TIM BAKER

Although I’ve not been posting them, I have been trying to grab the odd bit of winter sunshine (haha! Sunshine? In the UK? You have to be kidding!) or at least not pouring with rain. I’ve been experimenting with using the Neocolor II and W&N Watercolour sticks instead of traditional watercolours…with mixed results.

The most successful – on a freezing day in Home Park, Hampton Court – above, wasn’t really that successful. As well as the problems with the Uni Pen as detailed before my carefully drawn lines started washing away and I didn’t really fancy standing longer in the cold to wait for it to dry (as my tests found out, it’d be a long wait!). The water sticks need a LOT of water to blend, I mean Boris Johnson’s Water Cannon level of application…this tends to make even 300gsm paper a bit unhappy and start coming off.

Also a problem with all of the watercolour sticks is the intensity of colour. It is possible to get subtle effects by using them with a brush and palette (kind of negating the point somewhat) or being really really really careful with application (as I did with my fist image, but still even with that the paper started to crumble). Certainly, they’ll be great for a sunny summer or bright green spring day. A grumpy dark winter’s day? Not so much. I’d recommend sticking to the traditional sort for winter, even at risk of freezing your water bottle! Also I’ve found the Winsor Blue (Red Shade) is a terrible blue for mixing, get Prussian Blue or Cerulean/Cobalt if you can. Sadly I went back to get some Sepia and found the sale had ended, darker browns like that would also help.

The earlier Neocolor above I did in November I think, or early December in Richmond, the same day I went to sketch the other River God ‘Old Father Thames’ John Bacon statue (again, those have stayed in my sketch book, better than at Ham, but still needs work).

A boat had broken it’s mooring – it looked abandoned – and been washed onto the bank in the winter floods. Again, I lacked darker colours then, and even getting some purples etc. since the range is very bright. Expect to use a lot of blue for mixing, to try and get a shade that represents something that is less kid’s crayon box…Also annoyingly a lot of the darker shades as with the W&N aren’t lightfast – if it’s red, purple, blue or even green check the lightfast rating – you can find the ratings for Neocolor II here and over at the W&N site or for W&N it’s on the side of the sticks, it lists the rating from them and the ATSM one.

Also rather embarrassing, just as I filled in the crayons and it looked like a disturbed kid’s colouring-in book, a passing stranger wanted to look at it.

I hate that anyway, the idea that people come up when you’re working outside and insist on passing judgement. For example:

• I don’t go up to people working out or exercising and demand to see their muscles, and say ‘nice job?’
• I don’t go up to photographers and demand to see their latest pictures?
• I don’t go upto carpenters or builders working outside and expect to inspect their handiwork?

So why is it acceptable to do that with an artist working outdoors?

Sometimes it’s great and I feel happy showing my work, sometimes it’s going badly and it’s the worst moment to be asking. So I said no curtly and ignored her, and it got all awkward, and she fumbled an apology and left.

Really people, don’t approach artists unless you’re sure they want your critique and look like they want to be approached! (yes I’ve had people tell me how I can ‘improve’ my work in the past, and give ‘advice’ which was about as welcome as a sudden downpour!).

Here is one watercolour I started – not the first and won’t be the last and abandoned…just wasn’t feeling it. St Raphael’s has defeated me again – DAMN YOU! Including it here cos I might finish it in future, or it might stay as a sketch. Given my later trials with the Uni Pin pen, it’s probably just as well I didn’t make things harder!

I find buildings hard, manmade structures confuse me, never know whether to go really accurate or hand-wave the detail?