Home › Forums › Explore Media › Pen and Ink › Ink on Gesso
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July 5, 2012 at 8:40 pm #989871
I’m conducting a bit of an experiment into Flemish technique here. I’ve read that the Flemish Primitives often began an oil painting with an ink drawing on gessoed panel, sometimes followed by egg tempera before oil glazes.
This is my first attempt, working mostly with brushes. The ink is a homemade natural walnut ink, which Renaissance artists may have had available; if not, it is very similar to a buckthorn ink which they certainly would have had.
It’s nice using these materials, because the ink is easily erasable back to white with a moistened brush. However, I had a hard time getting a flat wash of any kind. I plan to try this at least a couple of more times, once being really loose with the ink and using only bristle brushes, and once using a quill pen and building with hatching. I’m hoping one or both of these approaches will help sidestep this issue.
I haven’t decided yet whether I’ll go to egg tempera at this point, or jump right into oils. Either way, I’ll only post the ink stages here out of respect for the forum, but I’ll post a link to wherever the finished paintings end up, probably in Classical Art.
Thanks to jocelynsart for the photo reference in RIL. Feedback and suggestions appreciated – thanks for looking!
My website: http://www.rusticportraits.com
My artwork blog: http://llawrencebispo.wordpress.com
My art materials blog: http://sunsikell.wordpress.comJuly 6, 2012 at 2:00 am #1167232Superb!
Thank you for sharing this drawing and the technical information. I very much look forward to seeing your ink stages and your finished work.Balaji
C&C welcome.
Blogs: Of this and that, Racing Against The Clock, and Colour in my life.July 6, 2012 at 4:57 am #1167233This is absolutely beautiful, and a very interesting description of how you use the ink etc. I look very forward to seeing more.
Val.
My Website http://www.freewebs.com/valdevries
July 6, 2012 at 8:46 pm #1167236Thank you for the kind words, Blah and Val! I’ll post the next one when complete.
My website: http://www.rusticportraits.com
My artwork blog: http://llawrencebispo.wordpress.com
My art materials blog: http://sunsikell.wordpress.comJuly 6, 2012 at 9:17 pm #1167235This is a lovely ink painting. Am anxious to see the next step in oil. I am very interested in this technique. Thank you for sharing
Happy Painting
http://lalflen.wordpress.com/
LindaJuly 6, 2012 at 9:31 pm #1167237Thank you Linda!
I went ahead and put an oil imprimatura over the ink. I was a bit concerned about it scrubbing up or blurring the ink, but with a soft brush the oil went over just fine – the ink didn’t budge, or even discolor the brush at all. I’m going to let it dry and then paint in oil on top, trying to leave as much of the ink drawing visible as possible.
My website: http://www.rusticportraits.com
My artwork blog: http://llawrencebispo.wordpress.com
My art materials blog: http://sunsikell.wordpress.comJuly 7, 2012 at 2:17 am #1167241Lovely work……..very soft and elegant. Love the lighting. Are you going to keep copies of each stage? This work stands on it’s own as it is, even though you are taking it to the next level.
July 7, 2012 at 9:21 pm #1167238Thank you ddk – in this case I went ahead and did the oil painting today, and it worked out great, but I’m not keeping copies of anything. Just the photo I took earlier.
I’m investigating this technique mainly for use in illustration; so for the next one I want to try something more complex and see how it works out. So far it’s a big success – turns out oil painting over an ink drawing is easy!
My website: http://www.rusticportraits.com
My artwork blog: http://llawrencebispo.wordpress.com
My art materials blog: http://sunsikell.wordpress.comJuly 8, 2012 at 8:47 pm #1167234Looking great! I’m interested in trying that, too. You said you used an oil imprimatura directly over the ink; was that with thinned-down earth tones? Did you feel like you had to be sort of gentle in applying it so as not to disturb the ink beneath?
On Instagram and Facebook as Marktablerart
http://marktablerart.blogspot.com/
http://www.marktablerart.com/July 9, 2012 at 3:13 am #1167239Thanks Mark! The imprimatura was just oil, no pigment. I was worried about being gentle, but the ink did fine. I guess if I’d scrubbed some might have come up, but the ink seemed to want to stay put. Happy with the technique so far.
My website: http://www.rusticportraits.com
My artwork blog: http://llawrencebispo.wordpress.com
My art materials blog: http://sunsikell.wordpress.comJuly 15, 2012 at 7:35 pm #1167240Here is the second ink drawing. I used a lot more hatching in this one, thinking of the hatching in egg tempera paintings. Not sure if that’s what I’m looking for or not. Maybe.
The full painting process of the first is posted here in the Classical Art forum, and I’ll post the others there as they’re completed as well. Also posted a more detailed explanation of the process on my art materials blog.
Oh – reference for this one is a photo by Steve McCurry. Feedback welcome and thanks for looking!
My website: http://www.rusticportraits.com
My artwork blog: http://llawrencebispo.wordpress.com
My art materials blog: http://sunsikell.wordpress.com -
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