The other day I was busily painting away, with my iPod plugged into my ears, when I realized that something was wrong.
Or rather, that something was not right.
Or, more precisely, missing.
I suddenly put my finger on it - figuratively as well as physically - I couldn't hear the brush on the paper.
Of explanation, a word: I use a lot of oil painting brushes when I am working with inks, as the stiffer bristles are wonderfully suited to the sort of bastardized dry-brushing technique upon which I've come to rely. Depending on the effect desired, the brush is just on the damp side of dry, and allows me to move the inks about without lifting them entirely off the paper, as a wetter brush would do. Now the brush, once dipped in the water jar and tamped dry on a sheet of paper towel, has to be of just the right degree of dampness, and while all this sounds incredibly finicky and precious when recounted in so many words, it's a largely automatic process.
Read the entire text HERE by Sketchtravel's contributor John HOWE.
Sketchtravel is a unique international charity art project. This red sketchbook was passed from one artist's hand to another like an Olympic torch in an artistic relay through 12 countries over 4 and half years. Now the book is complete and it will be auctioned on Oct 17th 2011 to benefit the non profit Room to Read
