Teatime

Drawing and painting with teas

I recently purchased a copy of  'The Organic Painter' by Carn Griffiths. He does some fabulous works using tea, coffee or wine stains, mixing with inks, stamps and splatters. His book is quite inspiring and I and my Thursday nighters have been playing around with the techniques.

Preparing paper with tea stains, for the one on the left I used English Breakfast tea and a tea made with saffron threads. The right side is saffron tea and the cranberry rosehip tea. The photo also shows some of the stamps I have made using white PVC (eraser or block), and Sennilier inks in Turquise and Sepia.

Here are some test sheets. Click to enlarge and read the method. Note that the yellow used was a tea made from Tumeric.

Three 'finished' works. Teas, inks, spatter, stencils, stamps - lots of fun.

All paper used in these tests was 300gsm Waterford cold press.

I am travelling for the next few weeks - but hope to have some things to show you when I return. Until then, Happy Drawing and don't forget to sign on for the January workshop in Bathurst!

Summer Workshop

Art Scene School of Arts (Bathurst)

19-25 January, 2020

Come join me in Bathurst for a week of drawing!

Take your drawings even further and expore the world of colour and graphite pencil! Colour pencils have often been associated with childhood, but since the early 20th century artist-quality colour pencils have been produced that turned a child’s toy into a serious medium for artists. Learn to master layering colours over and on top of one another to create colour pencil paintings of a rich and luminous depth. Texture, reflection, form and composition and all your colour pencil questions will be answered in this workshop as well as basic colour theory. Discover the difference between wax/oil pencils and watercolour pencils, how to layer, blend, create texture, wash or not, how to include graphite, which paper to use when, as well as all the basic techniques you need to get the most out of your graphite or colour pencil. You will enjoy step-by-step guidance, and the best part is that these techniques can be learned by anyone – no matter your current skill level!

Subjects this year will include: ‘Glass’ in waxed/standard colour pencil or graphite pencil, ‘Botanical’ in Aquarelle colour pencils, ‘Landscape’ in graphitint and graphite pencil, and an animal subject using colour pencils on coloured paper. All levels of experience welcome.

Sign up today at: The Artscene

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'Tree'
Watersoluble Graphite and Graphite