My Technique
I have sketch-books full of ideas and pictures. Some I love and others I can leave.
I trace the ones I love, transferring the drawing onto good quality watercolour paper.
I then draw in Indian Ink with a dipping nib. The ink shines when it is dry and provides an effective barrier to the acrylic ink, stopping it bleeding from section to section.
I use translucent acrylic ink to provide bright colour with a richness and depth.
The first coat of ink is absorbed by the paper. The second coat sits on top, enriching the colour and creating a shine.
I always use pure colour as it retains its depth and integrity. I never use white as it is opaque and dull. Mixing opaque white with the other colours can create a sludge.
Sourcing Ideas
Here are a few things that influence my work.
Dutch Houses
Holidays in Holland make their way into my pictures as I am always struck by the way the Dutch dress their windows with plants, vases and sculptures. Shops sell plants and flowers already arranged artfully for display.
Windows in houses are often large, and I think say something about the people who live there. You might see my versions of these houses in my work. I try to make the windows of my houses say something about the people who live there.
Some houses are roofed in glossy bright tiles. It is as if the ceramic tiles have been glazed in reds and blues. I have not seen this anywhere else. If I were to be true to colours, my houses might have dull grey or sludge red tiles. I'm not and they are influenced by Dutch tiles.
Adverts
There are a couple of adverts that feature living spaces in containers. Some of my houses are fitted inside a rectangular space. Some are stacked one on top of the other. I like to make each one a self contained space but linked by a common thread of colour, accessories and shape.
Behind the plaster
A hairdresser I had once had decorated his salon in a way that still rests in my memory and emerges in the walls I draw.
He chipped away some of the plaster to reveal the bricks and stone below. The remaining plaster work flowed organically across the wall and was studded with beads of coloured glass. He varnished the stonework so that it glowed.
You will see that in my brightly coloured, half plastered walls.
The Houses
I often drive past a pair of semi-detached houses. For years, one was lived in and the other one was derelict. They were an ordinary pair of 50's, dull, pebble-dashed houses with few redeeming features.
Then they were renovated.
All the render was chiselled off, revealing the original, typical, single-storey stone agricultural cottages with ugly block extensions rising above. The builders left the stone exposed and rendered the upper storey.
I always look and love the contrast. You will see it recreated in my pictures.
