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Why Would I Combine Pen & Ink, Watercolor, and Oil in One Painting?

Fall Hydrangeas

12X16" Pen & Ink, Watercolor, & Oil on Paper

During the recent RAAC (Rappahannock Association for Arts & the Community) Studio & Gallery Tour I was asked why I would combine oil, watercolor, and pen & ink in one painting.  The short, rather flippant answer, would be: "Why not?"  There probably is an underlying reason worth exploring and the next time I'm asked this question, I will refer the questioner to this blog post.

Unlike many painters, I cease to be creative when I paint in the same manner day after day.  Developing one style, becoming immobile in that one style, and painting by rote in that one style has no appeal to me.  Writing in the third person on my page on the RAAC website, I said, "By constantly changing her focus and technique and eschewing a formulaic endeavor, she is able to remain creatively engaged."  Therefore, I'm more creative when I mix it up.

My tendency is to be a tight painter, which isn't all that desirable, so in an effort to escape from my natural proclivities, through the years I've attempted different approaches such as tossing the brushes and painting using only a palette knife.  I've had some success and, believe me, cleaning up is a dream.  Now I tend to combine both brush and my palette knife technique in each painting as a feeling of depth and texture emerges; the canvas, usually gessobord by Ampersand Art in my case, doesn't appear to be just a colored canvas.

High Country September

Only palette knife work

Three's a Crowd

Oil with a lot of palette knife work...eggs only brushwork

Now, to the question at hand, "Why combine oil, watercolor, and pen & ink?"  When I began selling my work as I was graduating from college in 1970, I only did small pen & inks with watercolor washes.  I painted European scenes and I took commissions to paint people's houses. I learned to detest commission work because I felt stifled.  I couldn't escape the feeling of trying to please the customer and my work suffered. That being said, I have always loved working in pen & ink and I've never lost that thrill of having a pen at my fingertips.

Pen & Ink with Watercolor Wash of Lucerne, Switzerland 

Watercolor was a natural for me.  I'm not sure about now, but Knoxville, TN was a watercolor town during the '60s-'80s.  I worked in watercolor for a good twenty years and increasingly became bored with the medium.  I was in a rut and it was time for a change.

Watercolor of a building in Lucerne 

I researched and began primarily using oils beginning in the early '90s.  My subject matter didn't change and I continued painting buildings with an occasional mountain painting thrown in.  By that time, I was living in the mountains of North Carolina.  Due to the dense foliage surrounding my house and poor studio lighting inside my house, I frequently drove with my painting to the Art Cellar Gallery to see what I was working on in their superior lighted gallery.

Pears

Oil on Gessobord

In 2010 I moved to my Studio on a knoll in the middle of a hayfield outside Washington, VA.  I have no light problems; the surroundings have allowed me to become interested in something more than buildings. New painting techniques emerged due to the increased interest in the omnipresent bird nests, hay bales, barns, mountain views, skies, and vegetation.  The subject matter and painting sizes somewhat changed, but the real change came when I moved out of the Studio and into a newly built house next door.

Moving allowed for room in my Studio for my drafting table and watercolor supplies.  I found myself jumping from one medium to another during the day.  My earlier interest in pen & inks returned and, true to my earlier habits, I added watercolor.  One painting needed a little something extra and I thought about adding some oil work.  The oil provided additional texture and I found a paper that allowed for all 3 mediums.  Based on my prior experience, this technique has provided me with a wealth of additional subject matter...and I can continue to use the palette knife!    

Pictured below--all paintings combine pen & ink, watercolor, and oil

All photographs are by Ruthie Windsor-Mann unless otherwise credited.

Copyright 2019 Ruthie Windsor-Mann All Rights Reserved