I hope you are managing during the unusual situation we all find ourselves due to the Covid-19 pandemic. For myself, during the first couple of weeks of self-isolation I felt stressed because of the worrying situation but also because I didn’t feel at all creative. I’ve learnt over the years that if I’m not in the right place emotionally not to be too hard on myself if I don’t feel inspired to paint. I used to feel guilty, thinking that being an artist meant I should always want to paint, and I know some artists do, but this isn’t the case for me. I have to feel right in myself to feel creative. So for the first couple of weeks I allowed myself to just enjoy being in my garden and playing with our puppy, then by the time the country went into full lockdown I felt drawn to paint. I think I had to get to the position of accepting the situation we are all in. Now I really appreciate and enjoy my early morning dog walks and you’ll see in previous two posts I’m inspired to capture them in my daily sketchbook.
Like lots of things in life my artistic style has continued to change and develop over the years. If I look back at my earlier work it was more detailed compared to the looser more suggestive work I’m producing now. For me this is one of the really wonderful things about art, it’s an ever-changing journey full of different styles and techniques to explore.
I thought today I would share with you one of the things that I’m experimenting with and finding inspiring at the moment – granulation.
I’ve always been very interested in pigments and their different properties within paints. I like to know the properties for each tube of watercolour, whether it’s transparent or opaque, staining, granulating, single or multiple pigments. I have a sketchbook where I record all of the information along with a colour swatch that lives on my desk for easy reference.
At present I’m particularly interested in creating textural effects in my watercolour paintings. I’m choosing those paints that granulate and I’m experimenting with different combinations.
One of the paints I’m using quite a bit at the moment is Daniel Smith ‘Sodalite Genuine’. I actually bought it quite some time ago but haven’t had a chance to properly experiment with it until now. I have to say at the moment I absolutely love it and have already had to order a second tube!
Sodalite Genuine is a semi-transparent, low staining watercolour with the inky colour of the semi-precious stone granulating as it dries.
Having found just how much I like the Sodalite Genuine watercolour I’ve just ordered another colour from the Danial Smiths Prima Tek range to try, Amethyst Genuine. I’ll let you know how I get on with it in a future post.
Apart from the fun side of being an artist I’ve also spent time this week on the ‘business’ side of things, giving my website a bit of a facelift and taking part in the Artist Support Pledge.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic many artists have found their sales, exhibitions, teaching & demonstrations bookings have disappeared. The #artistsupportpledge is a fantastic initiative by Matthew Burrows the idea is simple. An artist sells their work for no more than £200 (not including shipping) and when they reach £1000 of sales they pledge to buy another artists work for £200. I am proud to be part of this scheme.
Stay safe,
Ingrid
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So interesting Ingrid and like you think the Sodalite DS watercolour is very exciting. Thank you for sharing and look forward to future blogs very inspiring 😃