I felt it was time to dig out my dip pen and some ink and have a scratch into an abstract background, so that’s what I’m doing in this quick study.

I picked a piece of paper from my stash more or less at random. It’s a piece of Saunders Waterford paper, 100% cotton, but as it had been hanging around for years waiting to meet its destiny, I knew it had lost much of its sizing due to age and the absorbency was high, and therefore it would not be suitable for a traditional painting.

It turned out to be ideal for this abstract painting.

Materials

Paper

Here is a link to the Saunders Waterford paper, which is quite expensive due to being 100% cotton. There are many alternatives, and here is one you might not have tried.

Paint

For this painting I used my tube paints, which are mostly Winsor and Newton. I used the following colors:

• Burnt Umber
• Winsor Greeen
• Winsor Violet
• Indigo
• Sap Green
• Venetian Red
• Raw Umber

I also used a little white gouache. Any brand will do, but I am currently using Royal Talens.