Red Sands Radio Christmas Card pen & ink

Red Sands Radio Christmas image 2013  © Peter Gander 2013

Latest inky work for Bob Le Roi, radio presenter at local radio station Red Sands. The original is hand-drawn with scratch (dip) pen and ink, with watercolour. Santa is seen descending into one of the ‘Maunsell Forts’, a set of WWII anti-aircraft battlements still seen off the coast here in the Thames estuary in north Kent and once where Red Sands Radio transmitted from in the 60s.

Fishing lure 131015

Imitation and life, as it were  © Peter Gander 2013

Despite being an avid fisherman, I must admit to never having mastered the lure, admiring from afar their beauty as objects but that’s as far as it goes (so far). This one sports a chunky diving vane on its lower lip and a ruddy throat which I understand throws the intended quarry into a lusty attack, thinking that the faux fish is injured. Unusually for me, I used masking fluid for the hard-edged spine highlight as it does give a strong effect (usually I bring wax to the art table for similar effect). The white/cream paper, though full of texture (Hahnemuele Andalucia 500gsm board) lacked a certain something, so I cut out a fish-body-sized mask of paper and lay it on top of the coloured fish. Then sprayed it freely with blobs of watercolour paint tapped over the back of the hand for that more characterful bespattered look.

Lure 131015  © Peter Gander 2013

Fiona’s Converse

Fiona’s Converse  © Peter Gander 2013

I’ve always wanted to draw these iconic shoes from my youth and my wife Fiona wears them, so I got her to part with them for an hour. The drawing was done sans sketch/pencil 1st, so it remains nice and loose with a spontaneous feel. Ink and dip pen with watercolour (mostly Payne’s Grey) on Hahnemuhle Andalucia 500gsm paper.

Seaside figures for Putterfingers

Happy couple  © Peter Gander 2013

Boy on donkey  © Peter Gander 2013

Picnic couple  © Peter Gander 2013

Weightlifter  © Peter Gander 2013

Punch & Judy © Peter Gander 2013

Lifeguard & lady  © Peter Gander 2013

Couple in sea  © Peter Gander 2013

Skinny man with crab  © Peter Gander 2013

Commissions for www.putterfingers.co.uk a Suffolk-based mini-golf company. Set of 9. Original: Ink and watercolour on 300gsm The Langton Grain Fin paper.

Seaside characters for Putterfingers.co.uk

1 of 9  © Peter Gander 2013

Commission for www.putterfingers.co.uk a Suffolk-based mini-golf company. 1 of 9. Original: Ink  and watercolour on 300gsm The Langton Grain Fin paper.

Washingborough Hall commission

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The pavilion in the morning sunshine

Straight into drawing out the Pavilion in permanent pen, so no room for any mistakes!

The fountain, known as ‘The lady in the park’

The lady and ‘Washy Hall’ as it’s affectionately known

‘Washy Hall’  © Peter Gander 2013

Pavilion  © Peter Gander 2013

‘Lady in the park’  © Peter Gander 2013

The dovecote  © Peter Gander 2013

Composite image of the day’s output  © Peter Gander 2013

I posted a painting of a French chateau I painted during a holiday recently and it was seen on Facebook by an owner of Washingborough Hall in Lincolnshire, UK. She asked me if I took commissions and last week I drove 200 miles north, and during a beautifully warm September day, I produced this set of paintings for her. Watercolour and permanent pen on Winsor & Newton 300gsm Grain Fin paper.

Inked ‘Cockerel’

The final illustration  © Peter Gander 2013

A new www.haveagander.biz addition to the ‘Menagerie’ series of hand-painted animals which we make into rubber stamps and hand-print onto greetings cards.

Blackboard for Rosie’s Wedding

Our client Rosie had a 'thing' about chalk on blackboards. But not so much the usual phobia of nails being scraped down a blackboard, but rather a distaste for chalk itself. But she wanted a blackboard for wedding guests nevertheless, so we suggested the very chalky-looking 'gouache-paint-on-black' approach. It worked a treat and here are the work-in-progress pics. The blackboard was seen just at the entrance to the church on the big day.

Conference pear

‘Conference pear’  © Peter Gander 2013

Before I ate this Conference pear I was taken by its textured skin and so took to painting it first! My piece of broken wax candle served to impart the texture via washes of watercolour over subsequent wax resist marks. Extra linear marks and white highlight were added with blue, sepia and white Conté sticks. Watercolour on The Langton 300gsm (rough) paper.

‘Alias Smith & Jones’ hand-lettered image for Photo Mosaic

Typical Photo Mosaic  © Fiona Howarth

‘Hand-lettering Western style’  © Peter Gander

The top pic is one of my wife Fiona’s ‘Photo Mosaics’. A tessellated square of many squares, they are given as gift to loved ones to celebrate birthdays and suchlike and are comprised of the tiniest detail to the big things in life. They are part photo, part scanned original art. Fiona does the photographic squares and I paint mini originals for the remaining ‘favourite TV programmes, brand of jeans/custard’, etc. Some come along that are really nice to do, such as the ‘Alias Smith & Jones’ panel, above. The original lettering was rendered in pencil and watercolour on paper as it the paint can have a lovely inconsistency when used in a ‘scrubbing’ fashion. This was later superimposed onto a scan of driftwood that I had, with transparency allowing the background through slightly. 

‘Thank You’ swallow gift tag art

Swallow Thank You’ tag  © Peter Gander 2013

Today I adapted the artwork of our ‘Swallow’ card www.notonthehighstreet.com/haveagander/product/hand-printed-swallow-card to customise it for a ‘Thank You’ gift tag & card. Original: The swallow image and new banner were hand-drawn in black ink with a brush and scratch (dip) pen.

Drawing the new banner with scratch pen  © Peter Gander 2013

© Peter Gander 2013