Two men on a train (gouache on black)

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.

Sketched in the city: Victoria Railway Station, London

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.