Peter Gander Fine Art

New Year, New Yew Tree Sign

2012-01-20T10:44:00.000Z

At last, The Old Yew Tree, Westbere, Kent, has my new sign up. Here I proudly stand below it, with a real yew tree visible right behind it.

President Emmental pack

2012-01-15T20:18:00.001Z

‘President’ Emmental © Peter Gander

Another small square painting for one of Fiona’s Family Mosaics. Each small square of the print reflects a particular interest of the person or family involved and a small painting like this looks far better than a ‘pack shot’. Drawn with a dip or ‘scratch’ pen, I allowed the (Rotring) ink to dry before adding watercolour, as it’s resistant to water only when dry. The dip pen gives a lovely, variable line like no other. The coloured shadow was painted wet-into-wet. Ink and Winsor & Newton watercolour on Daler-Rowney 300gsm rough paper.

‘Seven Peas’ Gravy Boat

2012-01-06T17:42:00.000Z


The ‘Seven Peas’ Gravy Boat © Peter Gander

Following on from my recent post & visit to Chessell Pottery in the Isle of Wight, I recently painted this gravy boat (well, it’s a half-litre jug really) as my keen cook wife wanted something handmade for Christmas. I found the excellent Espressions pottery painting & ceramics café in The King’s Mile in nearby Canterbury, Kent. The spelling is intentional and reflects their excellent coffee offering. The place is run by a really friendly couple and they bent over backwards to see that they had the right kind of pot in for me too. Design-wise, I took a leaf out of Edward Lear’s Owl & Pussycat verse and painted a scene to match my theme of ‘sailing the seven peas’. Again, using the sgraffito method, I was advised to paint several layers of white onto the entire raw jug, allowing this to dry and then add a few layers of dense black. Scraping back the black to reveal the white layer underneath proved much easier this time as the softer white layer was more yielding than the white ceramic substrate of my Chessell fishy plate, so thanks for the tip, Espressions!

The Beetle

2011-12-23T19:45:00.000Z

The Beetle © Peter Gander

Back to acrylics for this new painting, a Christmas present for my eleven year-old son Jack. It’s our bottle-green Mexican import Volkswagen Beetle, in the (much lovelier) old style of body design, though only a decade old as it was one of the last run of Mexican imports made in the retro style in 2003. Jack loves classic cars and is very fond of this motor (as I am) and asked that I paint if for him months ago, so he should be chuffed with this. I had got to the stage where the car was finished on a plain white canvas and something was lacking, so I gave it a bit more of a cooler, urban feel, with spattered and running paint. (Hope he’s too busy to be looking at my website before Christmas Day ;)

Flame koi (digital)

2011-11-29T14:32:00.000Z

Flame koi © Peter Gander

From water(colour) to fire today, experimenting with Flame Painter, designed by Peter Blaskovik over at EscapeMotions. If you’ve ever fancied playing with fire without getting burnt, this is the drawing package for you. I bought it thinking it would be a good tool to sketch out (real-life) fire sculpture pieces, another creative pursuit I am keen to look into. If there are any artists out there that know anything about fire sculpture by the way, do let me know. Flame Painter/Wacom Bamboo/Adobe Photoshop

Misty morning, Swalecliffe

2011-11-28T20:30:00.000Z

Misty morning, Swalecliffe © Peter Gander

A recent cool, early morning November cycle ride took me through the coastal area of Swalecliffe, in between Herne Bay and Tankerton, Whitstable. Visibility was poor, but atmosphere rich - dog walkers on the dirt track in this marshy area the loomed out of the fog which unfurled from the sea, merging into the grey sky in a horizonless vista. Despite the fog, I managed to spot my first white egret here in Swalecliffe Brook (on the left of the painting). Like a small albino heron, it stood ghostly and motionless in the water, probably on the lookout for eels. The absorbent paper is a weighty mould-made 560lb and made the merging of colours in the fog a dream, as the paper retains the water for ausefully long period. Winsor and Newton watercolour on Jackson’s 560lb Extra Rough Eco Handmade paper.

The Old Yew Tree Inn pub sign designs

2011-11-09T09:37:00.000Z

The favoured calligraphic design © Peter Gander

I recently posted about my postcard painting at The Old Yew Tree Inn, near my club’s fly-fishing lake at Westbere, Kent. Well, chatting to Mark and Anna, the proprietors recently, I suddenly became involved in a project to design and paint a new pub sign for them to replace their weatherbeaten version which has seen better days. The tradition of pub signwriting is a dying art nowadays as pubs are dying out, especially in rural areas and pub chains produce digital signs with little regard for the provenance of the pub itself, often renaming them too, thus swathes of inns have little visible heritage but the building itself. From a design point of view, Mark and I were keen to reflect a contemporary attitude (food etc) within this 14th century pub (Kent’s oldest) whilst trying not to ride roughshod over its significant history. I looked at illustrative and calligraphic design icons that respected the pub’s historical roots (forgive the pun) with the Yew Tree on centre stage. I drew up five black and white sketches (or ‘scamps’ as we call them in the trade) for Mark and Anna to choose from.

Scamps A to E © Peter Gander

Scamp (D) proved to be the favourite and next steps will be to look at the colour palette.

The pedalling painter 1: Reculver and back (12k)

2011-11-07T14:46:00.002Z

The artist © Peter Gander

In little less than a year I will be doing a cycling tour along a portion of The Compostela di Santiago (The Pilgrim’s Route) - in the south-west of France, with my brother and old art college friend Ben, a trip of at least 600 kilometers and today it was time to start something resembling a training regime. Admittedly a 12k round trip is no big deal at all, (even the paper boy would scoff) but not having cycled properly for some years I needed to set my sights, well, on Reculver Towers, 6 kilometers away and just visible from Herne Bay’s seafront. It’s an ancient Roman monument which bizarrely was only partly demolished in the 1920s. They left the towers to the front of the building in situ as a navigational aid to passing ships. Anyway, my wife Fiona is far fitter than I and regularly runs 5k or so which she takes, erm, in her stride. And she dutifully ushered me along the way with the odd reassuring word and the habit of disappearing over the horizon like a out-of-reach carrot to a hungry donkey, in a similar way that my brother did when we recently did a ride or two in France. Still, I was enjoying the 20mph cold north-easterly gale in my face, supressing my forward progress like I had the ‘bike handbrake’ on. And I use the title ‘The Pedalling Painter’ in a wishful sense, as it really was howling with wind, plus we had to be back for an appointment, so the chances of sketching en route were very unlikely (I’m hoping for more balmy weather too in France). Thus Fiona took this shot which I opened up on the Mac and sketched from a distance, freehand. Cheating perhaps, but better than nowt. Future Pedalling Painter posts will be from longer rides with a proper sketch stop built in, something I hope to carry on doing on our French trip at the end of the day or during a lunch-stop. Ink and brush with Winsor and Newton watercolour on 210gsm Khadi handmade sketchbook.

Chessell Pottery fish plate

2011-11-02T10:48:00.003Z

Fly-fishing plate © Peter Gander

Last week during half-term, we took the kids over the water to the Isle of Wight, to Fiona’s bungalow in Ventnor, which is looked after by friends Helen and Frazer of Vintage Vacations. We were only there for a few days and the autumnal weather called for an afternoon’s leisure indoors. We picked out Chessell Pottery Barns near Calbourne on the island. We selected our blanks, a piece of slip-cast pottery, choosing from bowls and egg-cups to mugs and vases. I picked out a large 10 inch plate, the best and biggest ‘blank canvas’ available. I set out with a technique called ‘sgraffito’ in mind, where the paint is applied then scratched away by a metal tool called a fettling knife (just visible in the top photo).


Laying down successive layers of black paint (3 were used in total)

Hand-lettering the words with bottle of paint

Scratching in the scale design with the tailormade fettling tool


The final piece showing pallette, fettling knife and squeezy paint bottles

Lettering was done by squeezing a matching paint through a fine-tipped plastic paint bottle, icing- bag-style. Cutting through the now-dried layers of rock-hard paint with the knife was hard going, fluid, curved lines must be very tricky but mine was a relatively simple design. I added a decorative couple of blocks of water and the fly and job done. As our plates needed firing to glaze the design and we were due to leave the island the next day before a firing day was due, we will have to wait until next year to collect our pieces! In any event, were soon distracted from that glitch by the Barn’s legendary cream tea to finish a great afternoon off!

2011-10-25T21:25:00.000+01:00

Conkers & acorns © Peter Gander

Autumn in England. Conkers and acorns. Whilst out walking the dog I crunched underfoot this unfeasibly long acorn, minus its little cradling, egg-cup-like stalk. It was bigger than a nearby conker which was missed by schoolboys looking for bigger prizes as they clacked their sticks up at the boughs of the horse chestnut, shielding their faces as the sticks came down again, peeking hopefully at a shower of prize conkers, thudding on the wet grass, nestled inside alien spiky green cases. Winsor & Newton watercolour and charcoal on handmade Indian Khadi (210gsm) rough paper.

2011-10-11T16:29:00.002+01:00

Still life, petit chien © Peter Gander

On a recent trip to see my brother where he lives in Navarrenx, a Béarnaise area of south-west France, I perused a wealth of bric-a-brac that sits on the mantel piece on top of his giant fireplace. I chose a grouping of this wooden Indian scuttle, porcelain dog and wax cactus candle to sketch. It’s actually painted in the main with white gouache on Raven Black paper, with sanguine and white Conté details plus charcoal pencil.

2011-09-23T15:14:00.000+01:00

Nude by bath © Peter Gander

An experiment in combining traditional and digital techniques. The nude is drawn with a charcoal pencil, highlighted in white and sanguine Conté, then scanned. I also scanned the background Kraft paper (or ‘brown’ paper as we poetically call it in the UK), seperately. The patches of aqua, green foliage, sienna border and model’s back highlight in white were then added as tints (in Photoshop/Wacom pen & tablet). Looks Anglo-Chinese perhaps?

2011-09-14T08:55:00.001+01:00

Herne Bay Pier Trust’s web page

My recent postcard for The Herne Bay Pier Trust (THBPT) appears on their website today. The demolition of the Sports Pavilion, which the postcard commemorates, begins this week. The original painting will either be auctioned or raffled off soon, so we are hoping to recreate the success of the recent Pilgrims Hospices Charity Postcard Auction with the sale of the painting, 100% of the proceeds of which will go to THBPT.

2011-09-09T16:07:00.003+01:00

Mackerel on stone © Peter Gander

Note the canvas-like toothy texture of this mould-made paper

The mackerel, a fishy favourite of mine, both in eating and illustrative terms, with its iteresting body pattern which I have visited before, of course. Another painting on Two Rivers paper, a substrate so well-suited for this study of the fish lying on a stone surface, as it’s rich in texture, most notable in the close-up. Note also the huge brush that I use, which I also keep at arms’ length in order to keep a freer, looser feeling to my work than if I used a tiny brush up close. Winsor & Newton watercolour on 400gsm Two Rivers (Somerset) deckle-edged, handmade paper.

2011-09-07T17:50:00.000+01:00

The fish padlock © Peter Gander

I started this painting of my beloved fish padlock a couple of months ago. The padlock is a weighty lump of hand-incised brass and is accompanied by a more golden-coloured key. I bought this beautiful piece of handmade Indian art on Ebay a few years ago from India and though I wish I could say I had an exclusive ‘fishing tackle shed’, it does appropriately guard my fishing gear in my garden shed. Painting-wise, my original, half-baked creative attempt was painted in gouache and not working at all on the strongly-coloured pastel paper, so I abandoned it. The whole thing was wishy-washy, so undeserving of something so chunky and strong and I didn’t know what to do with it. Revisiting it today, I covered the whole coloured image in black Indian ink, creating a black silhouette and started again. This time with soft pastels working in darkest colours first over the black, finishing with the highlight. I then painted the scales, keyhole and fin lines in ink and finally, acheived a good result. Indian ink and soft pastel on Daler Rowney Murano (warm colours) Pastel Paper (160gsm).

Ye Olde Yew Tree website

2011-09-02T16:03:00.001+01:00

Ye Olde Yew Tree website

Back in the spring I painted the above pub image on a postcard whilst sipping a pint of Harvey's in the garden of this quintessentially English icon, The Olde Yew Tree Inn, in Westbere, Kent. The owners soon asked me over for a futher pint or two of Harvey's which I duly bartered for said postcard and now it adorns their website and has also been made into punters’ postcards in a nicely rounded twist of events. Do pop in for pint if you’re in the area, it’s Kent’s oldest pub at nearly 700 years old and that is surely worth raising a glass to!

Local (Margate) mackerel for Pilgrim’s Hospices Postcard Auction

2011-09-02T13:30:00.001+01:00

Local (Margate) mackerel © Peter Gander

Based on my original ‘Local mackerel’ of the Whitstable variety, I have donated this Margate version to The Pilgrims Hospices current Postcard Auction exhibition. The show starts this weekend (3rd Septeber 2011) and culminates in each anonymous postcard being auctioned. My fish will appear alongside eminent artists’ work such as Tracey Emin’s (she lived in Margate). See also www.flickr.com/photos/43044290@N06/6096327495/in/photostream and http://www.pilgrimshospices.org/news/mystery-art-lover-bids-more-than-2000-for-postcard/ Waterproof drawing pen with Winsor & Newton watercolour on The Langton 300gsm paper. • SOLD Saturday 10 September 2011

Bandstand and pier, Herne Bay

2011-08-23T15:53:00.000+01:00

Bandstand & pier, Herne Bay © Peter Gander

Another painting on Two Rivers paper of the view out to sea incorporating the Victorian Bandstand, the 1970s pavilion just left of centre and Neptune’s Arm to the right, which is Herne Bay harbour’s protective wall. And again, technique-wise, much is made of the rich tooth of the paper in creating sandy textures with earthy browns and good ol’ Payne’s Grey. Winsor & Newton watercolour on Two Rivers mould-made 400gsm paper.

Hampton pier angler

2011-08-22T11:37:00.000+01:00


Hampton pier angler © Peter Gander

A new painting on a kind of paper, namely Two Rivers handmade paper, which is handcrafted in Somerset, England. I am a great fan of rough, textured papers and Two Rivers has both in spades. Unusually, the water will lie in droplets on the surface (if no washes are added previously) as it so hard-sized, but this makes for a much more workable surface. The rocky surface is made for my richly-textured work and I am already a fan and will be posting more paintings on the paper as I extend my experience with it. Winsor & Newton watercolour on Two Rivers handmade paper.

Herne Bay Pier Trust commemorative postcard

2011-08-18T13:38:00.005+01:00

Commemorative Herne Bay Pier Trust Pavilion postcard © Peter Gander

I have recently produced a humorous postcard for The Herne Bay Pier Trust (HBPT) who have a newly-opened Gallery on the seafront where I live. The pier, which is disconnected from the pier head still visible a third of a mile away at sea, is also due to lose its 1970s sports pavilion building this year. But this time it will be a demolition crew rather than a severe storm that will see the demise of this part of the pier, as the jaded pavilion building is no longer a viable sports facility though in its time it nurtured Herne Bay’s famous roller skating teams (see the HBPT website for full story). Visually, note that the construction of the sports pavilion’s roof is obviously inspired by the undulating waves of the sea and I mimicked this again in the waves in the foreground. The local angling club, The Herne Bay Angling Association holds a Monster Crabbing Competition for the kids during this week’s Herne Bay Festival which provided a good ‘stage’ for an amusing scene choc-full of people. I painted the original, with hand-lettered elements, at A3 size (420mm x 297mm), which is 8x larger than the final printed postcard dimensions. I allowed for the inclusion of the HBPT logo on the far right but hidden in the original painting behind that very space is a special saucy bonus image that only the buyer of the original painting will get to see ;) The postcards and original painting will be for sale at the HBPT gallery on the seafront with a healthy portion of the proceeds going to the Trust. Permanent ink drawing pen and Winsor & Newton watercolour on Langton Prestige 300gsm smooth paper.

Carrot trio linoprint

2011-07-06T17:30:00.000+01:00

Painting the image directly onto the lino with indian ink

Back to printing again yesterday with a linocut of three carrots. Rather than re-trace the fussy pencil lines of the carrot’s feathery foliage from an original onto the lino via tracing paper, I painted directly onto the surface with a paintbrush. The outline of the carrot’s body, although seen here, is actually cut away, it’s just used as a guide in this context. Also, because the holes or negative spaces within the foliage are many and complex, I left the detail out so that I could directly carve these as I went along. A seperate relief block for the carrot bodies was prepared from foam board for the orange colour plate.

Carrot trio © Peter Gander

As you can see from the final print, a green and yellow were printed first and I was intending to leave it there, but the print lacked a certain something, so I overprinted a water-based black on top of the oil-based orange and green. This imparts a certain transparency to the black as it cannot fully mask the oil colours underneath, thus the green does show through, achieving a dark green. Oil and waterbased printing ink on cartridge paper.

Happy Birthday Fiona!

2011-07-06T11:16:00.001+01:00

Our bench © Peter Gander

It’s Fiona’s birthday today and this card that I painted for her is of a sailboat-shaped bench found on the shore at Whitstable, where we sat after our first date about 4 years ago. Winsor & Newton watercolour on 300gsm Jackson’s (UK) Eco Cotton Rag (medium rough).

Fiona’s red shoes

2011-06-25T10:47:00.000+01:00


Fiona’s red shoes © Peter Gander

Our first wedding anniversary today and traditionally this anniversary is represented by paper, so what better keepsake than a homespun card with an original watercolour on it. The Langton 300gsm (rough), to be precise. Happy 1st anniversary Fiona ;)

St Pancras Renaissance Hotel

2011-06-23T16:32:00.000+01:00

The hotel behind The British Museum's wall

I’ve been freelancing at St Luke’s agency between London’s King’s Cross and Euston stations for a few weeks. Sitting in the sunshine at The British Museum over a week ago I attempted to sketch this ludicrously complex building in my lunch hour. It’s now known as The Renaissance Hotel, built in 1873 in an ornately gothic style. A bit of a textbook mistake as it was far too ornate to complete even just the linework in one lunchtime!

Sketch in progress...

Since that day, we’ve experienced a rather typical British June. Blustery showers and wind! So I’ve not been able to complete the sketch until today when the sun was out and big, billowing clouds filled the sky. Which is far more interesting than a blank blue one, of course.

All done with big, voluminous clouds © Peter Gander

It had rained earlier today, so my previous perch atop a stone wall was unusable. So, standing up in a windy corner, I completed the painting. This stage much easier than the drawing bit. I had used a sketching cartridge pad, (Daler-Rowney Fine Grain Heavy) but it’s only 200gsm, not really a heavy compared to a 300gsm watercolour paper that I would normally use. As such, the substrate was a bit poor in giving me the usual benefits of a watercolour paper such as blending opportunities and slow drying time, but the result was a good one nevertheless.

Fish and Fry (digital art)

2011-06-23T15:33:00.000+01:00

Fish & Fry © Peter Gander

A favourite theme. Following on from a traditionally-painted white ink sketch of the same subject I did sometime ago, I thought I would exploit the benefits of digital art in that the small fish representing the adult fish's scales are easily reproducible. 'Fry' are newly-hatched fish, by the way ;) Wacom Bamboo Pen & Touch digital art.

Square pics for Mosaic: Skier

2011-06-21T16:43:00.002+01:00

Skier © Peter Gander

My wife Fiona, a photographer, produces PhotoMosaics, personal, framed multi-image prints made up of a medley of photographs. These are commissioned by families or schools. Dotted throughout these photos are these small square paintings, representing aspects of a school or family, in this particular case, a family pastime/sport. Sometimes this is because the original image would be too fussy, inappropriate or just wouldn’t look as nice! Winsor and Newton watercolours on Green and Stone watercolour sketchpad.

Sketched in the City: Paolozzi's Newton sculpture

2011-06-13T13:53:00.000+01:00

Newton sculpture by Paolozzi © Peter Gander

A London Lunchtime sketch. I have been freelancing in the King's Cross are of London at St.Luke's agency and The British Library is very close by. This is a sketch of Sir Eduardo Paolozzi's Newton bronze sculpture in the grounds of the library. Paolozzi based this piece on Wiliam Blake's drawing of Newton and the sculptor portrayed the scientist as part-robot in a tribute to the melding of art and science. You can see the scale of the piece by the small figure bottom left, eating his lunch. Pencil and Conté crayons on Kraft paper sketchbook (Paperchase).

Seasalter relics II (• SOLD)

2011-05-16T18:47:00.003+01:00

Seasalter relics II © Peter Gander

One of my favourite sea-fishing (and painting) spots. The concrete boulders and remnants of old breakers make excellent tables for fishing and painting stuff! Far enough away too from the madding crowd to be peaceful, close enough to The Sportsman pub, for well, a civilised pint of ale! Phil and Emma in fact, who run the renowned food lovers’ pub, recently informed me that I will be exhibiting here next November and December (2012), another good reason to get painting locally! Winsor and Newton watercolour on The Langton 300gsm (rough) paper. (• SOLD July 2011)

Seasalter relics I

2011-05-16T18:16:00.000+01:00

Seasalter relics I © Peter Gander

Seasalter, west of Whitstable is so-named after sea salt was collected here centuries ago in large, shallow, copper pans which allowed the water to evaporate after the tide receeded, leaving the precious commodity behind. These old groynes have been left behind too, pointing their battered skeletal forms towards the isle of Sheppey, to the north-west. Winsor & Newton watercolour on The Langton 300gsm (rough) paper.

Reculver rocks I

2011-05-13T20:11:00.001+01:00

Reculver rocks I © Peter Gander

Probably breaking at least two artistic rules in the book, this composition is split dead in half and also has a focal point right in the centre, but rules are made to be broken and it seems to work fine, nonetheless. (I’ve just noticed that the previous painting also broke said rules). A sunnier version than ‘Reculver rocks II’, but the same ‘dryish brush on rough paper’ effect for the rocks. Winsor and Newton watercolour on The Langton 300gsm (rough) paper.

Reculver rocks II

2011-05-09T21:36:00.000+01:00

Reculver rocks II © Peter Gander

Just east of Herne Bay where I live are the impressive Reculver towers, a 12th century monastic ruin, visible for miles around. The towers are viewed through gaps in and mirrored by, equally rugged rocks which protect the shore from erosion, the ruin is also high up on a concrete apron defending it from the sea, which used to be some miles away. There are visible linear gouge marks on the rocks, I presume from when they were quarried. Winsor & Newton watercolour on The Langton 300gsm (rough) paper.

The final print, hand-coloured

2011-05-05T22:07:00.000+01:00


Black print, hand-coloured and float-framed

The above photo shows the final print as it will appear in the show, hand-coloured in watercolour (the black is essentially oil-based for this purpose, or it will run), numbered, signed and framed in a float frame, i.e the print is sandwiched between two sheets of glass, a distance from the frame’s edge.

‘I love Whitstable’ linocut, (work-in-progress)

2011-05-05T22:01:00.001+01:00

Chopping down the lino

All inked up and ready for my roller press...

Happy with the rubbing and looking at the linocut block via a mirror, I am ready to slip it under the press into its registration blocks.

‘I love Whitstable’ linocut, (work-in-progress)

2011-05-05T21:48:00.005+01:00

The image flipped, tracing the oyster 'heart' onto the battleship grey lino

Now everything’s drawn to size for transferring to the battleship grey lino, I flip the tracing paper and pencil over the image. I have used brown lino in the past but you can’t beat battleship grey for seeing pencil lines.

Carving the fiddly Tabasco lettering

But to get a really representative line, I use a bold permanent pen to draw in the line (as shown) so that I have a truer version of what is possible when it is cut. In other words, there’s no point in drawing a fine line when the smallest cutting blade won’t be able to cope with it.

‘I love Whitstable’ linocut, (work-in-progress)

2011-05-05T21:48:00.004+01:00

The width of the pen represents a realistic thickness of manageable cut

Cutting the outer line first, for precisions’ sake

Digging out the rest...

I left the oysters free-form, or without an outline, as I don’t like quite everything to be battened down

It’s all carved.


Taking a rubbing

A great tip to see if your linocut is looking good is to use a soft pencil and try a rubbing, albeit back-to-front. It is a handy measure of progress and changes can be rectified before you waste time with a first proof.

‘I love Whitstable’ linocut, (work-in-progress)

2011-05-05T21:36:00.001+01:00

1) A colour rough for starters © Peter Gander

My Whitstable show is coming at the end of May and I’ve been checking out what I have ready-framed in my cabin. My ‘I love Whitstable’ linocut was one such discovery and I only touched on it last year, so here’s ‘the making of’ this print, a work-in-progress preamble. I started with a permanent pen sketch of the idea. Whitstable is famous for its oysters and is known as Oystertown. So, adapting the familiar ‘I (heart) New York’ style, I replaced the ‘I’ with a bottle of Tabasco sauce which it is served with at the Fish Market in the harbour. The heart too, is represented by two overlapping oysters, the scene Whitstable’s pebbly beach and flanking groynes. Wishing to keep colours to a minimum, I used a limited colour palette. Here I’m adding colours to the sketch at least, in watercolour, sometimes I use bleedproof professional (Magic) marker pens or Pantone Pens. I also at this point see if I can use graduated colours, such as the pebbles colour, the small swatch of colour shown outside the image to the right. A graduated colour from a dark hue to light is very effective when it comes to a linocut, not to say economical with colours that one has available. Such colours are easily blended too on the ink roller itself thus you can achieve drama with just one ‘pass’ of the roller. Once I’m happy with the colours I produce a tighter pencil drawing to the right format and scale, bearing in mind the size of the piece and understanding that fine details just aren’t going to happen if the size is small.

2) A tighter pencil drawing ready

Sketch for ‘Whitstable smack’ linocut

2011-05-05T09:20:00.001+01:00

Sketch, ‘Whitstable smack’ © Peter Gander

For my end-of-the-month show, a preliminary sketch for ‘Whitstable smack’, which will be a linoprint using a composite of images of all things Whitstable. A smack is the distinctive sail boat shown in the centre, these were used for bringing in the oysters. Also featured are the Crab & Winkle, (after Britain’s first passenger railway from Canterbury to Whitstable); a wind farm turbine; the Fish Market standing figure, as per my previous linocut); a Maunsell Fort (ditto); The Street (sea shingle walk, ditto), Oysters, seagulls, fishing huts, an anchor and a rope border. This sort of composition is inspired and influenced by the wonderful woodcuts of British artists Geoffrey Wales (who actually lived in nearby Margate), Eric Ravilious and the linocuts of Edward Bawden.

The white cliffs of Dover

2011-05-04T21:39:00.001+01:00

The white cliffs of Dover © Peter Gander

Smallish painting of a grand view of Kent’s famous white cliffs of Dover. I liked the low-key colour palette. The clouds were lifted from the still-wet paper with a dry tissue for a fluffy appearance. Winsor & Newton watercolour on The Langton 300gsm rough paper.

‘Whitstable is my oyster’ (landscape) greetings card

2011-05-04T19:21:00.000+01:00


Whitstable is my oyster (landscape) © Peter Gander

This time painted only in blue Quink Indian Ink, the lettering was hand-drawn with a bamboo dip pen for a greetings card for my upcoming end of May show.

‘Whitstable is my oyster’ (portrait) greetings card

2011-05-04T19:17:00.000+01:00

Whitstable is my oyster (portrait) © Peter Gander

My spin on ‘The world’s your oyster’, as Whitstable is also known as ‘Oystertown’ and also ‘The Pearl of Kent’ as the town grew on its Whitstable Native Oyster industry and still does a decent trade. This small painting will appear as a greetings card at my upcoming show. Painted cloisonné style, (with a thick black outline) and Winsor & Newton watercolour on The Langton 300gsm rough paper.

Sheppey silver

2011-05-03T22:03:00.001+01:00

Sheppey silver © Peter Gander

Again, for my exhibition at the end of May, a small painting of a view seen across the estuary from the beaches of west Whitstable, north Kent, showing the island of Sheppey, revealed here in the silvery sun, using mostly Payne’s Grey, a particular favourite colour of mine. Watercolour on The Langton paper (rough, 100% cotton). • 20 May UPDATE: Featured in The Artist magazine, July 2011.

Six Seasalter huts

2011-05-03T21:35:00.001+01:00

Six Seasalter huts © Peter Gander

For my upcoming show at the end of May at The Horsebridge Gallery, Whitstable, this represents part of a row of beach huts (well, more dwellings as they appear much larger and sophisticated than your average beach hut) just west of Whitstable in Seasalter, named after the medieval practise of collecting sea salt from the shallow Thames estuary here in medieval times in shallow copper pans as the sea receded and the sea water evaporated. The huts line a private beach in front of a reedy grassland near the renowned Sportsman pub. Winsor & Newton watercolour on The Langton 100% cotton (forme ronde/rough) 300gsm paper.

Seagulls, Whitstable harbour

2011-04-28T17:04:00.001+01:00

Seagulls, Whitstable harbour © Peter Gander

For my exhibition coming up in Whitstable during the last week of May, a painting of a pair of seagulls. The black and white Fish Market trolley is quite iconic at the harbour, standing opposite the fish stalls themselves and next to a table or two where you can indulge in half a dozen local Whitstable oysters, perhaps with a dash of Tabasco. The harbour has been rendered in a pale wash to avoid fussiness and the concrete reveals the work of a wax candle and dryish brush for textural effect. • SOLD 25 May 2011

The trout pool, Fordwich, Kent

2011-04-26T23:31:00.001+01:00

The trout pool, Fordwich © Peter Gander

Many an evening I have stood here as dusk takes shape, my favourite time of the fishing day when trout make ripples as a rise begins to take place after a usually slow and challenging afternoon. This is my local fly-fishing lake, Fordwich trout pool, owned by my local club, The Canterbury & District Angling Association. Only a few acres at the most, but a peaceful haven a long walk from any houses, sitting next to the river Stour and alongside two much larger (coarse fishing) lakes. Fordwich, or rather its trout, were actually mentioned in Izaak Walton’s Compleat Angler too. The ones I catch aren’t wild ones, but the next best thing we have in the 21st century. Now the days are longer I find the evening my most fruitful catching time but even then one has to be very subtle. A small black hawthorn fly or buzzer perhaps. Just to the right of the scene out of view is a small wooden shed where catch returns are kept and a log book reveal the recent working methods, if you’re really stuck for ideas. As for catching a likeness of the scenery, the lovely textured character of this paper honestly makes the work much easier than it looks when a large dry brush is employed and dragged across the tooth of the surface. I use a Renaissance blue squirrel mop. Winsor & Newton half-pan watercolours on Daler Rowney The Langton Prestige 100% cotton Mould-made (forme ronde) 300gsm watercolour paper.

Ye Olde Yew Tree Inn, Westbere, Kent

2011-04-25T19:38:00.002+01:00

Ye Olde Yew Tree Inn, Westbere © Peter Gander

Easter Monday today and wife Fiona and I took the VW Beetle out for a spin and the dog for a walk round the 200 acre lake near the Ye Olde Yew Tree Inn, Westbere, about 6 miles east of Canterbury. I hadn’t been here since my college days about thirty years ago and the place has changed little. The Inn was built in 1348 and it’s the oldest pub in Kent. Queen Anne and the Archbishop of Canterbury are reputed to have stayed here, and Dick Turpin is purported to have evaded capture from the law by jumping from a first floor window. The pub was also used as a hospital to treat wounded soldiers during the civil war and two ghosts live here (so the website says) - “a man and a small woman”. More importantly, they sell Harvey’s Sussex Bitter here, which slipped down nicely whilst painting the postcard above. Winsor & Newton watercolours on 300gsm rough watercolour postcard. UPDATE: (May 2011) The owners Mark and Anna now have the painting inside the pub. Thanks for the Harveys you two!

The Kent Cultural Baton, 5/5 Girl (Hannah) drawing

2011-04-22T09:35:00.001+01:00

Hannah reading © Peter Gander

One of my favourite paintings of the day of my daughter Hannah joining in the spirit of the occasion and drawing alongside me, as my son Jack did, too. In fact the guy in the white hat soon turned round and started drawing me drawing them as well! I used candle wax to achieve the nice characterful texture of the harbour stone. It also helps portray the bright sunshine that prevailed on Sunday. Winsor & Newton (half pan) watercolours on Langton 100% cotton 300gsm paper.

The Kent Cultural Baton, 4/5 tonal sketch

2011-04-22T09:28:00.001+01:00

Mono sketch of the Margate's Harbour Arm © Peter Gander

This small, quick study was painted by brush alone in about ten minutes on Langton 100% cotton (rough) paper in Winsor & Newton watercolours.

The Kent Cultural Baton, painting 3/5

2011-04-21T23:35:00.002+01:00

The Turner Contemporary Gallery, Margate © Peter Gander

The main painting of the day was this one, drawn with a 6B pencil first. Painted on Hahnemuele 500gsm Andalucia rough paper. The thick paper absorbed the sky blue well in a flat way, yet was rough enough to give a good texture in the sea too, when a drier brush was employed.

The Kent Cultural Baton, painting 2/5

2011-04-21T22:24:00.001+01:00

Old boat, Margate Harbour © Peter Gander

Using a bolder Pentel this time, I sketched this neglected boat, draped in a mesh over its front end that reminded me of a sheet over a dead body. Certainly this boat has long been forgotten, but gets an extra bit of attention today. My son Jack (10) said “Even an old boat looks good when it’s painted!” True enough. Pentel waterproof pen and Winsor & Newton watercolour (half pans) on Langton 100% cotton mould made 300gsm paper.

The Kent Cultural Baton, 1/5 The airstream

2011-04-21T14:43:00.000+01:00

The KCB Airstream © Peter Gander

Easel set up, coffee at hand and the first trickle of lazy Sunday morning strollers investigated the galleries, shops and cafés along Margate’s Harbour Arm, just along from the shiny new Turner Contemporary on an atypically warm April morning. Artist Bridgette Ashton is shown in the painting and the Kent Cultural Baton’s lead artist Nicolle Mollet was at the helm most of the day, popping in and out of the water in her neoprenes to attend to cameras recording the event out at sea. Back on dry land, I penned the linework with a waterproof Pentel, leaving the passers-by until last as they needed to be captured with very fast lines and then applied the washes of Winsor & Newton watercolour via a half-pan palette. Substrate: Daler Rowney 100% cotton Prestige Mould Made (rough) 300gsm paper.

The Kent Cultural Baton at The Turner Contemporary Gallery, Margate

2011-04-21T14:20:00.000+01:00

The Kent Cultural Baton Airstream, pic courtesy Kent County Council

Last Sunday the 17th of April I was honoured to be asked by Catherine Herbet of our local Kent County Council to attend the opening weekend ceremony of The Turner Contemporary Gallery in Margate. My role as a working artist in-situ was in connection with The Kent Cultural Baton.

“The Kent Cultural Baton is a unique, original artwork designed by artist Nicole Mollett that will tour Kent in the period leading up to the London 2012 Games. Inspired by the first Ordnance Survey map of Kent produced in 1801, the Kent Cultural Baton reveals worlds within a world, bringing to light the character and textures that identify a place and make it distinctive. It is a mobile creative workspace that at each visit captures the sights and sounds of its location – a visual and aural map, a snapshot in time. The Baton’s journey around Kent will culminate in a body of material, a rich and layered resource that speaks reams of the different places, textures and narratives that comprise Kent.”

Post nude, red and blue grad

2011-04-07T19:30:00.000+01:00


Post nude, red and blue grad © Peter Gander

Tonight I blended passionate Vermillion and warm Pthalocyanine Blue oil colours (mixed with a touch of extender) to inject a bit of heat into the proceedings.

‘Post Nude’ postcard linocut

2011-04-05T21:48:00.002+01:00

‘Post Nude’ linocut © Peter Gander

A local art gallery, The Horsebridge Community & Arts Centre in Whitstable, where I will be exhibiting in May, has recently opened a new gallery (Gallery 3) and the curator Sarah Banville has challenged artists to produce an original work of art on a postcard. The local post sorting office is in danger of closing and in a double-edged benefit, the exhibition of tiny (A6) originals will not only make for interesting viewing for the public, but also for the lucky postman delivering the postcards en route to The Horsebridge. I already had a pack of Winsor & Newton Cotman 300gsm postcards with a semi-rough surface, great for painting watercolours on but not ideal for printing on, as the pitted surface needs a hard pressing to push the ink into them. (Thin paper is usually the substrate of choice for most linoprinters). I had to set the roller printing press so firmly in fact, that the lino left an embossed effect on the card. In the print shown, you can see the patchy areas where the ink hasn’t made it. Anyway, thematically, I chose what some might argue is a literal take on ‘Post Nude’ - (I was considering an aged life model looking pensive about her past, too ;) A few props and a neat visual twist leave much for the viewer to interpret. What’s your verdict? Seawhite of Brighton (UK) water-based ink on Winsor & Newton Cotman 300gsm postcard.

Peter is shortlisted for ‘Wildlife Artist of the Year’ 2011

2011-03-23T17:43:00.006Z

Hammerhead school © Peter Gander

Great news today! My ‘Hammerhead school’ print has been shortlisted and selected for the David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year 2011 exhibition which will take place at The Mall Galleries, London, between Monday 6 June to Saturday 11 June 2011. See blog post for 1st Feb 2011 for details and work-in-progress pics. This is a great reward for me as this year I have made a concerted effort to up the ante regarding getting my name out there. The David Shepherd organisation protects endangered species and hammerhead sharks are under threat because of the market for shark fin soup. See Channel 4’s Fish Fight Gordon Ramsay article. 9 JUNE 2011 UPDATE: Hammerhead School' Japanese vinyl print has received a 'Highly Commended' award at The David Shepherd Wildlife Artist of the Year', now showing at The Mall Galleries, London until Saturday. • Print 1/5 and 2/5 are SOLD (2011)

(Celtic) fish knot

2011-03-14T22:50:00.001Z

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.

Olive by the Oloron for Nancy

2011-02-28T18:19:00.003Z

Olive by the Oloron © Peter Gander

This is a painting for my niece Nancy’s birthday. She lives in the Bearnaise town of Navarrenx in South-west France. My brother David and sister-in-law Lindy run an art gallery named after Olive, The Galerie le petit chien.

The galerie sign featuring Olive

For a small dog (she’s a Jack Russell) Olive is as plucky as they come. She thinks nothing of leaping into the nearby river Oloron, a huge, fast-flowing river, to retrieve a log the size of a lamp-post. Note from the painting that she has an olive-shaped mark on the top of her head, which is where she got her name. A dryish brush with little pigment added drawn across the paper’s rough surface achieved a textured fur effect. Winsor & Newton watercolour on 300gsm Langton rough paper.

Two men on a train (gouache on black)

2011-02-22T15:12:00.003Z

Two men on a train.
Winsor & Newton Designers Gouache
on 240gsm (WHSmith) black card. © Peter Gander

Ever since I saw English artist & children’s TV presenter Tony Hart paint a picture of a ‘street lamp at night’, purely in chalk on black paper when I was younger, I’ve loved to experiment with similar mediums on black. I have tried Winsor & Newton ink (see previous posts) but today I tried their Designers Gouache. I’m not an experienced user of gouache and producing a tonal study in just one colour is the perfect way to accustomise oneself to a new medium. Using a reference photo I took on a work journey, I stuck the print-out on my studio wall and painted this from a distance, by eye. My advice is never trace photos, as you kill any individuality you may have lent to the drawing or painting doing that (there’s no skill in tracing!). If you at least use your reference photos at arm’s length, you will be using the same drawing and measuring-by-eye skills that you would be using in painting from a life model. It’s not as interesting perhaps, but a fair compromise. Gouache, unlike the ink, works better here as the levels of opacity are easier to control and dial up and down. You have to work back-to-front in terms of how the layers build (opposite to watercolour), laying down the darkets (most diluted and thus less opaque) tones down first, followed by heavier, (more opaque, lighter) tones to finish off. His trousers for instance, are a more diluted blend of gouache, thus more recessive when laid on the black card. The final touch was the white highlight on the commuter’s forehead in a strong, drier solution of white. I left some areas of the substrate (black card) show through as an outline in places, such as the top of the guy’s arm. This lends a lovely graphic quality to the piece. I’m very pleased with this look, so I will be doing more gouache on black paintings later. Winsor & Newton Designers (sic) Gouache on 240gsm (WHSmith) black card.

Misty Reculver Towers

2011-02-17T07:20:00.002Z

Misty Reculver Towers © Peter Gander

A short distance from home are Bishopstone Cliffs, somewhere I like to take our dog Stanley, for walks. Beyond this to the east in the painting are the ruins of Reculver Towers, once on land when built in Roman times, but now bolstered up by a rocky apron to protect it from the encroaching sea. At low tide you can walk between the two spots like these walkers were doing, but at high tide the sea comes right up to the cliff in the painting, cutting off the route. Winsor & Newton watercolour on Cotman 300gsm cold-pressed (NOT) grain paper.

Red onion and tomato

2011-02-11T22:17:00.001Z

I have always admired art which employs the technique of cloisonné and this is not the first time I have used the style myself. The word, from circa 1863, means “divided into compartments” from the French cloisonné, from cloison “a partition,” and from the Latin verb clausus, “shut”. Anyway, enough art theory, that’s a very long-winded way of saying my black outlines represent partitions that hold seperate colours, like a stained-glass window. A touch of wax on the textured surface of the onion gives the papery surface some texture, whereas the tomato just needed the white paper substrate to shine through. The shadow colour was applied onto an area (water sheen still showing, not waterlogged) of clear water. This ensures a feathered bleed/soft edge. Winsor & Newton watercolour on Bockingford 200gsm paper.

My sign collection: Bath Antiques Market hand-painted wood

2011-02-10T13:05:00.000Z

The full sign © Peter Gander

I don't normally upload non-personal artwork, but I just had to share the beauty of my sign collection. Most of my signs are porcelain enamel and I will upload those later. But this one is wooden and I recently collected this gorgeous hand-painted example that a friend had collected for me in Essex. I actually bought it a couple of years ago on Ebay and my friend had since stored it in his house. Obviously it used to hang over the Bath Antiques Market (Bath, Somerset, SW England) and the lower 'bygones and curios' secton once projected from it and has now broken off. The paint is cracking now and peeling a little but such wear and tear only adds to its character. It measures 90 cm wide by 170cm high. Note the goblin-like figures stretched out over the top corners. What a gem.

Detail © Peter Gander

Sketched in the city: Victoria Railway Station, London

2011-02-08T20:53:00.000Z

Victoria Station, London © Peter Gander

There’s not a great deal of time beyond a soup or a sarnie at lunchtime to spend sketching, especially when I am trying to be conscientious now I am employed as a freelancer. No more two hour lunches! Thus today I found myself with about half an hour, long enough to do the line drawing for this painting. Believe it or not, I painted it on my return journey home after work to Kent on the train, as I have more than an hour’s trip. I had to wait until the train lost a few passengers, however, as initially it was rather cramped. I referred to a photo I had taken on my phone for colours and tone. The linework was scratched in with a fine Edding waterproof pen. I say scratched in as I don’t really enjoy the very un-smooth sensation such pens convey. I could have used a pencil, of course, but didn’t have one on me. I like subtelty sometimes and you can’t be subtle with a single weight pen. However, after a mix of good old Winsor & Newton Payne’s grey (I use haf-pans when out and about) a touch of black, Prussian blue and some warm, earthy colours, it looked a treat. I only had my travel brush with me, a big filbert, and was glad of the lack of choice it gave me, so I was bold with my brushtrokes. Abstaining from the temptation to fill in the background meant I preserved a good balance of light and dark, essential to keep the essence of what it was that struck me by the scene in the first place. Winsor & Newton watercolour on Grain Fin NOT 150 gsm paper.

Fish fish

2011-02-07T22:30:00.001Z

Fish fish © Peter Gander

Still on the train and wielding my Paint Marker, I couldn’t resist a fish drawing. I’d like to develop the idea of a fish with fish-like scales at a later date. Such sketches are always useful in that sense. 0.8 Edding 780 Paint Marker on Daler-Rowney Canford black paper.

Commuter, Victoria (in white pen)

2011-02-07T22:26:00.000Z

Commuter, Victoria in white pen © Peter Gander

Having drawn the previous post earlier in the day, I was still yearning for something creative to do on my train journey home, so I drew the same woman using my sketchbook reference, but using an 0.8 Edding 780 Paint marker on Daler-Rowney Canford black paper.

Sketched in the city: Commuter, Victoria Station

2011-02-07T22:20:00.001Z

Commuter, Victoria Station © Peter Gander

I’ve recently been working freelance near Victoria Station and have a new environment to sketch in. Away from a howling wind in the station’s shopping centre, this was drawn using charcoal pencils on 150gsm Kraft paper.

‘Wildlife artist of the Year’ (WOFA) submission 2 of 2: Hammerhead school

2011-02-01T16:15:00.005Z

Hammerhead school (final print 1 of 5) © Peter Gander

From a cute hippo mother and calf to slightly edgier sharks. Not just any sharks, but the threatened hammerhead shark. I chose this as an Endangered Species entry to the WOFA competition in response to seeing Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s impactful Fish Fight series recently featuring the ghastly practice of removing fins (‘finning’) from living hammerhead sharks and throwing the finned animal overboard to die. Image-wise I was interested in an unusual take on the shark and was inspired by a photograph I’d seen of a school of hammerheads seen from below in layers of blue, the lighter ones a shade paler than those closer to the diver’s camera lens, below a high sun.


Sketching out the options

I reigned it back from this version ;)

Cutting the Japanese vinyl

Checking progress

Mixing up the various shades of shark

Rolling out the first shark blue


The background (cardboard) registered & ready

As you can see form the initial sketch, I changed the design as I felt it was overly fussy as I went along and also changed it from portrait to landscape format. There are three shades of shark, and the beauty of the Japanese vinyl, compared with traditional lino, is that it prints both sides, so I was able to print a few sharks, turn them over for a flipped image version and hey presto you have a two-for-the-price-of-one images! These were dotted around a master trace of the design and I outlined each one to verify that a space had been taken up, to avoid over-printing an existing shark. Like the two previous posts, King Crow and Hippo & Calf, I opted for a different substrate for the background. Cardboard in this case. Not the corrugated version, but the pulpy type found as a sketchbook backing. The sun images was simply cut out with a scalpel. Board is perfect when after a change of texture, when making simple shapes, or simply when lino or vinyl simply isn’t warranted. For this print, because I wanted a fast turnaround of reprinting and overprinting the same sheet, I opted for water-based (fast-drying) printing inks. For any UK printmaker’s interest, I used Seawhite (of Brighton) block printing inks available online or from Cowling & Wilcox (Soho) if you’re in London. Printed on A3 160gsm cartridge paper (420mm w x 297mm h), 1 of 5 only.
• 'Hammerhead School' has been selected for the Wildlife Artist of the Year 2011 exhibition at The Mall Galleries, London between 6^th and 11^th June 2011

‘Wildlife artist of the Year’ submission 1 of 2: Hippo & calf

2011-01-31T19:20:00.008Z

Hippo & calf © Peter Gander

The inked hippos await the roller press

The whole background is ready for inking

Adding shellac to prevent ink soak-up

The lino is registered onto a paper template

A pencil rubbing checks the linework (in reverse)

Cutting the image out with a craft knife

Carving the lino (detail)

I have just finished and entered two very different prints for the David Shepherd ‘Wildlife Artist of the Year’ open art competition. Both, however, are combination prints, using the same techniques as the previous post; King Crow. That is, using both Japanese vinyl and cardboard printmaking in the same print. Both use the vinyl for the main images and cardboard for the more textured backgrounds. Hippo & calf utilises the black paper to full effect in that the paper becomes the linework. In other words, the cut lines, rather than the areas conventionally left to print by cutting away all BUT the lines, are revealed by the background paper. So what looks like a 3-colour linoprint (for the hippo itself) is actually a single (graduated) print on black paper. The ink was mixed on the roller in this case. The carboard background was printed seperately, flecks of white paint added by hand too. Every print is unique as each one is coloured up seperately and is effectively a bit of a mixture of collagraph and monoprint. Oil-based inks on 200gsm black card.

The Crow King: final print

2011-01-28T00:01:00.001Z

The Crow King © Peter Gander

Seawhite (of Brighton) water-based printing inks on A4 (297 mm w x 210mm h) Paperchase recycled ribbed kraft paper. (See previous post for work-in-progress story). Buy at Folksy

Work-in-progress: The Crow King (vinyl & board print)

2011-01-27T23:55:00.001Z

Continuing my corvid phase, today I used a lino-like material called Japanese Soft Cut vinyl that I bought online from Intaglio Printmaker.co.uk It’s floppier and shinier and softer than lino, though I think lino still has some way to go to be beaten. The vinyl I found much ‘stickier’ than lino, with the end of the cutting stroke often rebounding or not finishing in a clean manner. However, if you are not planning anything too fine in detail, it’s lovely stuff and very easy to carve.

Carving fine lines is tricky with vinyl


The pencil ‘rubbing’ to check progress

Mixing a two-colour gradation on the roller

Ready to roll. Note the card registration blocks at the top

The first ones drying

Inking the card background

Once my design is carved, I make a ‘lino rubbing’, placing a sheet of thin cartridge paper over the lino/vinyl to check that all is well with the image. Then I cut out the shape with a craft knife (easier to do than with lino) and stick it onto a board to keep it stable for printing and to register it properly. Rather than use a solo black for the crow, which after all, have irridescent feathers, I opted to mix a blue and black gradation on the roller. Then it’s just a case of testing the roller pressure and away I go. I tend to try out different paper colours as artists prints (AP’s) until I find my preferred one. In this case it was a humble brown paper. On to the background. Sometimes the background simply doesn’t warrant the efforts of lino/vinyl cutting or I simply prefer to use a different substrate for its unique texture. As was the case here - I cut out the negative area left by the crow from card, the kind you find on the back of layout and cartridge pads. It’s not as soft or corrugated like cardboard and being made of pulp, reveals interesting textures when inked up, not a dull smoothness. Use shellac or PVA to prevent the inks from seeping too much into the absorbent card though. Once this has dried and the cut-out married up to another board and registered, make the second colour print-run. The main photo reveals the final print, which I am very happy with! Seawhite (of Brighton) waterbased printing inks on (Paperchase) recycled ribbed brown Kraft paper (A4: 297mm w x 210mm h).

Crow II monoprint

2011-01-26T18:39:00.001Z

Crow II monoprint © Peter Gander

Another monoprint study. This is essentially a sketch for a two-colour linocut that I plan to cut later tonight.

Crow I (adapted monoprint)

2011-01-25T20:52:00.001Z

Crow I © Peter Gander

I confess I tried hand-colouring this black-only monoprint but sadly I made a hash of it. Thus with a bit of Photoshop magic, I saved the piece, though now that it has been digitally enhanced, I can sadly no longer say it is a monoprint, of course. But the 1940’s-style colouring looks good. Original: water-based ink on Neutral Daler-Rowney Murano Pastel 160gsm paper.

Sow, board print limited edition 1/10

2011-01-25T17:15:00.000Z

Following on from yesterday’s painting of the pigs at Snape in Suffolk, I wanted to explore a more gritty texture for the pig and an uncoated board print fits the bill nicely. Board prints (paper/card-based) are ideal for speedy but impressive printmaking. (The small print runs also make them more attractive for collectors). The pig here is cut out jigsaw-style from the background which is also kept for the second colour. The two pieces are then inked up seperately, printing the (pink) pig first ten times then running the printed pig through for the second (background/mud-brown) run. I did try other coloured papers for this, but only a black will reveal important lines, such as her mouth and the shadow under her ear. You have to think in negative values, which is quite tricky as the ‘holes’ become the black areas. You can see why I chose uncoated board for this, as it reveals some great textures you just don’t get with a smooth surface, such as line. The appearance is actually closer to woodgrain than lino. 2-colour oil-based ink on Raven black paper, 1 of a limited edition of 10.

Suffolk sow, Snape

2011-01-24T17:05:00.001Z

On the way back home from Orford we spotted this free-range pig farm at Snape, Suffolk. Their bright, chrome-like, corrugated tin huts resembled wartime Anderson shelters amidst a bleak landscape. There were many huge sows like this one snuffling out deep holes in the wet winter earth, looking pretty content. A large, dry brush dragged across the very rough surface of this paper ensures a lovely texture is obtained for the muck and dirt on the sow’s body. Sepia Conté pencil and watercolour on 300gsm Daler Rowney The Langton 100% cotton Forme Ronde (Mould-made) paper.

View from Room 8 at The Crown & Castle, Orford, Suffolk

2011-01-23T12:03:00.005Z

Finally, a rainbow at dusk!

The ‘real’ view from Room 8

It's my birthday today and to celebrate this at the end of last week my wife Fiona organised a surprise overnight's stay in Suffolk, with a fly-fishing session en route. Forgive the poor quality of the shot taken in very low light, but we had arrived at about 1pm and on an overcast January afternoon, the light doesn't last for long. Numb fingers and chilled toes are the downside of a winter's birthday and soon took a grip. Dark at 5pm, I had a couple of takes in the afternoon, but the fish got off. Come dusk, however, when I had about 5 minutes left of light, I dropped a weighted cat's whisker into a deep area of the lake and counted it down to the bottom to be rewarded with a strong pull and this lovely 2.5lb hard-fighting rainbow which took a good 5 minutes to get in. Then it was off to The Trinity restaurant at The Crown and Castle in Orford, Suffolk for a hot bath, a cool pint of Greene King ‘IPA’ and a bottle of ‘Hop’ ale and a hearty meal of Potted Brown Shrimps followed, appropriately, by Fish Pie.


© Peter Gander

Fortunately, The Crown & Castle operate a relaxed departure time the morning after your stay, so I had the opportunity to paint this scene from our window looking out over the estuary at Orford on a drizzly misty morning before we left. 6B pencil and watercolour on 300gsm Grain Fin NOT paper.

Clare, reading

2011-01-19T22:19:00.000Z

Clare Snowdon reading, Cerét, France, 1991

I was sifting through years of arty paperwrk in my cabin and came across this study of an old girlfriend reading that dated back to 1991. I was obviously not too well-equipped (artistically) for this holiday (like I would be now) and drew this using a Bic biro. Cerét, Rousillon, France, 1991.

Winter salmon monoprint

2011-01-09T18:46:00.002Z

Following on from my previous ‘Leaping salmon’ post, I printed a few copies onto Raven (black) paper in white and pale blue inks. Tonight to one of these prints I added a background of stylised wintry riverside branches in hand-painted brush with Winsor & Newton white ink. I think I owe the design style of the branches more to the curly wrought-iron gates in front of our house more than anything else. The flowing fine lines of the trees make a nice contrast to the textured block printing. Once printed onto the Raven paper I immediately thought that the fish looked like an icy cold pescatorial ghost, like a ghost koi carp, I was just waiting for some inspiration to take it further. Monoprint - hand-painted white Winsor & Newton ink and two-colour cardboard print on Raven black paper.

Leaping Salmon

2011-01-07T18:19:00.001Z


The final two-colour print © Peter Gander

See today’s previous post to see how this was made...

Making the cardboard print for Leaping Salmon

2011-01-07T17:37:00.020Z

The logo made with cardboard printing

Logo in-situ

After printing a simple oast house logo for my wife Fiona’s blog, ‘Fiona’s Kent Food’, I felt inspired to test the boundaries of printing using paper and card. Unlike the glass-smooth surface of lino, cardboard and paper can have a lovely texture and the fact that it is easily cut offsets the downside that you can’t print more than a few runs from your ‘block’. These are really monoprints, in fact, as no two will be the same. Because Fiona’s end product was a logo for digital reproduction and thus only one was needed, it wasn’t really worth crafting it in lino anyway.
It is the lovely texture of a hand-pulled print that was the important thing. Of course, I could have imitated this printed effect digitally in Photoshop, but where’s purity/fun in that? So, accepting the limitations of paper and card I chose a simple image of a leaping salmon, as fishing is a subject close to my heart.

Cornelissen’s Shellac Varnish

This cardboard is taken from the back of one of my drawing pads. It’s quite solid and just thick enough (about 3mm) to be able to cut through easily with a scalpel blade. Also you can see where I’ve debossed and incised areas like the gills and fins with scribing tools. I also used the back end of a paintbrush to dimple the fish’s body and thus create white spots where the ink won’t reach. PG’s TIP If you’re using uncoated paper and card you will need to prevent ink soaking into the substrate, so use Shellac varnish or PVA to coat your relief ‘block’. I use shellac as it dries very quickly. The one shown was purchased at London’s Cornelissen’s art shop. A couple of coats or more may be necessary, but they dry very quickly. So once your image is cut out, you can adhere it to another board for stability, but a small one-off design won’t need it, if you’re going to print it rubber-stamp style. Small surface areas can be sponged or painted with a thin layer of ink or use a roller and sheet of glass to roll out your ink on. If you’re crafty and have a little space between seperate colours or tones, you can easily dab on colour all in one go if you’re quick and can do it before the first colour you put down dries out. As the print is relatively simple, I wanted to make use of some spare fancy Japanese Yuki paper. This handmade paper has threads of silk running through it. It’s not very evident from the main pic, but the detail photo here shows how the threads reflect the light.

Soaking the card with shellac

The Yuki paper

The salmon just before it’s ‘ready to roll’

I cut a window the same size as the baseboard holding the fish, out of a larger piece of paper which was then taped to the bed of my roller press. The larger piece of paper matches the paper size that will be used for printing on. Then I drop the freshly-inked printing block inside the window, lay a piece of paper face down onto that, then keep it in place with the felt blanket. Then it’s a case of adjusting the roller press pressure to suit and get printing!

Black and brown hen

2011-01-04T19:16:00.000Z

As both chicken-owners and parents, we’ve learnt the hard way that it’s not worth giving our egg-laying friends individual pet names, thus the rather prosaic title of this post. We started off with six hens a few years ago and a flurry of cute names, but the odd disease or wily fox has claimed a few and with it, the novelty of the birds with the children has diminished too, so ‘black and brown hen’ it is. This particular hen is a black-rock, a dark-brown egg laying hybrid. Black-rocks are a true first-cross hybrid from selected American strains of Rhode Island Red (male line) and a Barred Plymouth Rock (female line). They are lovely, densely-feathered birds with a big body frame. The health of a bird is often reflected in the strength of colour in their ‘comb’, (the headpiece), which in her case is a very strong red, so we know she’s healthy and happy. Our birds are essentially free-range - we let them out of their hutch and pen area in the morning and lock them up at night, due to the fox threat.

In-progress with my huge (size 20) brush

If you like a bold painting, use a bold brush. A big brush. Detail is not my bag as I enjoy a more gestural style and a size 20 mop was the only brush I used here, (its fine point small enough if the odd delicate mark needs to be made however, such as the pupil of the hen’s eye). The Russian blue squirrel-hair mop holds bath-loads of water and is a particular favourite of mine, but be warned, it is as expensive as it is exotic!
Size 20 Pro Arte Renaissance squirrel mop brush with Winsor & Newton watercolour on Bockingford 190gsm Rough paper.

Muttley

2010-12-28T18:08:00.001Z

Like buses, no paintings of dogs for years, then three come along at once ;) This one I did for Liz, a Christmas gift as it were, from my wife Fiona. Mutley’s a cross between a Lakeland Terrier and a Jack Russell, he’s down from Suffolk to stay for the night with us, so Stanley (our dog) will have company. They have already fought a few times, but now I think Stan understands that though this dog may be smaller, he is older, so he rules, even in Stan’s own house. That’s how the dog thing works. Anyway, from an artistic viewpoint, I worked from a photo but was very happy with the way that the sunlight effect came across with this uncompromising medium (watercolour). A very dry brush loaded subtly with Payne’s Grey dragged across the textured tooth of the paper assured a lovey texture, perfect for a rough-haired dog such as Muttley. You can see the texture of the paper in the upper green area where the (Winsor & Newton) paint pigment sinks into the pitted parts of the paper, becoming darker in those areas. The effect is lovely, a case of the painting partially at least, ‘painting itself’!

Stanley, Bishopstone Beach, Kent

2010-12-27T17:40:00.005Z


Stanley, Bishopstone Beach, Kent © Peter Gander

Still on the subject of canines, a recent watercolour of our one year old Parson Russell Terrier, Stanley, wet from splashing through a low tide at nearby Bishopstone cliffs. (Parson Russell Terriers are similar to the Jack Russell, but with longer legs). I painted this as a creative Christmas present to my wife Fiona, very pleased that it’s a good likeness too, down to his ginger eyebrows. He is normally a scruffy-looking dog at the best of times as he’s a rough-haired variety, but the waterlogged coat only adds to that ragged charm. I used masking fluid at the edges of his body to acheive the spiky fur effect on a darker background. Watercolour on Langton Torchon 300gsm paper.

Border Collie Bobby drawing

2010-12-09T13:52:00.001Z

Pencil drawing of a friend’s border collie ‘Bobby’. 5B graphite pencil on off-white cartridge paper.

France: Pork joint and French beer

2010-11-05T10:22:00.001Z

We bought some pork belly from the butchers next door to my brother’s house. With some dexterity and a little artfulness, he swiftly took out the ribs from this joint, attached a sliver of fat around the base and wrapped it up snugly with string. Fiona was to cook it later, along with the previous vegetables painted on the previous post. What better to slake your thirst whilst painting than a chilled bottle of French beer too, (although I begrudged having to ‘wait for myself’ to paint it before I could finish it off!

France, leek

2010-11-04T09:52:00.002Z

Still on the side vegetables that went with our roasted pork, a French leek which was later made into a gratin.

France, Autumn marrow

2010-11-04T09:45:00.002Z

Forgive me for I have not posted lately. Fiona and I returned to the south of France to Navarrenx where my brother lives, for his 50th birthday. Normally fishing would be high on the agenda, but sadly it was out of season. The local river Oloron is a salmon river and protected at this time of year so we couldn’t even fish for barbel or chub, not even tiddlers, (so I couldn’t live there, that’s not enough scope for fishing!) Thus I got out my filbert brush rather than my fishing rod and did some painting when we weren’t eating or sipping beers in the local bar.

It wasn’t terribly great weather for painting those lights and darks as it was grey and overcast all day as you can see from the overall tone of the painting with just a feint highlight on the marrow’s surface. It had been raining and this was painted in the rural garden of my brother’s gate house, The Concierge that he and his wife Lindy let out to holidaymakers. It lies about 20mins walk from their home in Navarrenx. I painted under a roof overhanging a patio area to the soft drip, drip of the rain falling off the leaves. A blackbird was rustling through fallen leaves in the garden, apart from that, it was wonderfully quiet. We later ate the marrow with Fiona’s roasted pork, the skin was as hard as nails to peel off but it tasted great.

Brown trout

2010-10-19T14:05:00.001+01:00

It always comes back to fishing and I’ve had woeful absence of that lately, so if you can’t fish for them, catch them on paper instead, I say. The wonderfully textured surface of The Langton Prestige Mould Made paper (300gsm) is used to good effect on the lower parts of the fish’s body with a dryish brush. Drawn with a 5B pencil.

Portrait: Nikki

2010-10-14T15:29:00.002+01:00

Nikki at work has a very dramatic short and wavy hairstyle which motivated me to paint her. Her very dark hair is also a great contrast to her pale complexion. Painted from a reference pic taken back in the summer, the strong sun from a window added to the stark contrasts. In fact, I left the skin tone as the near-white of the Langton paper to emphasise and simplify things. Using the brush with a dryish mix of pigment for her hair lends a textural effect to the highlights, otherwise the hair becomes just a dark puddle of colour. Watercolour (Winsor & Newton) on Langton Prestige Mould-made 300gsm ‘Grain Torchon’ (rough) paper.

Old Man’s Head, British Museum

2010-10-13T14:54:00.001+01:00

’Tis the season to be sketching indoors a bit more now, especially on a dull day like today so back I went to a favourite Rainy Day haunt, The British Museum. I’m lucky enough to work only ten minutes walk away from this free-to-enter Aladdin’s cave of drawing subjects. Though the museum does lend out free stools for sketching/studying purposes, I did this sketch from a standing position. Using a Daler-Rowney Murano Pastel Pad (Neutral colours) and both a Sanguine Oil pencil and Soft White Sketching pencil, I drew this ‘Marble head of an old man, possibly the post Hesiod’ according to the plaque. Like my recent post, Ship in a bottle, the speckled, stony texture of the pastel paper works especially well for studies like this, adding much character. © Peter Gander

The Mall Galleries

2010-10-12T10:42:00.003+01:00


The Mall Galleries © Peter Gander

Yesterday I walked down to The Mall Galleries in The Mall, near Trafalgar Square. The gallery was showing The Royal Society of Miniature Painters, Sculptors & Engravers exhibition. Outside a warm sun was shining strongly, dappling through the plane trees the whole length of The Mall, opposite St James’ Park, reminding me of the avenues of France. (The London plane trees nearby in the south east corner of the park date back to the 1820s). Viewing the gallery and a 15 minute walk each way wasn't going to allow me the time to do any painting myself, so I did a quick pencil sketch, took a colour reference pic on my mobile (for colour ref) and actually painted this from scratch on the train (yes, the train) on the way home! I wouldn't recommend it and it only really works if the jogging of the train doesn't hamper your style (it wouldn't work if you like to paint ruler-straight lines - but my style is loose and impressionistic). I am no fan of having a hundred brushes to hand and there is no room for such luxuries when you only have a foot square drop-down train table to work on. Brush-wise, I used a Pro Arte Renaissance Squirrel size 2 mop, which holds a lot of water for the washes, yet has a fine tip too for the smaller areas. Also in the pic is an unused filbert travel brush (in gold). Plus my tiny Winsor & Newton Pocket Plus watercolour palette, at 12 half-pans and only 13cm x 7cm when stowed, it's ideal for such cramped conditions. (Note the well-designed clip-on palette extension which gives extra space for colour mixing). Not forgetting a couple of water wells (one with a screw-top) decanted from an old plastic milk carton, a piece of wax candle (for those interesting wax-resist effects) and some tissue complete the equipment list. The watercolour paper was clipped to a pad for resting on, useful for angling purposes as the train table is too much of a right angle. Hopefully this shows you what is possible in confined spaces and makes good use of commuting time. Oh, and expect a few strange looks on the train! Watercolour on 150gsm paper, 178mm w x 127mm h. • FOR SALE £50 inc P&P UK mainland only, email me with enquiries: petergander(at)gmail.com

Tower Bridge from Cannon Street station

2010-10-08T14:29:00.004+01:00

I often travel into Cannon Street in the mornings and the sun at this time of day is just coming up over The Thames from the east behind Tower Bridge, silhouetting it against a vapour trail-scarred sky. Much detail is rendered into simple shapes or silhouettes in this contre jour (against the sun) view and the sparkling water looks like a painter's dream. The rail signals of Cannon Street station are seen on the right. This is about as far as you can walk up the end of the platform to get such a fine view as it's purely a railway, not a pedestrian, bridge. Canary Wharf tower is visible in the background. This was painted with only Payne's Grey and Ultramarine and the heavyweight, pulpy Khadi paper on which it's painted allows for plenty of time for those lovely mixes of pigment to infuse into each other, as it stays wet for a good length of time. It virtually paints itself! Sparingly loading the brush (a Kolinsky blue squirrel mop) with dry pigment and dragging the side of it across the paper gives the effect of sparkling water on the Thames as the tooth of the paper picks up the paint in a textured manner. Watercolour on 210gsm rough Indian Khadi paper. 24cm wide x 18cm high. • FOR SALE £75 email petergander@gmail.com with enquiries, first come, first served. UK mainland only, free postage. Non-UK £100 inc postage.

Mermaid fountain, Trafalgar Square, London

2010-10-07T11:07:00.001+01:00

Returning from The Mall Galleries in my lunch hour the other day where I saw and met Yorkshire artist Ashley Jackson at his ‘Power and the Passion’ exhibition, I emerged short of sketching time. I had only a quarter of an hour or so to sketch and returned to one of my favourite drawing subjects, the fountains at Trafalgar Square. This particular mermaid fountain is by Sir Charles Thomas Wheeler (1892-1974). There are two like this in Trafalgar Square dating from between the World Wars. The other one is by a different sculptor and features mermen. There is something about these verdigris-coloured figures and their mystical nature that reminds me of the Ray Harryhausen films I watched when I was young in the 70s where such mythical creatures came to life, like Medusa, harpies and cyclops. Fantastic stuff! The tiny sharks visible here skim the scales of the mermaid in such a skilful way and the sculpture reveals new surprises from whichever angle you view the piece. Quite an achievement. I hope to produce a 'fully-fledged' painting of this fountain, people, National Gallery background et al at a later date, it's such a rich view. 5B carbon pencil (the ones without the wooden surround) and watercolour on heavyweight cartridge pad.

Pret delivery man

2010-10-01T14:49:00.001+01:00


100101 Pret delivery man © Peter Gander

Prets (Pret a Manger) Oxford Street, London, was my port of call for lunch today (Malaysian chicken soup was fabulous). Too wet outside today for ‘live’ sketching, so this is drawn from an old reference photo back at work in one of our teeny meeting rooms as the rain lashed the windows. Never traced of course, (that would be the sure death of the drawing), but stuck on a wall and drawn by eye, as if from life. That way a spontaneity is retained and the artist’s flair or character comes through in the style of drawing. Though it is really way too thin to take watercolour (at 160gsm), I used a pastel paper, Daler Rowney Murano (Neutral colours) Pastel Pad, as I liked the appropriate stony base colour for the stone-flagged streets of London. The white areas are Conté pencil and the key of the paper is visible in those areas. The Conté adds a lovely pastel-like chalkiness. Carbon pencil and watercolour on Daler-Rowney Murano Pastel Paper.

Chimney pot seagull • SOLD

2010-09-26T11:23:00.002+01:00

I’ve been itching to upload this 3rd painting in a series of seagull paintings. This particular one was commissioned by a previous painting customer in Whitstable who employed me to paint a picture of his house. His wife was particularly fond of the imperious expression I had captured in a previous gull painting, so I hope I maintained that here. She also requested a Victorian chimney pot. I did try alternative viewpoints, but this particular low angle was really the only way to convey that proud attitude! Watercolour and 5B pencil on Langton ‘grain fin’ 300gsm paper.

Ship in a bottle, Trafalgar Square, London

2010-09-21T14:17:00.002+01:00

Trafalgar Square is a walkable 20 minutes from my office in Tottenham Court Road, so I ambled down there the other day, on a balmy September lunchtime. The line drawing (Pentel NMF50, Superfine point) was done in-situ and I took a photo for colour reference to refer to later as it was not possible to both draw and paint the scene in the 20 mins I had before getting back. The Fourth Plinth has been set aside for contemporary pieces of art, though it was once destined to support a rider on horseback which hasn’t yet transpired. The Ship in a bottle is by artist Yinka Shonibare and celebrates the maritime history of the battle of Trafalgar - see http://www.london.gov.uk/trafalgarsquare/around/4th_plinth.jsp for details. The painting was applied to Daler-Rowney Pastel Paper, a little too thin (160gsm) for watercolour really, as it buckles, but the tinted colour, an oatmeal and the addition of white Conté pencil for the highlights made better use of this paper. It has a nice vertical grain and the overall texture lends itslef nicely to the mainly stone subject matter. Watercolour on Daler-Rowney Murano Neutral Pastel Paper with white Conté pencil.

Red phone box, Piccadilly

2010-09-16T14:36:00.001+01:00

A painting of scaffolding-strewn Piccadilly near The Royal Academy, London. Once seen on every street corner in the land, the lesser-spotted red phone box now only appears occasionally in select sites, like the prettiest village green or by an iconic London landmark. It has long been replaced by matt black versions (awful) or even worse, the modern BT kiosk. I hear the decommissioned boxes shown have been made into personal showers, etc and I have seen one or two in country gardens in my commute to London. The morning light was bright and strong and created a nice burnt-out area on the top of the phone box. A limited palette keeps the piece harmonious. (I used a Winsor & Newton Cotman Pocket Plus half-pan painting box, which has 12 colours). Black Pentel Pen NMF50 (O.5 nib) on Daler Rowney Fine-Grain Heavyweight (200gsm) paper pad.

Spain, poolside sketches

2010-09-13T16:47:00.001+01:00

I recently had to whizz over to Spain to tend to some urgent family business and took along my sketchbook. Here's a few painted by the poolside at Eric and Annes, who kindly put me up. They live near Horadada, Alicante on Spain's east coast (Costa Blanca). Candy the dog proved a tricky subject as she was constantly on the move, so the sketch must have lasted all of 5 minutes. Watercolour & 5B graphite pencil.

‘Rude Britannia’ Maggie Thatcher sketch

2010-09-02T20:18:00.001+01:00

Fiona and I visited Tate Britain today in Pimlico, London for the final few days of the Rude Britannia (love that title) exhibition of comic British art. Comic as in humorous, this was not exclusively paper comic-based stuff, though there was plenty of that in the form of Viz characters. No, there were bawdy Victorian etchings to contemporary sculptures and everything in-between. Artsists included my own personal hero Donald McGill, who was perhaps the most skilful/least crude painter of the golden era of 1950s & 60s saucy seaside postcards (see top right in the image). In the political room, where patrons were encouraged to draw their own caricature, I went over to the Spitting Image figure of our former British Prime Minister (now Lady) Margaret Thatcher, the perhaps infamous Iron Lady who was a prime target of the satirical puppet series from 1984 and another decade after that. Of course, all I had to do was copy the already-caricatured profile - all the hard work had been done by Peter Fluck and Roger Law. Anyway, it was still a pleasure to do another in-situ sketch. If anyone’s in London until Sunday 5th September 2010, go and see it!

Street people (SOLD)

2010-08-31T15:04:00.002+01:00

Painted just a few days before the show and already sold (thank you to Simon Golding ;). For a change I used gouache in addition to watercolour to get those fiddly bits of (especially) light colour down on top of a watercolour base. (The alternative being to save the areas in white by using masking fluid, then watercolour). ‘The Street’, as you may know from previous posts, is a shingle spit in Whitstable that is exposed at low tide and is a popular spot for walkers, thus the ‘Street people’ title. I’ve even caught a bass when fly-fishing here after spotting some gulls swooping down over the feature. It was fun, if time-consuming, painting this, as people are obviously detail-rich, but I will be doing some more like this at a later date. Watercolour and gouache on Langton 300gsm rough watercolour paper.

Original painted postcards - seascapes

2010-08-26T09:57:00.004+01:00

During my recent art exhibition at The Horsebridge in Whitstable, to save me going quietly mad during the less busy spells (okay, and to look like a proper artist), I painted some tiny originals to sell. In the end I painted nearly twenty of them over a few days and here are a couple of favourites.

This one exploits the rough surface with a dryish brush. I use a huge size 20 squirrel mop, useful for overing a large area quickly.

Linocut sketch: Navarrenx salmon poster/postcard

2010-08-25T22:59:00.003+01:00

My brother David lives with his wife Lindy and daughter Nancy in a fortified medieval town called Navarrenx in the Béarn region of south-west France, close to the foothills of the Pyrenees. Navarrenx was the first fortified town to be built in France (in 1316) and reminds me of Canterbury near my home in Kent, as it has a wall and ramparts surrounding it and, like Canterbury, you cannot walk around the town without being aware that the place is steeped in history. A minute’s walk from my brother's front door is the ‘Gave d’Oloron’, a picturesque salmon river that I have fished myself - not for salmon as yet, but I have caught rainbow trout here, cooked on a riverside barbecue minutes after being caught! David and Lindy run Galerie Le Petit Chien and I have threatened to produce some Navarrenx-themed artwork many times before, so this morning I finally got down to sketching out this poster/postcard design en route to London on the train. By the way, any similarity to the golden age of travel poster design is purely intentional - I do love the retro feel that it has ;) The bridge is drawn from memory and I have since checked my pics of the bridge and it doesn’t have as many arches, so I will need to address that, but generally I am very content with the design. Fiona suggests I make the happy angler look in the direction of his quarry too, which is a fair point, as the two elements are a little disconnected. This will be a two-colour linocut, in black and a blue-grey and will be a tad smaller than A3 size. I will make handmade limited edition prints of this and I will also scan and produce postcards from these prints for their gallery too. Permanent pen and graphite pencil (grey areas) on parchment sketchbook. © Peter Gander

Piquillo

2010-08-24T23:11:00.000+01:00

The last of my ‘piquillos’ sits in a plastic tub shielded from my cutting mat by a napkin. Bought from the deli round the corner from the gallery where I’ve stewarded for the last couple of days. Piquillos are a favourite basque tapas dish. Quite fiery are these innocent-looking peppers (more like a chilli pepper) which are stuffed with all sorts of things but in my experience, usually a creamy cheese. My brother lives in the basque town of Navarrenx in south-western France, so I am happy to report that I’ve come across these delights before. The heat of the chargrilled pepper is offset by the smooth, rich cheese. Note how the oil has taken on the hue of the mini red pepper. I can’t recommend them enough! Watercolour on Langton rough 300gsm paper.