that I’m fairly happy with. Apart from the bright pinks and dark purples. Note to self – analogous colour schemes with a pop of complementary colour are the way to go!

The painting on the left was done using a variety of media – Phoenix pan watercolours. Mijello Mission Gold watercolours, Zig clean colour brush pens, Tombow Dual Brush markers, and Ecoline brush pens. All applied and/or blended out with either a waterbrush or a damp brush.

The Ecoline brush pens are new to me. I purchased them to replace the Zig pens I made a right mess of when I spilled a whole mug of coffee everywhere. I thought I’d missed the tin with them in, but I hadn’t. It wasn’t a great loss; the pens were old and beginning to dry. So, maybe a serendipitous accident with the coffee!

The Ecoline brush pens contain concentrated liquid watercolour inks. The pens are really juicy too! Even when really diluted, the colours are still vibrant on the paper. Also, as they dry they don’t lose much vibrancy, if any! They’re taking a while to get used to, as any new medium does. But, using them is making me smile…a lot!

As soon as I started using them to complete some of the remaining elements in the abstract botanical painting, I just knew I was going to love them! So, I ordered the second set of pens to complete the whole colour range. It may very well be that as the pens run out, I’ll replace them with the bottles of Ecoline watercolour ink/paint. Or, I may look at other options.

Fairly quickly, I worked out that a waterbrush wasn’t the way to either apply or spread out the colour. I tend to create detailed drawings, so traditional brushes where I can control how much water/colour I apply are the way to go for me.

I’m beginning to think I may have found my traditional media of choice! Digital art is my strength when it comes to colour, but these pens, this type of medium, may be the equivalent in traditional media.

The downside of the Ecoline paints is that they are dye based so are not lightfast. However, as I tend to scan in my art to sell on products, then that won’t be a problem.

The insect was something I just had to try. I do have a fair bit to learn. If I keep adding layers of colours, the earlier ones get spread to the edges and create dark areas. Those, however, may work for me. I’ll see. I’ll also see if I can lift some of that colour in a selective manner to lighten them up again.