Drawing boards are like buses...

I've thought since we moved into this house in March that I'd like one. Then as I got the studio sorted I decided, yes, it'd definitely on my shopping list and started to look around for a second hand one, but never spotted one locally. Then one day I opened the paper & saw a classified ad for an A1 size drawing board less than 10 minutes away from me…. needless to say I was on the phone straight away & got myself there as soon as possible!

Had a lovely chat with a little old fella who's just retired from being an architectural technician… he must be about 80 & had still been doing the odd job, but was losing out to computer drawn plans "with no soul" (his words). So we had a little moan together, I paid him the money then brought this home with me.

Of course I put it straight to work! A couple of layers of wall-lining-paper taped to the board for a bit of 'give' when I write… i don't like a rock hard surface to write on, plus I can jot little notes to myself on the board now :-)

The cardboard tube is to stop me creasing larger sheets of paper over the edge of the drawing board by leaning too close. Even if I'm being very careful, it's almost impossible not to get at least one line in that spoils a piece of work. This way, the paper just curls over the tube with no creases.

The strip of paper at the bottom helps to stop paper sliding off, but also acts as a guard sheet to prevent oils from my hands transferring onto the paper. Non-artists/calligraphers may not realise it, but touching the surface can leave a residue that acts as a barrier to paint and ink. I usually use another sheet of paper as well, and by making sure it's level, that is often sufficient to keep me straight without ruling lines.

All nicely set up then my son phoned… there's a drawing board in an abandoned office on the site he's working at if I want it…. larger, A0 size. Dunno where its going, but I said yes!

Workspace Wednesday

Making progress…. I treated myself to a desk for my 'office area' & work table to write at. 

Redundant bedside tables stack up nicely for a bit of extra shelving. It's a big change from propping my board up on top of the cooker in the caravan for the last few years!

Need to get the gouache sorted out though…. some of these tubes are rock solid & take forever to dissolve when I use them. I think some go back to the first gouache set I bought waaay back 20 something years ago. Think they count as vintage eh?!

Workspace Wednesday

This is the room that is being turned into my studio…. The bed comes with the house & there's really nowhere else to store it. So if I can't move it, I'm going to make use of it!

 I moved a writing desk from downstairs and covered it with a large cutting mat which is still in pristine condition (I'm sure that won't last long). A piece of board found in the garage, just to say stretches across the bed to balance on a stack of plastic drawers, that are luckily a similar height to the desk. Paper supplies are currently stacked under the bed. 

I'll probably cover the mattresses with some more board & possibly construct another work surface to straddle the bottom end of the bed to make it more of a usable space rather than just somewhere to dry canvasses!

All this stuff...

… is now stashed in the huge wardrobe. Some cheap shelving units turn the hanging space into great storage for all sorts of bits n pieces. No doubt things will get moved again as I get organised, but I'm feeling really pleased with things so far :-)

I am worried about the floor though… the carpet is new so I'm going to have to cover it, especially where I will be painting & writing. Not sure whether to get some lino down or use the rolls of sticky film that decorators use…. hmm….

A favourite paper for a proposal scroll

If I had to choose a single paper, this Bhutanese Rhesho could be "The One". Either this or the Tsasho which is very similar except that it has the 'laid' lines from being dried on bamboo screens. There's a definite 'tooth' to the surface, which makes it beautiful to write on, and though it is textured, there aren't any annoying little strands of fibres that catch on your nib (at least very rarely!) Rhesho combined with Thai Mulberry tissue makes such a delicious, natural combination… the off-white lettering that tones with the mulberry gives such a harmonious look that I really love. 

The lettering on the outside of this scroll is done with a drafting ruling pen. You're not going to see the inside, as it contains a very personal marriage proposal! 

Ice cube trays make excellent mixing pots but white ones are actually better to show up the true colour of the paint. I'm using gouache here, and I brush it in between the tines of the ruling pen. The little screw on top adjusts the gap & thus the line width.

If you've never tried writing with one of these instruments before, you should, 

& you don't have to be a calligrapher to have a go either! 

This little scroll was to be hidden inside another...

… to be opened on a romantic re-creation of a first date.

this did get petals added, but I also really like it without

It did the trick… Tina said " I couldn't be happier with what began as a "quick enquiry". My enquiry was anything but quick but Suzi remained patient with my ever changing mind and delivered a beautifully bespoke handmade scroll which I presented to my Fiance when proposing to her. Needless to say, she said yes and was over the moon with the scroll and how personal it was to us as a couple."

That's one of the best bits…. getting to hear the happy ending!

Just off the Drawing Board...

A few trials.... which of course work out better than the 'real ones'

A bit blurry, but you get the idea...

I can't show any more until this new Bride surprises her husband with this 

Valentine's gift... her wedding vows to him....
but I can tell you, that we have gold powder dropped into watercolour.

My Workspace This Wednesday!

When you work in a small space (ie the top of the cooker) it probably doesn't need a brain surgeon to say that deciding to switch from painting pale sandy backgrounds to black, isn't the most sensible of ideas. But while one canvas was drying I spotted some little wooden plaques with moon photos stuck on.... that i was going back to finish off 'later' more than a little while ago!

It wouldn't really have mattered if any black splashed onto the canvas at the back as it is due to be re-pianted. Honestly, for something that is supposed to be simple with a "white beaches across the seas" sort of look, I've been having a major dilemmas! Although it is textured this version is just too... bland. And the spacing is a bit 'off'. I could 'rescue' it but it isn't feeling right & it's taken a fortnight or more to see that it needs to be landscape format... which I'd originally avoided because of the length of the poem & the canvas size.

 

Suddenly it feels so much better....A few layers later & this is where I'm at.... except I now want to reverse it to have more 'beach' & less 'sea'... & tone down the colour a touch so it won't fight with the lettering... why it took me so long to get to this point, I really don't know, but sometimes that's the way things go (or don't!).

And no... I didn't splash any black.... but i did get a bit of white on a couple of moon pics. My plan is to collage some lettering on to them anyway, so I'll sort them out "later"....