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).

Fiona’s red shoes

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

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)

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

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

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)

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)