CH’NG KIAH KIEAN

The amazing art from Ch’ng Kiah Kiean born in Penang, Malaysia.
Usually he make use of Chinese Ink and watercolor.
For the drawing he uses self-made sharpened sticks from trees and bamboo branches.

The advantages for this kind of drawing tools are that you get more creative lines, and that the outcome is not accurate, unless you draw a lot with these kind of tools, (like Ch’ng Kiah Kiean), then you get used to them! But the lines from the sharpened sticks are making your painting work!
You can make one your own, by sharpening a matchstick with a chisel point, so you can make finer lines, or broader. 

Ch’ng Kiah Kiean works a lot Plein Air, and is also a member of the famous group “Urban Sketchers”.
First there is a sketch in pencil, probably a soft 4B, then the ink is added, also diluted with water. Don’t take your best sable to do this, cause ink will damage your brushes.

He also makes his art in the famous Moleskine watercolor booklets

Here below the panorama–art from Ch’ng Kiah Kiean

Visit his site for more beautiful work.
http://www.kiahkiean.com/

Montelbaanstoren

A quarter sheet of Canson Fontenay and three colors!
Well four if you count the snow also.
Of course I could have done the snow on forehand with masking fluid,
but you never know the effect it gets.
Will it be enough, or is it to much!
And I came upon the idea after I finished the painting.
It was already a snow-scene so that was helping too!
Its a tower in Amsterdam, and one of the prettier ones!

CARL PURCELL

Een paar jaar geleden, ik was al een tijdje lid van het Yahoo photosharing programma FlickR, waar ik voor het eerst Carl Purcell zijn werk zag.
Zijn naam op Yahoo is Rock4art, dus die naam deed niet meteen een belletje rinkelen. Maar ik was wel meteen onder de indruk van zijn stijl van schilderen en zijn zeer grote tekenvaardigheid!

Carl gebruikte veel warme kleuren, later kwam ik erachter dat die weinig koele kleuren op zijn palet heeft, zijn voorkeur gaat uit naar Gebrande Siennas en Quinacidrone roden en oranjes. Nieuwsgierig als ik was heb ik hem wel het een en ander gevraagd, en Carl was, en is nog steeds niet te beroerd om alles te delen wat hij weet. Zijn enorme kennis van hoe iets neer te zetten en te tekenen is echt fenomenaal!

Met gebruik van een normaal 6B potlood,  maakt hij een geweldige schets!
Ik kwam er dus achter dat de Rock4art boeken had geschreven onder de naam Carl Purcell, en dat ik ze gewoon bij de boekwinkel kon bestellen!
Dat heb ik toen ook gedaan de boeken drawing and painting with a artistic brain zijn van grote waarde, en een goede ondersteuning voor de beginnende en meer ervaren kunstenaar!
Het goede nieuws is nu ook dat de Nederlandse uitgave van Drawing with a Artistic brain er is!

Ik heb het bekeken, en het is een geweldig boek, lekker dik, en met prettig papier! Schetsboek-papier zeg maar.
Maakt het allemaal wat echter met de mooie tekeningen van Carl!
De prijs is net geen 25 euro, en is het echt waard hoor!
Ik zit er zelfs over te denken om deze Dutch versie aan te schaffen!


Dus iedereen die zijn tekenvaardigheid een boost wil geven, kan ik dit boek aanraden!



Zijn aquarellen zijn ook om te watertanden, een fabelachtige techniek,
met veel gevoel voor ruimte en suggestie!

Edo

Carl Purcell`s
Website

Weeping Tower Amsterdam

This time a more adventurous approach of a watercolour painting.
I tried to emphasis on the tower itself, but also  tried to make the tower belong in the cityscape.

My first wash without doing a sketch, it is just mixing beautiful colours in a way that it looks right, Ultramarine Blue, Burnt Sienna and Alizarin Crimson, not the pure colour, but everything is a mix of all. I mean you mix a bit of blue true the sienna and vice versa. Leave some white paper!

Then I sketched the scene after drying, and washed in the main shapes, don't paint buildings!

With the same colours off course as I used before.

3th phase and last phase is to lighten here and there some parts and add detail.
Its the part that is only 10% of your painting, but the result and impact of it, is the last 90% of the success of your watercolour.

History of the Weeping Tower or Schreierstoren

Erected in 1482, Schreierstoren was part of the defensive wall surrounding the city. During Holland’s Golden Age, the 17th and early 18th centuries, most of those fortifications were demolished. This stout brick tower survived because it served as a checkpoint for ships belonging to the Dutch East India Company.

Because Schreierstoren commanded the best view of the ships at port, Amsterdam’s women waved and wept from this point as their men headed out to sea. It came to be known as the Tower of Tears or the Weeping Tower. Today, it’s a shop. Attached to Schreierstoren is a plaque honouring Henry Hudson. From here, in 1609 he set sail in the Half Moon, to find a direct route to the East Indies; he found what would become Nieuw Amsterdam instead. This plaque was placed on Schreierstoren by an organization from my hometown, the Greenwich Village Historical Society.

140LBs Bockingford paper 36x48 cm

De Waag Amsterdam

Half way or finished??
Its so empty!
Quarter size paper Canson Fontenay 140 Lbs
Canson Fontenay is manufactured in the same factory as Arches

I altered here and there some things, but if it made big changes I cant say!
Someone said,
the buildings in the back looks like that you throw a bucket of water over the painting!Talking about critiques here hahaha! 

Staithes in Fog

I thought I do Staithes again.
Quarter sheet of paper Canson Fontenay.

Spaarndam two

Another from the church of the little village Spaarndam.
Three colors.
Indigo, Burnt Sienna and Raw Sienna.
I added some ink lines afterwards
it was rectangular, but the left side was bringing nothing to the painting.
So I cropped  it in a square.

Spaarndam

A practice on plain drawing paper.
Not every watercolor have to be a masterpiece,
Its good to practice on cheap paper.
Here I used 200 grams drawing paper, this paper can take a lot of water, you have to search for drawing paper that is capable to do so!
Daler Rowney makes also excellent heavy weight drawing paper that is good to make quick watercolors!  
On this one I used just two colors for the first wash.
French Ultramarine and Burnt Sienna.
Make sure to leave interesting whites for boats and so on.
After drying  I painted the town and the boats with the same colors.
Don't paint it in one tone, but  make color swatches and loose edges.

The I added some details, and small colorful little dots, 
that attract the eye to make it the center of interest!

Alwyn Crawshaw used to say:
"Why dont you have a go?"

Brush Practicing Painting Loose

You like to paint loose.
And just paint, what you feel, it doesn't have to be a masterpiece.
But as long as you have fun making it, it is good.
By doing things like these, you find out techniques you never knew from.
Cause when you stay on the safe side, you never become a loose painter.
Like I said it is not intended to be a good watercolor, but just a practice in two colours.
Winsor Blue and Burnt Sienna.
Plain Drawing paper 200 grms

Staithes in Line and Wash

Staithes on Bockingford 300gr/m2 
36x48 cm

Ronda in Spain

A few years ago I saw a watercolor from Ronda, and I all forgot about it, til just a week ago a television-game visited the city of Ronda, and there it was again that famous bridge!
So I searched a nice picture from the city and tried it in watercolor.
My next quest is looking for that particular watercolor I saw in a magazine somewhere?
I used Arches 140 Lbs Rough 12"X16"