Exercise 1: Tonally graded wash

This exercise required us to  master a graded wash technique which is a basic and very important skill to obtain and develop.  I did my washes in 4  mediums: ink, aquarelle, oils and acrylic. We were supposed to work on « wet on dry » first and then continue on « wet on wet » technique mixing colours. Below are my washes.

INK.  I do practise painting with ink so mastering washes in ink was an inevitable part of this exercise. I used my set on inks by Nan King and  a  medium size flat brush and a   special « wet » technique paper by AMT, 300  g/m2. I also watched some useful tutorials on YouTube  and used some tips  helping  my work to look neat and exploiting  the gravity.

Ink washes:

I was particularly interested in practising  my wash in black ink. I really like the black ink, because it  is just fantastic. It feels very velvety and soft, giving an intense deep black colour. I wanted to explore the difference between the ink and aquarelle in regards to  how these mediums behave in washes and what kind of effects I can achieve. Below are my ink washes which I did in classic black ink,  cobalt blue and carmin red. Technically it is relatively fast to create a wash in ink especially if exploiting « wet on wet » technique.  The pigment distributes evenly on a wet surface if you  bend the paper to make the pigment go down to the surface because of gravity force.

Exercise 2: Overlaying washes

overlaying washes with black ink

Overlaying washes in red and carmin red ink

I also did an overlaying washes in aquarelle. I used a usual A3 size paper for wet technique by Canson and my aquarelle set by Sennelier, using  a brush 1/2 `by Escoda.

Exercise 3: Opaque colour mixing

Opaque colour mixing in oil using white colour

Exercise 4: Monochrome studies

I did my monochrome studies with ink and aquarelle. As it was required in the exercise I have prepared two A3 size (wet technique paper   By Canson) washes: dark coloured wash in black sumi  ink and light blue in cobalt blue + some black  ink. We were required to outline/trace  a tree on both washes and work on both washes using different technique: on dark wash ground we had to build up the tree through working- painting the negative  space  and on the light wash we had to outline positive space shapes using the same colour mixture we used for dark ground. After finishing both studies we had to analyse  and assess the strengths and limitations of each approach.

Below  are my dark and light ground washes and monochrome paintings.  Since I was working  with ink I decided to paint bamboo since this tree is a perfect match to the ink painting. I sketched the bamboo tree by charcoal (as it was required in the exercise) and started to build up  its shape putting pigment in negative space between the stems; brunches and leaves. Actually, I think it was not a good idea to trace the subject with charcoal because ink is  quite transparent and I ended up having too much of charcoal in my painting. However as an overall strength of this approach- working through negative space – is softness of the light, which helps to create a foggy, gloomy atmosphere in the painting. On the light ground wash I outlined the positive space as it was required with  the same colour mixture which was used for the dark ground wash which in my case was sumi ink.  Painting  with black on light ground gives a very different effect: there is a strong contrast, the details of the subject are more defined, what gives and overall impression of strength, making the mood intense and dramatic.

Monochrome studies on black ink wash:

 

The bamboo on the dark ground: on the left is the original and on the left  and below my collage with filters.

 

The bamboo on the light ground, ink wash:

Comparison between two techniques: the overall image on light wash looks  stronger and more dramatic, the image on dark wash looks softer and foggy, relaxed.

Aquarelle washes: for my monochrome studies on aquarelle washes I took an aquarelle set by Sennelier, using the same wet technique A3 size paper by Canson. I have prepared 2 washes – a dark and a light one, as it was reasoned in the exercise. For the dark wash I used Blue Indanthrene and for the light wash -Cinereous Bleu. They are below:

As it was required, I used these two washes above to do monochrome studies, painting trees – below:

INK (again): My experiments with washes made me very keen again on  painting with ink. I find ink as a best medium for washes because it behaves in a  different way comparing to  aquarelle or oil paints. Ink gives more ability  to create light and different shades of light. Below you can see my another ink wash which I did using  Cobalt Bleu ink by NanKing for a ground wash  and Prussian Blue Hue by Liquitex for bamboo stems and leaves. It took 5 layers of ink to create a moon light which comes from the left side of the painting. Below you can see my painting, ;onochrome studies  of bamboo in the moon light.