Indelible Mark
Tag: communicating creatively
Clearing
Discovering New Places…
I love surprises, particularly when they are totally unexpected and have to do with discovering things that you thought you would have known about, but obviously didn’t…
To explain…
Yesterday, after visiting Red Point Artist’s Association (where I am a member) at Port Kembla, we followed up on a tip from one of the other creatives. They suggested we visit an area of Port Kembla Harbour we had not previously been to.
There is a concrete breakwater that is approximately 1 km (0.6 miles) long at the harbour and I was quite looking forward to seeing and exploring it. When we arrived, the entrance was blocked off as perhaps it had sustained damage in last week’s storms. I took a couple of reference photos and we left as we wanted to take a look at the Port Kembla Heritage Park which was on the other side of the bay.
In the park we discovered Art installation (that relates to industrial action back in 1938), Tank Traps and old Battery Ports.
For me though, the best discovery of the afternoon was yet to come…
I was wandering around the edge of the park, mainly concentrating on looking across to the harbour, the breakwater and a cargo ship that was making its entrance when I turned around and saw some different shaped rocks and started to notice the different shades of colour in them plus I noticed a fair-sized rock pool nearby. It was still overcast at this point so I was looking forward to seeing them with sunlight on the scene. I didn’t have to wait long…this is what I saw.
Needles to say, I could immediately see possibilities for sketching, painting and photography and I am looking forward to going back there on different occasions, in different lighting to interpret the scene via these mediums.
I’ve included some more iPhone images below to give you an idea of just how beautiful an area it is. It is 1 hour’s drive away on a Sunday. How did I not visit there before now!? Sometimes, the best places are ‘right under our noses…’.
Till next time!
Written by David Johnson
10 July 2022
Day 1,249 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day! – “Boat Detail” – Norfolk Island
For my daily Art practice today, I chose to do another interpretation of a previous sketch that I had done, which was based on a reference photo that I took on Norfolk Island on our holiday, earlier in the year.
“Lighters” (wooden boats that up until recently were used to unload to, from cargo ships) continue to be an endless source of fascination to me.
Today I used the following materials:
- Canson 300gsm Watercolour paper
- ArtSpectrum Waterproof Pigment ink
- Manuscript Dip Pen with Mapping nib
- Winsor and Newtown Artist quality paints
- Neef brushes
- Perylene Maroon
- Burnt Sienna
- Ultramarine Blue
- Sepia
I seem to have an attraction to peeling paint and rustic subjects in terms of sketching and painting, which is really not surprising as in my enthusiast photography days the same sort of subject matter attracted me, particularly in early morning or late after night.
I look forward to doing another version of this as I feel I would like to do one that is somewhere ‘between’ the two sketches above.
Till next time!
Written by David Johnson
3 July 2022
Architectural Sketching with Watercolor and Ink – Domestika
Last week as I was scrolling through my Facebook Newsfeed I happened upon a course through Domestika. I had registered an account with them some time ago but never actually purchased a course.
This particular day a course came up called, ‘Architectural Sketching with Watercolor and Ink’. This of course, ‘was music to my ears!’ Amongst other subjects to sketch and paint, architecture is right up there so my interest was piqued almost instantly. Even better, it came up as a ‘Weekend Special’ and was reduced from AUD$79.00 to $12.90 so it was too good not to take advantage of.
The course is being delivered by Alex Hillkurtz, a Storyboard Artist in France who has worked on over 20 Feature films.
At date, the course has been completed by over 114,481 students and has a 99% rating.
Thus far I’m on Unit 2, Preparation and am looking forward to doing more of the course on the weekend. When I finish the course I will post the end project here.
In the meantime, here is the link if you would like to check out the course for yourself.
https://www.domestika.org/en/courses/1092-architectural-sketching-with-watercolor-and-ink/course
Till next time!
Written by David Johnson
30 June 2022
Love That Surrounds…
Shadows & Light
Internal Courage
Silent Moments
Gallows Gate
Communicating Creatively 