Friday, August 15, 2014

J. Herbin Ink tests

I bought a bouquet of flowers to use for a still-life sketch. Needless to say, the result was catastrophic. I then decided to fill a page with bits of flowers and leaves, but this failed partially as well because I did not fill the page as I wanted. I managed only few small sketches.

I discovered the importance of having a small, pointed brush! I know, hardly anything worth writing about. But most of the time I use a medium size water brush. In this case , I used a smaller brush and I like the way colors blended. I used leftover color from my palette.

I outlined the leaves with J Herbin Bresil cocoa ink and Lamy EF pen. To my surprise, the ink dissapeared completely when  I applied the wash. I add some lines at the end.

I did a test using the ink with a dip pen and the line does not dissapear the same way. I guess it is really a combination between the ink and the type of line the pen creates.

I realized I could cheat with this ink - draw with it, then melt it with washes and the end result will look as if I painted straight with watercolor. Clever, huh ?!