Into the Dark

I never cease to be amazed at what watercolour can do. Over the years I have added all sorts of things to the stuff -  gouache, acrylic ink, wax, sepia - but just recently I've been adding a lot of indian ink. As I've been developing paintings for my summer exhibition - Tales of the Dales (details below) - I have found that I wanted a richness and a gravity to reflect the mystery and the dark nature of some of the stories. 

Indian ink, as the name suggests, comes from China, along with oil paint, gunpowder and chess. It has a wonderful couple of properties. On the one hand it will give deep stains into watercolour paper, but on the other hand it will not leave a mark when certain kinds of resists are used.

 

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This is the method I've been working with recently. I've been combining it with rich glazes of watercolour which float over the indian ink and allow me to find the warmth (or lack of it) which the landscape I'm portraying requires.

Above is Tan Hill Inn, England's highest pub, silhouetted against the sky. Left is The Ribblehead Viaduct one of the most amazing landscapes in the Dales. I wanted to capture the drama, the light and the way in which the viaduct becomes part of the landscape. In the painting its barely distinguishable from its surroundings. 

In this way I am, as always, trying to paint the personality of the landscape, and I feel its working. I hope visitors to the exhibition will think so too.

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A date for your diary:
the exhibition preview is at 7pm Friday 26th July at Wensley church.

For further updates on the work for the this and other exhibitions visit my page on Facebook by clicking HERE or follow me on Twitter by clicking HERE.

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