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?

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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!

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).