Monday 9 February 2015

Conkered

Per aspera ad astra-
Through difficulties to the stars

There has been a battle in my studio this week. Whilst my paperwork mountain was slowly being tackled, a little conker  sat on my desk, patiently awaiting my attention.
 I love painting conkers(Aesculus hippocastanum). I don’t know whether it’s the rich earthy colours or that tactile smoothness, but they make the perfect subject.

My page of conkers has now been stuck into Dianne's sketchbook for the Nature Trails Sketchbook Exchange
 I have painted them quite a few times now, but always on paper, never on vellum. I did try once, but gave up in exasperation. To get that rich patina you need quite a few layers of paint, and that can be a challenge on vellum. Suddenly you can find that you’re lifting paint off instead of adding another layer, and the more that you try to fix it, the quicker it turns into a blobby, patchy mess.
However, undeterred by the last disaster, I began.


I was feeling confident. I threw on a few initial washes of colour.

It wasn’t long before I was trying to fix things using a dampened cotton bud. Because the paint sits on the surface of the vellum, it's easy to wipe off. Perhaps a little too easy.

 However as I progressed, it became apparent that I had not put in enough blue in my initial washes, essential for that convincing gleam. I began to fuss, and it quickly became a horrible mess. I tried to scrape some of it off, but this is natural calf vellum, not kelmscott, which has a chalky coating, and so I ended up scuffing up the surface. The paint got caught in it and stained, leaving a dark and horrible patch. I wiped as much as I could off.

Attempt #2- I have to disguise that horrible dark patch
I decided to start again, but moved the conker up on the vellum to cover the recriminating patch. This time, I decided to start on the polished conker, ignoring the prickly cases.


Sometimes starting again can be the best option. You are aware of the mistakes that you have made and so take care to avoid them.


The colours that I used this time were similar to the ones that I used before, but with a few changes. I used Indanthrene instead of Cobalt and avoided Indigo altogether. For my really dark darks, I used Perylene violet with a little Perylene green. I also used a tiny bit of Transparent Brown Oxide and Burnt Bronzite from my Daniel Smith dot charts for the shell.


I ran out of daylight hours in my haste to finish this, so the photograph of the finished piece is not the best. I’m quite pleased with how it turned out though and glad that I persisted.


Today I was given some glorious lilies, exuberant beauties that are just begging to have their portrait painted. My palette will be washed, the earth colours put away and those delicious purple pigments will be coming out to play! Even the paperwork pile is looking less daunting.

That which we persist in doing becomes easier - not that the nature of the task has changed, but our ability to do has increased.” 
Ralph Waldo Emerson

22 comments:

  1. Wondeful portrait of a conker Shevaun, clearly your persistence has paid off. I always tell my children, mistakes are good, we do some of our best learning when we make mistakes. Looking forward to you Lilies, they are going to be stunning.

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    1. Wise words, Polly!! I'm looking forward to painting the lilies too. It makes a change to have something fragrant and pretty on my desk! New brushes too, woohoo!

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    1. Thanks Dianne. I'm just about to test out those fantastic brushes that you gave me. Exciting!

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  3. Stunning! It looks ALMOST like coloured pencil. Such beautiful blending. I love Indigo, but it does have a way of saying its name aloud when mixing with other colours.

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    1. I love Indigo too, Candice and I was going to use it, but after making such a horrible mess and almost giving up, I decided to avoid a staining colour, just in case. I agree, it is definitely a diva pigment.

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  4. A really enjoyable blog and a beautifully painted conker!

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  5. Brillint blog, Shevaun - thanks for letting us share your trials and tribulations! Good luck with the lilies - they will provide a very different set of challenges.

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    1. Thanks Kathy. Best of luck with the RHS, although I'm sure that you'll be going home with the glint of gold once more.

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  6. I love your quote by Ralf Waldo Emerson. I tend to feel that just because I don't get it right the first time, I am no good at what I am doing. I am going to post the quote as a reminder.

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    1. Carmelle, I call my mistakes my practice runs now. Very often it's easier the second (or third, or fourth) time around, and it's so satisfying when you do get it right eventually.

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  7. Very pretty & I'm sorry but I had a hard time finding the mistake.. LOL The Lillies are lovely too, just be careful if you have pets , they are highly toxic & can kill cats..

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    1. Erica, I was so disillusioned that I didn't take a photograph of the horrible brown hole until attempt #2 was well underway.It's there, I promise!! Unfortunately I don't have any pets, but that's good information to know. Thank you.

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  8. I'm glad you persisted too, it's wonderful. It's so nice to see the process, mistakes included. Thanks for sharing it. I can't wait to see the lilies!

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    1. Laura, I was thinking of you as I played with pigments today. I wish you lived closer!!

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  9. Your post reminds me of efforts working on Yupo. Luckily, Randall David Tipton keeps encouraging me. Unlike you, I struggle on knowing full well it isn't working, and then of course I am frustrated.

    You did a beautiful job!

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    1. EM... oh Yupo! I'm shaking my head sadly there because Yupo nearly got the better of me too. It's scary!! Vellum is a lot nicer, and being a natural material, it has all the lovely markings and flaws. Learning how to struggle on is part of our journey, I suppose. :)

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  10. You are becoming the master of conkers! Each one is richer and more lovely...I didn't know that conkers could be elegant until seeing your paintings! They do seem the perfect subject for vellum, but I know how hard it is to get that sheen. Your efforts and persistence paid off so well done!!

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  11. Janene, thank you so much. An elegant conker... now there's a thought!

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  12. The detail and realism on the conker is amazing and impressive. Great work.

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