Scenes in Central Edinburgh – Ink/watercolour on a watercolour Moleskine
In a magnificent gesture of friendship the good folk of Hordaland, Norway, send a Christmas tree to the City of Edinburgh, every year, as way of thanks for Scottish support during the Second World War. The tree is positioned on the Mound (please see my posting on November 6th) and the lights are turned on towards the end of November, marking the start of the City’s “Winter Festival”. (This happened on Thursday 27th this year). I hope that this painting gives a rough idea of the scene.
Echoing the sentiments from Norway; albeit somewhat early, “A happy Christmas to all at “Moleskine” and a prosperous New Year, in 2009, as well”.
This is a painting study reproducing the lovely work from a...
Boulgakow 12:29 pm on November 29, 2008 | #
For the moment, you win the “Christmas Tree contest” !!! And your painting for sure gives a real idea about the story you wrote above. Both, drawing and story, make even more sense. Great work.
roseindigo 1:04 pm on November 29, 2008 | #
What a lovely Christmas scene. T’would make a lovely greeting card too.
roseindigo 1:09 pm on November 29, 2008 | #
PS: I’d like to know how you did this trebor–I mean, as far as keeping the lights in all the darks of the tree. Did you leave white space by painting around the lighter parts or did you use gouache to fill in the ornaments later, or did you use a frisket? I can’t quite tell, but would love to know. It’s a lovely, lovely sketch!
trebor61 3:13 pm on November 29, 2008 | #
Thanks for the comments folks. Again, much appreciated.
I will have to get together with Pascal to draw some trees onto his magnificent mountains as a sort of combined effort.
Here’s how I did this roseindigo.
1. All of this drawing, except the actual tree and people were painted in watercolour and left to dry thoroughly.
2. The tree was superimposed on this background with very light grey ink just to position it on the page. (all of the inks I use are permanent and will not smudge)
3. most of the ornmanents were positioned using small dots of masking fluid. When I use this stuff I soak my brush’s tip in washing up liquid, squeeze most of this off and repoint the brush with my fingers. This stops the M.Fluid ruining the brush but you MUST wash it in clean water as soon as possible afterwards.
4. I filled in the shape of the tree with a fairly dark mixture of inks ie yellow/brown/red & blue but NOT black – yet. I then tried to add some “form” by adding some green shades in ink. All of the ink was allowed to cover the spots with masking fluid.
5. When everything was completely dry (helped with a small hair drier SET ON A LOW SETTING to avoid baking the Masking Fluid) I removed this masking fluid.
6. I added the colour of the ornaments by dropping spots of coloured ink onto the space left by the masking fluid. I have to confess that I used some artistic licence here as the actual tree only has yellowish, white lights. I felt that this was too “cold” and that other colours, such as red, would act as complementaries to some of the green tones. I hoped that this would give the tree a less harsh look as an earlier attempt, with white lights, looked completely wrong.
7. Lots of branch shapes were then added with black indian ink. This meant going in between some branches with the pen as well. I am aware that too much black can deaden a painting so I was really careful here.
8. If you look closely at the rest of the scene you will see that I have added lots of outlines to buildings, windows etc. with black lines. This was done as my tree was far too prominent at this stage the inks overpowering the watercolour paint (I tend to use far too weak mixes of watercolour). I also scanned the sketch regularly, during its construction, to see how it might look when finished. This highlights the “weaker areas” an helps me to strengthen them.
9. As an afterthought I thought I would add some people singing carols. Here is another confession. The actual tree is about 100ft high which means that I have got the size of the people too small (I cannot draw people very well). I could, of course, argue that Scots are all very small due the appalling weather making us keep close to the ground.
I Think that’s about it. Hope I’ve not left any stages out and apologies if this sounds as if I’m teaching you to “suck eggs” as you are possibly well aquainted with the techniques already. Thank for your interest.
ps. What’s a “frisket?”
Rob Carey 5:57 pm on November 29, 2008 | #
Beautiful- Merry Christmas to you, Bob!
Sophie Brown 9:17 pm on November 29, 2008 | #
I LOVE this tree. The coolest I’ve ever seen. I was left wondering though if I would flesh out the background just a little or leave it the way it is. It’s an unusual contrast.
roseindigo 9:50 pm on November 29, 2008 | #
Frisket is the same as masking fluid. Thanks so much for your explanation of how you did this. It’s much appreciated. It is, I think, one of your BEST. As for the people being so small, that makes the tree all the more majestic, and I loved the little joke about your appalling weather. Since I live in California I sometimes actually miss that appalling weather which I remember from Northern Europe.
roseindigo 9:54 pm on November 29, 2008 | #
Regarding Sophie’s comment, I would leave it just as it is. No need to flesh out the background. The way it is gives the tree the prominence it deserves, I think.
lenore kennedy 11:31 am on November 30, 2008 | #
Loved you painting – cheered me up, and I think this really reflects how I see the Old Town during Christmas. Great work – more please.
Sophie Brown 11:38 am on November 30, 2008 | #
You’re probably right, and I’m not being critical. I’m not saying the tree needs to lose it’s prominence. But you might understand where the thought came in: You have a perfect, 3-D tree on a very spare background. The style is completely different and It’s something I myself have to constantly keep in mind.
trebor61 2:41 pm on November 30, 2008 | #
Thanks everyone. I’m glad this has cheered Lenore, who is obviously aware of the old town, up. My other friends, please don’t worry about differences in styles. I just paint for fun and, being a relative beginner, just do what seems OK. Sophie, did you get my message in the forums section about deep fried Mars Bars? I’m really looking forward to seeing some of your stuff. Regards Bob
Sophie Brown 3:48 pm on November 30, 2008 | #
I did not see about the fried mars bars–I’ll definitely look. I just got a new computer and I’m pretty inspired by this site and want to participate more. Tell me, do I need a digital camera or a scanner? I’ve never posted artwork on the web before. And don’t get too excited. I usually paint and my draftsmanship needs some work. Thus…
Sophie Brown 4:00 pm on November 30, 2008 | #
Found it! I’m going to check with the library but I think I ought to get a camera too–I want a blog. I’m going to try frying mars bars. We deep fried a turkey the other day and it was actually really good.
trebor61 4:26 pm on November 30, 2008 | #
For GOD’S sake, Sophie don’t try it. The folk who fry this stuff have specialised equipment which enables them to drop bars of chocolate and sugar into boiling fat. Try this at home and you’ll burn the house down. Please promise me you won’t try this.
Max SF 6:10 pm on November 30, 2008 | #
Deep fried mars bars are the nicest thing ever! They did them at a chippy near my house but it changed hands and the new owners took it off the menu, i was very sad. They are admitedly 60 pence of heart attack but very much worth it. Although it’s not all bad, apparently another chippy nearby sells deep fried snickers……
BoboMonkey 7:56 am on December 1, 2008 | #
Sophie take Roperts advice, if your going to try this do it in a field someplace and use tongs.
Sophie Brown 2:08 am on December 3, 2008 | #
Well, I’m glad I checked in–I hadn’t gotten to it yet but I was maybe just dumb enough to start working out the logistics. When we were kids I took a railroad nail and wrapped in copperwire and plugged it into the wall. This was suppossed to lift cars, this magnet I was making. I shorted out the electricity for 5 blocks in every direction. Some things haven’t changed. But I promise not to burn anything down.
I wanted to tell you. I found a digital camera at the drugstore that takes 79 pictures for $20. I don’t think it’s disposable and it ought to do for a start. I can stop being a lurker. Probably after the Christmas headache is over.
I try to be a SUPPORTIVE lurker. I didn’t mean anything critical. If I didn’t like something I would just skip it and not even remember.
Thanks so much for your considerate letter. You seem to think I’d be telling the fire inspector, “This nice Scottish man on the internet told me it would be a good idea…”
trebor61 8:57 am on December 3, 2008 | #
Great! All’s well that ends well.