Gemma Hastilow
Demonstration "Ink Line and Watercolour Wash"
Tuesday 8th July 2025, 2.00 - 4.00pm in the Pavilion
Gemma gave an excellent demonstration to 22 members and guests.
Short Report
Gemma's background is a freelance digital illustrator and her interests include nature, landscape and trees. Also butterflies having been trained on the latter to conduct surveys on the Common near her home. Around ten years ago she ended her career as an illustrator and started to give classes in Winchcombe teaching life drawing, watercolour, acrylics and print making. This became her new career and she says that she is still learning, even during demonstrations like this one.
Gemma used waterproof Indian ink (it contains shellac) for a line drawing on Archer Aquarel watercolour paper. Smooth acrylic paper could also be used. The ink (Diamine is best) can be diluted with water to get tone and shading if required. Her specific technique was to make the "line" marks with natural objects such as twigs, stems or bamboo sticks in their natural state, i.e. not sharpened to a point. Gemma first plotted the outline drawing with a pencil using the 2/3 rule for land and sky. She said landscapes are good because you can move things around and nobody knows what the scene originally looked like. Using minimal and light pencil lines, she gets all of the spontaneity from the ink. The twigs give varied and unpredictable marks with varying width but be careful not to use too much ink. It needs to be thoroughly dry before adding the washes. The drawing took half of the demonstration, around 55 minutes. Gemma is right handed so worked from the bottom left to the top right to avoid smudging the wet ink - this needs some care!
Once dry, Gemma spent the following hour adding watercolour washes using a minimal palette to ensue a cohesive picture, starting with the yellows and a very clean round brush to keep them looking fresh. Use the colours you like and mix them as necessary. Gemma used cobalt blue, ultramarine, Payne's grey and neon from a set by Paul Rubens. These are good value quality paints available in tubes. Start with the sky either as wet in wet or by painting in the clouds and softening the edges with a wet brush. Stretching the paper before starting is important and Gemma had her own technique - 300gsm paper, 5 minutes immersed in a bath of cold water, let the paper drip well, place on a board, place a gum strip on the long side first, do not wet both sides of the gum strip, do not wipe the gum strip with a cloth, smooth down gently with a hand, that's it!
Some photos of the demonstration, the second gallery courtesy of Al Gilmour.
Gemma used waterproof Indian ink (it contains shellac) for a line drawing on Archer Aquarel watercolour paper. Smooth acrylic paper could also be used. The ink (Diamine is best) can be diluted with water to get tone and shading if required. Her specific technique was to make the "line" marks with natural objects such as twigs, stems or bamboo sticks in their natural state, i.e. not sharpened to a point. Gemma first plotted the outline drawing with a pencil using the 2/3 rule for land and sky. She said landscapes are good because you can move things around and nobody knows what the scene originally looked like. Using minimal and light pencil lines, she gets all of the spontaneity from the ink. The twigs give varied and unpredictable marks with varying width but be careful not to use too much ink. It needs to be thoroughly dry before adding the washes. The drawing took half of the demonstration, around 55 minutes. Gemma is right handed so worked from the bottom left to the top right to avoid smudging the wet ink - this needs some care!
Once dry, Gemma spent the following hour adding watercolour washes using a minimal palette to ensue a cohesive picture, starting with the yellows and a very clean round brush to keep them looking fresh. Use the colours you like and mix them as necessary. Gemma used cobalt blue, ultramarine, Payne's grey and neon from a set by Paul Rubens. These are good value quality paints available in tubes. Start with the sky either as wet in wet or by painting in the clouds and softening the edges with a wet brush. Stretching the paper before starting is important and Gemma had her own technique - 300gsm paper, 5 minutes immersed in a bath of cold water, let the paper drip well, place on a board, place a gum strip on the long side first, do not wet both sides of the gum strip, do not wipe the gum strip with a cloth, smooth down gently with a hand, that's it!
Some photos of the demonstration, the second gallery courtesy of Al Gilmour.
From Gemma's website:
I am a Cotswolds based illustrator and art tutor. I have been freelance since 2005, working for countless clients including The National Trust, Scholastic, Oxford University Press, HarperCollins, Hachette, Horrible Science Magazine and Galt Toys.
I’ve loved to draw for as long as I can remember. At school I would illustrate everything, whatever the subject. From chemistry diagrams to trigonometry triangles, I would always focus on the pictures.
I teach beginners drawing, life drawing, watercolours acrylic painting and printmaking. I consider drawing to be the fundamental skill that underpins all art, so my classes have an emphasis on it. I love being outside and the natural world is a big part of my life, so this features heavily in both my teaching and my own work.
See Gemma's work on her website