Persian plums.

The Aloo Tree,  ink © Sue Pownall 2013

 I'm really enjoying being an illustrator for the short story site, The Story Shack. Not only do I get different subject matter to illustrate, but I get the opportunity to use different styles. Above is this month's illustration, The Aloo Tree, whilst below is February's, How to Fail at Telemarketing. 

Pen & watercolour wash illustration.© Sue Pownall 2013

Finally, here is January's illustration.

Coffee. Pen & coffee © Sue Pownall 2013

You can see more of my illustrations for The Story Shack by following this link: StoryShack illustrations.

Also, you can read the stories How to fail at Telemarketing  and Coffee by clicking the titles, whilst you'll have to wait to read The Aloo Tree until it's published on the 18th.

Thank you for visiting my blog and I always appreciate the comments left.

Sue

An experiment

After the rain. Calligraphy ink and Pen & ink. 400 x 200mm.©Sue Pownall 2011

WIP Reflection for After the rain.

Having lived in Doha for a while now, I felt I needed to do something more than sketches from here, so back in February I started fiddling with this drawing. It is an experiment based on the idea for the blue ink, which I haven't attempted yet. Initially I was going to ink the sky blue to balance the water but the problem is we don't, generally, have clouds here in Doha and I wanted a vignette effect. I did the reflection first as it was the most scary part. I've been staring at it untouched for nearly 2 weeks now and although I haven't signed it I am counting it as finished - for now.

What do you think, is it finished? Do you think the mix of styles works?

Finally, I want to apologise to everyone who's work I follow regularly, and to
those I pop into for not visiting your blogs recently. I am now limiting my internet time in order to focus on producing finished artwork and to promote myself. For example, I now have a facebook page specifically for finished artwork, which is updated regularly. I will try and visit everyone at least once a week, and please forgive me this neglect. Thank you for your understanding.

IF Sweater

Sweater II. W&N Calligraphy ink on drawing paper. 290 x 210mm. ©Sue Pownall 2011

After giving myself a headache with the joint concentration of finishing a pen and ink drawing and using new glasses, which are too strong, I thought I would have some fun. I have an idea for a drawing, which needs some blue ink, so after buying the blue I wanted plus some yellow, I sat down to draw my discarded jumper (UK for sweater). For the first version I drew directly on watercolour paper with an ink pen. Then I used a brush to slosh the coloured inks on mixing on the paper. I wasn't sure I liked how the paper soaked up the ink, so I did version 2 without any pre-drawing on smooth drawing paper.

Sweater I. W&N Calligraphy ink on watercolour paper. 290 x 210mm. ©Sue Pownall 2011

 In case you can't recognise it as a sweater, here is a photo.

I'm not sure which version I prefer, so I posted them both. What do you think?