Making a start

Making a start is always the hardest part..... I have been wondering how or where to start this blog - and have decided perhaps the easiest way is with the artwork created for the blog itself!

This is the finished artwork. I often paint at my kitchen table - it is a great 1950's-ish table (just look at the fantastic surface pattern!) I have lots of natural light flooding in through the kitchen window and the table offers a great height for painting (it also helps enormously that I am inches away from the kettle and tea-bags!)

The artwork was painted in a quick washy style using black quink ink, and then bleaching back into the ink to create the subtle detail. I love the fluidity of painting with ink, especially the movement you get as the colour bleeds into the watery surface. There is something I like about the loss of control - and how the image slowly transforms whilst the ink continues to move and bleed until dried.

I also like working with black quink ink because unlike the name suggests there is actually a surprising amount of colour in it when allowed to bleed out - look at the above detail and along with the delicate washes of grey you can also see blues and orangy-yellows emerging.