Monday, March 14, 2011

(Celtic) fish knot

Fish knot © Peter Gander
I’ve always loved the graphic quality of medieval heraldry and Celtic designs. Using one of those out-of-copyright books on Celtic designs from The Dover Bookshop in London, I chose my favourite subject of fish as my inspiration. And as much as this design would look fantastic as a clean black and white linocut, I thought I’d paint it in gouache to keep the design tonally interesting. The gouache, in various states of dilution, conveys a rich, painted glass-style quality. The background is actually a deep violet colour, which doesn’t come across very well in the scan. Winsor and Newton white gouache on 160gsm deep violet Daler Rowney Murano pastel paper.

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Illustration for upcoming 'Lake District Map'

Hand-drawn in brush pen with digital colour.  © Peter Gander