Tag Archives: gouache

Return to the Jurassic Coast

October 1, 2022 Ade Leave a comment

Hello! I’m now back from exploring the Jurassic Coast. We stayed on a smallholding in Melplash, Dorset and it was absolutely wonderful. Lovely friendly hosts and an extremely comfortable cottage. Utter bliss.

Over our two week stay we hit about 62 miles in walks across the stunning Dorset countryside. Have to say, a great many ups and downs were involved and my poor knees haven’t recovered yet!

So many memories…

I’ve been visiting the Jurassic coast, East Devon and West Dorset, since I was about eight or nine years old. One year I remember my grandparents bought me second-hand issues of X-Men number 1 and Thor’s debut in ‘Tales to Astonish’ from the holiday camp shop to keep me amused while the weather was wet. A real treat as I was only allowed British comics at home. Once I’d read them I threw them away of course… If only I knew then what I know now. Doh!!

To be honest the Jurassic coast is positively stuffed with a lifetime of memories. I can truly say that it has shaped the person I am now. It has a way of seeping into your soul. And even though I have a deep passion for Cornwall, the Jurassic coast will ever remain my spiritual home.

…and one we’d rather not have

And so there we wandered; we looked for fossils, visited museums, and marvelled at the night sky while listening for bats and owls. And I did virtually no painting or sketching. Unfortunately, our second week was marred by the utterly awful news that our beloved British Blue puss Genie had died in the cattery. I can’t describe the sense of loss, and our grief blunted our mood for the rest of our stay.

She was extraordinary cat, and had been our constant companion for 18 wonderful years. That’s a huge age for a pedigree British Blue. Our only consolation is that she died peacefully in her sleep. When they found her they thought she was just that, asleep. I can’t express how much we miss her, the house isn’t the same without her soft pad-padding about. No more warm cuddles.

The holloway

Despite that I have still come away with ideas and inspiration. I’ve loads of photos to jog my memory. One place which is definitely going to feature in future work is a holloway close to the cottage, a bridleway and ancient track. Enclosed by bent and arching trees, exposed roots twist from the earth, plaiting themselves into contorted shapes reaching through the track’s gloomy depths.

That damp dark green place really got my imagination fired up. What will I do with this wealth of material? I do have a few ideas which will firm up as I ponder the material I’ve gathered. Watch this space as they say, or better yet my Facebook and Insta feeds…

Gouache, Paintings

Digitally editing ‘The Coming Home Trees’

July 22, 2022 Ade 1 Comment

Today I started digital editing a scan of a wee 7“x5” gouache painting called ’The Coming Home Trees’. Travelling to Cornwall on the A30 they are a much-loved landmark. They are also called ‘The Nearly There Trees’. This was one of the paintings made when I was painting sets.

Digitally editing 'The Coming Home Trees' a gouache painting — Digitally editing ‘The Coming Home Trees’ a gouache painting

When I ran an Instagram poll months back asking whether people would prefer prints or cards of my paintings. Prints clearly came out on top. Unfortunately at the time I was unable to progress.

Piggy bank willing, I’m now ready to fund a small run of high quality Giclee prints. Giclee prints are made using top-of-the-line inkjet printers which can print onto watercolour paper. While the technology is similar to your home deskjet printer, Giclee printers use 12 or more inks rather than 4. This means they achieve very subtle colour graduations which closely match those in the original painting. It can sometimes be difficult to tell a Giclee print from the original, they are that good.

My process

I scan all my paintings as soon as I complete them so I already had a hi-res 32 bit TIF file. My goal today is to remove some of the unnecessary scanned texture from areas of blank paper while retaining the original raggedy edge left by the masking tape. I‘m also cleaning around the pencil writing.

Digitally editing 'The Coming Home Trees' a gouache painting - detail — Digitally editing ‘The Coming Home Trees’ a gouache painting – detail

Digitally editing 'The Coming Home Trees' a gouache painting - close detail — Digitally editing ‘The Coming Home Trees’ a gouache painting – close detail

Mucking about like this reminds me of being back at work where Photoshop was a constant companion. These days I use the excellent Affinity Photo by Serif who also publish the companion programs Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher. Admittedly the interface can be a little confusing if you’re coming from Photoshop, but with a little time and YouTube videos all becomes clear.

All are very reasonably priced too. Photo does all of what I asked of Photoshop for but at a fraction of the cost. A real biggy for me is that Serif don’t hold you to ransom with a subscription like Adobe.

I’ll composite and position my edited image onto a 10”x8” blank digital master ready for printing. And to ensure the colours and tones remain faithful to the original I’ll be arranging a test print.

When will ‘The Coming Home Trees’ be available?

Soon I hope. I’ve got to source a printer then as long as I’m happy with a test print I’ll list them in my Etsy shop. They will be 10″x8″ total size with the image life-size at around 5″x4″. They will come with a card window mount and there will be an option to have them framed.

Meanwhile, here’s a simulation to whet your appetite (final version might vary):

The Coming Home Trees Giclee print with white mount and frame (composite image)

See you soon,

Ade, 22 July 2022

Paintings

Welcome (again)

July 20, 2022 Ade Leave a comment

Thanks for dropping by. It’s been a few years since I added new content here. These days you can catch up with me on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter. Follow me there for my latest news and paintings.

You can also visit my new(ish) Etsy shop for a selection of original paintings and prints. I’ve found it a real game changer. Some balk at Etsy’s fees, but honestly they’re not as onerous as gallery fees. Yes, it means I have to do all my own promotion but for now that’s OK.

Where’s this site content heading?

Years back when I started this site my intention was to blog regularly and occasionally review painting gear. And for a while, early on, I did just that. For a variety of reasons though that petered out. Then, during the early months of the COVID pandemic I almost shut it down completely. Glad I didn’t. Like so many people I wasn’t in the best frame of mind.

A channel like this where I’m free to expand on themes and ideas has its place. I’m not going to force it, but if I have something more ‘meaty’ to present I’ll do it here. I’ll never be a prolific blogger (or painter for that matter) but I will share when I’m ready.

Meanwhile if you’ve not been here before please explore my earlier posts. The topics bounce around a bit, but that’s just me.

My preferred medium has definitely changed

You’ll see a change in preference through the years. I used to see myself as an oil/acrylic painter. My preference now is to work fairly small in watercolour or gouache. I really love the chalky, graphic nature of gouache. So different from the free blending experience of oils. Quickly laying down opaque layers of paint to build an image feels close to magic when it comes together.

I’ll probably dip into oils now and then, but gouache is definitely becoming my ‘thing’.

What about Lino-printing?

Yes, yes, I know. Truth is, I keep putting it off. Since buying a fabulous Gunning printing press way back I’ve threatened to get into Lino printing. And I do have a long-standing project idea, but its stuck in my head. It’s currently filed under ‘how-the-heck-can-I-make-this-work’…

So there you go, a quick update on where I’m at. I hope you’ve explored and liked what you’ve seen. Do pop over to follow me on on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, or even all three!

Ade, July 2022

Gouache, Paintings

Painting sets

January 29, 2019 Ade 1 Comment

What an interesting turn of events. Way back in October I recall saying that I was going to hibernate for the winter. Just chill and take things as they come. No plans for painting, or indeed anything else. It sort of worked…

…but over the past three weeks or so I’ve already painted more than I did through the whole of last year. I must have been thinking about it on some level, but it didn’t seem to be a properly conscious decision.

I think it started when I watched Tiffanie Mang on Instagram making tiny study pieces in gouache, about 2.5” square if I remember right. And they were gorgeous, like little jewels.

Small, but perfectly formed

I paint small when I’m sketching outside, but other than that I’ve never set out with the intention of making series of pure practice pieces. Sure, I’ll knock out quick pencil thumbnail sketches when I’m planning a painting, but nothing beyond that.

So, I rummaged through my stock and fished out a big sheet of 250lb Bockingford NOT watercolour paper. I divided it into eight equal format rectangles each 14cm wide by 9cm high using masking tape.

My ground rules

I wanted to take this opportunity to practice painting fast and, hopefully, pretty loose. I want to make more use of gouache when I paint outdoors. So, I set myself these ground rules:

Timing: each painting session to take no longer than 1 hour (later revised down to 40mins). At the end of which time, brushes down whatever the state of the painting.
Gouache: I specifically wanted to concentrate on this water-based medium.
Big brushes: to force me to paint loose I would use only half inch flats: straight, angled and ‘vegetation’ (that’s a ragged brush, ideal for quickly generating the impression of grass and stems).
My usual gouache palette – Cadmium Red Pale, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine Blue, Indigo Blue, Cobalt Blue, Lemon Yellow and Cadmium Yellow Pale, Permanent White, Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre, and Burnt Umber.
From photos: these were never going to be ‘plein air’ sketches. The photos were chosen ‘at a glance’ they had to appeal to me within a couple of seconds.
Absolutely no tatting! OK, so I broke this a few times…

The paintings

And here are the results. I’ve completed two sets and am about to start a third.

I have to say, the whole exercise has been a bit of a boost. And, the icing on the cake is that they have proved popular, with all but 2 of the first series being snapped up in a couple of days.

Here are my personal favourites so far:

The best place to follow my progress as I produce these sets is on my Facebook or Instagram accounts. A few are currently available in my Etsy shop.

Its already shaping up to be an interesting year.

Musings, Paintings

Time to reflect on the good things

October 31, 2018 Ade 2 Comments

This year was always going to be ‘interesting’ and, as the nights draw rapidly in, I’ve been reflecting on my progress so far. You know what, in general I think it’s all been good.

While I’ve not been very prolific, I sense the quality of my paintings has definitely improved. And when I think back to the mental health issues which dragged me down over the past 3 years or so, I’ll take that as a ‘good thing’.

This year I’ve tried not to put myself under pressure to create. I’ve largely done whatever I fancied, and only when I fancied doing it. And if some things have been left hanging, the lino-printing for instance, then so be it. At the moment I’m fortunate in that this is not my prime income and I also have a ‘proper day job’ to pay the bills.

Ade Turner Artist in Cornwall — On my favourite coast path in Cornwall

So, over winter I may not paint at all now I’ve finished my latest commission. I don’t even know yet whether I’ll pick up the lino cutting either. It’s an easier option than painting as I hate to paint under artificial light, even using my wonderful OTT-Lites.

I won’t be idle of course. The new website is still on the cards but, hey, who really enjoys putting that stuff together; it might go to the back of the queue.

I will sort out those Giclee prints I mentioned last time.

And I’ve plenty of non-painty things on the boil too, including decorating (which I hate by the way…), figuring out how to use my new 8” telescope, a couple of 1/10^th dinosaur sculptures which I want to prepare, modify and paint. Oh, and Red Dead Redemption II for my Xbox – it is gaming season after all, and I can see myself being lost in that for weeks.

Of everything, I’m hoping the dinosaurs will fill my time, and fair warning I will be posting progress. At around 30” in length both are ginormous! In fact they are so big I’m not sure yet where I’ll display them once they’re sorted. Well, what can I say, they looked smaller online…

So, a quiet and hopefully relaxing winter and early New Year coming up. I will still be posting on FaceBook from time to time, so head over there and please Like my page if you want to keep up with any updates.

Alkyds, Paintings

Someday my prints will come…

September 5, 2018 Ade Leave a comment

See what I did there? prints/prince?? Oh, never mind…

Anyway, prints. You will soon be able to buy high quality Giclee prints of a selection of my paintings. First off the mark will be a couple of my latest gouache paintings.

I’ve been working with Sarah at Ironbridge Fine Arts and Framing to colour match the scans of my paintings to be as close as possible to the originals. I’m very impressed! Comparing my paintings and test prints side by side it really is hard to tell at a glance which is the original.

What is a Giclee print?

Kynance Cove: The Bellows - framed original with Giclee print — Kynance Cove: The Bellows – framed original alongside Giclee print

Giclee prints are made using top-of-the-line inkjet printers. While the technology is similar to your home deskjet printer, Giclee printers can use 12 inks rather than 4. This means they can achieve very subtle colour graduations which closely match those in the original painting.

During printing the size of the spray droplets varies which makes for a less ‘mechanical’ finish. And the ink is archival quality so each print will have a long life with less likelihood of fading.

Once printed onto an acid-free, lightly textured watercolour paper the results are brilliant.

Which paintings will be available?

To kick things off I’ll be offering two recent gouache paintings:

Kynance Cove: The Bellows (featured above)
From Pen Olver to Lloyds Signal Station

From Pen Olver to Lloyd’s Signal Station

I will be offering both unframed without a card mount. Besides giving you the freedom to present them exactly how you want, this also means I can keep the price point affordable.

I’ll post up full details of price, size etc. once I’m ready to go, most likely mid to end of October (I have a holiday coming up very soon).

Update: Kynance Cove – The Bellows is now available in my Etsy shop.

Gouache, Paintings, Watercolours

Going all gouache

July 28, 2018 Ade 1 Comment

Over the years I’ve used, and dabbled with, all manner of media. Ive tried watercolours, gouache, oils, alkyds, water soluble oils, acrylics, acrylic ‘ink’, traditional inks, silk paints, coloured pencils, charcoal, Conte crayons, graphite sticks and pencils, and pastels. And probably a few others. My art drawers are crammed full of ‘interesting’ tubes of stuff, all are slowly fading away in the darkness, some sit alone and unloved.

What’s your medium?

If you’d asked me a few months ago “which is your medium”, I’d have said oils without hesitation. Today I’m not so sure, because I’m beginning to think it might be actually be gouache. Maybe…

I’ve used gouache on and off for over 20 years, but not in a sustained way. A handful of small monochrome illustrations when I worked as an illustrator and more recently for occasional plein air holiday sketches. I think over time I’ve absorbed a negative notion that gouache paintings are held in low regard as a painting medium. I’ve seen them criticized because they can produce ‘chalky’ work which is over-stylised and too graphic. Not a serious medium for serious artists then…

It was only while confined to our holiday cottage on a drizzly day in June (remember drizzle…?) that I started a ‘proper’ painting in gouache. I’d deliberately left my oils at home, so it was Hobson’s choice – pure watercolour or gouache.

The painting

And here is that painting: Towards Lloyd’s Signal Station from Pen Olver’. It’s on 450gsm Hahnemühle 50cm by 20cm NOT watercolour paper. Looking back, I was surprised how much brighter and more colourful my gouache paintings seem compared to my plein air oils.

I roughed in a tonal underpainting using Turner acrylic gouache. Despite its name I don’t see it as a real gouache. It’s basically opaque acrylic paint suspended in a matt binder. For me it doesn’t ‘feel’ like the real deal. However, being acrylic I could paint over it without lifting any colours.

Now I’ve gained a little more experience I’m not sure I’ll use the acrylic gouache again. I’ll probably make my underpainting direct in Winsor & Newton Designer’s gouache. They have a lovely creamy feel, are well saturated with pigment and dry to a velvety matt finish.

However, brushstrokes must be confidently placed and then left well alone. Prodding and poking at a newly laid wash overlying a previously layer can lead to unexpected results. Sometimes this gives rise to ‘happy accidents’, but most often it results in a mucky mess. It’s this need for confident handling which determines the characteristic look of many gouache paintings – think old railway posters.

The more I work with them, I’ve found I can make blends up to a point, but laying a thin glaze over previous layers is asking for trouble.

Conclusion?

I am still finding my way. With my latest painting, ‘Ancient Landscape’, I feel I’m pushing against the limits of layering. Some areas sport about 10.

Ancient Landscape

On balance I think I need to try and achieve my goal in as few layers as possible, which means cultivating and maintaining spontaneity and confidence in my brush work. More practice then!

Gouache, Paintings, Watercolours

All set for watercolour

May 17, 2017 Ade Leave a comment

Annual holidays eh? Such a treat! For me they are increasingly a chance to get some mental breathing room to rein back my long-standing depression and let me paint for a while. Change of location I guess, away from everything. Lovely.

So, in a couple of weeks I’ll be off again to my all-time favourite destination, the Lizard Peninsular in Cornwall.

I love working plein air, usually with a pochade box, a tripod and oils or acrylics. This year however I’m leaving all that malarkey at home so I can concentrate on watercolour.

Must say I’m nervous. I’m far more comfortable painting in oils or acrylics, but on the plus side this is an opportunity to practice. And, as a bonus, the switch will make my kit considerably lighter. My back’s going to thank me for that!

Personally I’ve always found pure watercolour particularly difficult. I really love the luminosity to be had, but struggle so much to keep things clean and ‘pure’. The very act of mentally deconstructing a scene to paint from light to dark makes my brain bend like a banana in a yoga class…

But, when I work on holiday my paintings are usually only intended to be sketches for pleasure, not finished pieces. Does it really matter how I resolve an image as long as it works for me? I guess not. Big plan then: loosen up and to hell with that transparency gig. I’m taking gouache. And pastel pencils too. I can hear the purists screaming; I feel your pain.

In terms of kit, I plan to take:

My trusty Frank Herring Dorchester watercolour palette. I’ve tried many through the years and always come back to this one. Lightweight and with plenty of mixing room. And as I’ve had it since the early ‘90s, I guess it’s pretty robust too!
W&N and Holbein artists’ gouache, although I’m not too certain about the latter. Probably my lack of experience, but I find the Holbein extremely strongly tinted and difficult to handle.
A self-sealing palette specifically for the gouache. Not tried this one before, (pinched it from Carole…), so let’s see if it really does keep the paint moist without an unholy mixture of runny Ultramarine and Alizarin Crimson dribbling into my rucksac… Colourful, but it makes a real mess of your butties.
A plastic rosette palette for mixing gouache – I don’t want to mix it with my watercolours, well, not off the page anyway…
Da Vinci sable travelling brushes 3, 6 and 10.
A selection of synthetic brushes for the gouache.
Pastel pencils. Looks like I’m taking a lot, but will edit down each day depending on what I’m doing.
Various graphite and carbon pencils for sketching. There’re a few spares in there so again I’ll edit down to essentials once I arrive.
Masking tape (broad and narrow). I like to divide my pages, and a white border always looks so good.

As usual I’m going to keep my colour palette simple with warm and cool variants of the primaries: 2 reds, 2 blues and 2 yellows. I’ll supplement these with a few earth colours and darker variants to create denser areas of tone.

For paper I’ll be using my favourite: Saunders Waterford both in a large hard bound book (my Cornwall book) and in a few pads.

I’ll also take my Stillman and Birn sketch pad and a Moleskine watercolour journal for ‘light’ days.

And that’s it. Hopefully, Wi-Fi willing, I’ll be able to post more when I get down there. In the meantime remember I’m often more active on my Facebook, Instagram and Twitter accounts so please check me out there too.

Gouache, Paintings, Pencil, Sketches, Watercolours

Plein air sketches from East Devon and Dorset

September 14, 2014 Ade Leave a comment

So, here we’re back in what always feels like our second home, Seaton in East Devon and about to start the second week of our holiday.

Sadly, this year, we’re here following a very recent and very close family bereavement. Needless to say our thoughts have been mixed, and of all things our minds haven’t been focussed on making paintings.

However, there have been opportunities to sketch, and I think making the effort has been mentally beneficial for both of us. The weather has been very kind too. So here is a collection of my plein air sketches in watercolour, gouache and pencil. Hope you like them. I’ll update this post with any new sketches after next week.

Plein air sketches from East Devon and Dorset


							A series of plein air sketches in pencil, watercolour and gouache from Devon and Dorset.								
																				
																					
												
																												
																															
																										
																									Pen and wash - River Coly at Colyton 
																							

																					
												
																												
																															
																										
																									Watercolour - Charmouth looking east 
																							

																					
												
																												
																															
																										
																									Gouache - River Otter north of Otterton 
																							

																					
												
																												
																															
																										
																									Penciul sketches of Colmer's Hill 
																							

																					

																						
																					
												
																												
																															
																										
																									Line and wash - Colmer's Hill 
																							

																					
												
																												
																															
																										
																									Watercolour - Evening towards Seaton Hole 
																							

																					
												
																												
																															
																										
																									Gouache - Evening over Seaton bowling green 
																							

																					
												
																												
																															
																										
																									Gouache - Mist murky - Axe mouth 
																							

																					

																						
																					
												
																												
																															
																										
																									Gouache - Brightening up - Axe mouth 
																							

																					
												
																												
																															
																										
																									Watercolour - Dutch Houses at Axmouth Harbour

Gouache, Paintings

Taking a gamble on gouache

July 3, 2014 Ade Leave a comment

You know, I didn’t realise it had been so long since my last post. Rather been letting things slip a bit haven’t I? I had intended to blog during my last week of holiday but, well, you know what it’s like…

To be honest, between getting back to work and navigating some rather challenging bits of ‘real’ life lately I’ve been feeling a bit drained, like my rubber band’s broke. And sadly I don’t always have the luxury of time to devote myself completely to my art.

The holiday was wonderful, such gorgeous weather. The Lizard Peninsular is one of my favourite places in Cornwall and really feels like a second home. It’s unfairly picturesque with a potential painting around each corner and over every rise. I really had to resist the temptation to paint all the time though; it was meant to be a family holiday after all…

Even so, I’ve still managed to bring back a fair bit of reference material, both sketches and paintings which will no doubt will appear on here in due course. And I’ve taken loads of photos too which I intend to use through the year, but with the usual caveat against becoming slavishly fixated. Photos can be a mixed blessing. Great for prodding the memory where it’s lacking, but they can also be flat and deceiving in so many ways, and they sucker you into the details.

Nothing beats sitting outdoors in front of a subject and letting it fill your mind. Observation always pays dividends. Not only does it reflect in the work created on site, regardless of its perceived quality, more importantly it reinforces the memory of a place and time for future reference.

In the week which followed my last post about painting at Church Cove I started to relax and find my feet. By the end of that week I was pretty pleased with my efforts. Besides working up some plein air sketches in both watercolour and acrylic, I also took the plunge and tried gouache.

I’d previously only used gouache in black and white many years ago for some professional illustration work. To keep things simple I decided to use just a handful of colours from Winsor and Newton’s Designer’s Gouache range: Primary Blue, Red and Yellow along with Ivory Black and Permanent White.

For my first attempt I painted a section of a Cornish ‘hedge’ covered in wildflowers including Thrift. It took a bit of experimenting – too much water at first, then too little – but after a while I started to get the hang of it. Working light over dark, letting each layer dry thoroughly before working quickly and lightly over the top. I was impressed by the covering power. While the sketch may have many problems, it was a useful exercise.

View towards Lloyd's Signal Station — View towards Lloyd’s Signal Station

For my second attempt I sat in our cottage and quickly sketched the view over the back garden. I kept the paint creamier than my first attempt and started to get the knack of laying paint without disturbing the underlying layer. This contributed towards a more graphic feel to the sketch, and a particular flatness. Although I have to admit that I quite like the poster-like effect, I can see why some artists don’t and avoid gouache. because it can appear ‘dead’ and chalky.

I was determined to push things a bit for my third outing and at Chun Quoit, a stunning Megalithic tomb, I deliberately painted both looser and on a larger scale, 60cm wide, on the ever excellent Saunders Waterford watercolour paper. This time I used a mixture of thick and thin washes. Sometimes I’d let the washes dry, other times I blended and pushed the paint about before scumbling drier paint over the top to catch on the texture of the paper. I was very pleased with the result. Sadly the limitations of the photo don’t reveal the more subtle colour modulations or hue the juicy intensity of the stronger passages, but trust me they are in there.

After making this painting I seriously started to reconsider my plein air approach. I use both watercolours and acrylics, but gouache seems to offer a great, easily portable halfway house without the irreversible drying qualities of acrylics. And, while I can make pure watercolours which use and reserve the white paper, gouache fits more easily with the way I like to work; it still feels a bit like cheating though.

For one more test I added French Ultramarine Blue, Lemon Yellow and Flame Red to my limited palette and spent about three quarters of an hour making this painting from my studio window. I think my gamble might be paying off. I’m going to chuck a few earth colours into the kit and see what happens. Watch this space…

So many memories…

…and one we’d rather not have

The holloway

My process

When will ‘The Coming Home Trees’ be available?

Where’s this site content heading?

My preferred medium has definitely changed

What about Lino-printing?

Small, but perfectly formed

My ground rules

The paintings

What is a Giclee print?

Which paintings will be available?

What’s your medium?

The painting

Conclusion?

Plein air sketches from East Devon and Dorset

British Landscape Painter