Month: December 2013

Medlar fruit – ink – Jenny Hill

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Medlar fruit - ink - Jenny Hill

Unripe Medlar fruit seen last October at RHS Hyde Hall Garden, Essex. The fruit is usually bletted, softened by rot, before it can be eaten. As I was painting this from a pen sketch I realised the fruit reminded me of something else. I have since discovered Medlar, (Mespilus germanica), was known in medieval times as the ‘dog bottom tree’.
For more gardening information and recipes visit
http://www.rhs.org.uk/Gardening/Grow-Your-Own/Recipes/Nigel-Slater-recipes/Articles/Nigel-Slater-On—/Nigel-Slater-on—-medlars
Painting using acrylic ink and indian ink.

Field Bird’s Nest fungi – ink – Jenny Hill

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Field Bird's Nest fungi - ink - Jenny Hill

Thumbnail size fungi, (depending on the size of your thumb), in wood chip mulch at RHS Hyde Hall Garden, Rettendon, Essex. At first I saw only the silvery empty cups and wondered what they were. Then on closer inspection I could see more but with ‘eggs’ that had not been dispersed. A fungi hunt in autumn led by an expert mycologist opened my eyes to the range of common fungi, but I still wonder how I have not noticed these until this year. Field Bird’s Nest – Cyathus olla.
I used silver acrylic ink for one thin wash before adding more layers of orange and blue. Silver ink can give a grey tinge but it worked well for this subject giving a subtle metallic sheen.

Venice – Window shutters – Jenny Hill

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Venice - Window shutters - Jenny Hill

Layered posters on the window shutters of a shop in Venice.
Control of this outside exhibition space was with the shop owner as it looked like the shutters could only be easily accessed from inside the shop, or by a person standing on a box or a ladder in a boat in the narrow canal.
The overlaid posters appear to be carefully placed, allowing the older images to be seen, (or for the faces to look through to the viewer).

Pumpkin Marina di Chioggia – Oil pastel – Jenny Hill

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Pumpkin Marina di Chioggia - Oil pastel - Jenny Hill

Marina di Chioggia fantastic pumpkin, fleshy folds of dense nutty sweet orange flesh, originates from Chioggia, Italy. I use it for coconut and pumpkin soup or oven baked vegetables for pasta or rice.
Initially I added this to the list of regulars grown in the vegetable garden because of the connection to Italy and memories of a good holiday in Venice but I now know the value of the fruit and it is there on merit. (Just as I wrote ‘fruit’, I had to check to see if it was fruit or vegetable).
Definitions of fruit and vegetables –
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/foodanddrink/10129729/Do-you-know-your-fruit-from-your-vegetables.html
This is an oil pastel sketch for development into an ink painting or print.

art supplies, Kyoto – Jenny Hill

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art supplies, Kyoto - Jenny Hill

A traditional art supplies shop in Kyoto for Japanese painting. Look at the size of those brushes – they would take a lot of ink or paint.
A couple of days earlier I bought a brush from a temple market in Kyoto, which was just as well as it curbed the urge to buy at this shop without really knowing what I wanted.
I enjoy using this type of brush for my ink paintings as it can be loaded with ink, hold the colour without dripping but still flow smoothly when less saturated. And it makes a nice dry brush mark.

Persimmon no. 1 – ink – Jenny Hill

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Persimmon no. 1 - ink - Jenny Hill

Colchester Art Society’s winter exhibition – Digby Gallery, Mercury Theatre, Colchester, Essex.
3rd December – 27th December. It’s pantomine season at the theatre – Sleeping Beauty.
http://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/
Persimmon is one of my favourite fruits at this time of year and thankfully available in our local supermarkets. It brings back good memories of a late autumn visit to Japan and train journeys through suburban Kyoto and Tokyo. From a high up advantage in the train I could look down on Persimmon trees showing small splashes of orange in wintry gardens. We knew it as Kaki.
‘Persimmon no.1’ ink painting in the CAS winter exhibition.