"Calm Waters" Creating a pen and ink and wash drawing using acrylic inks

I found this stunning view that I really wanted to recreate, whilst walking in Truro in Cornwall. I really loved all the different textures in the scene; from the rough, decaying walls, the rusting handrail, to shiny, rippling water flowing over the rocks. I also loved the way that nature was slowly taking over all the man made structures, It was a very calm and serene scene and I hoped to capture that atmosphere.
I started by using a grid to scale up from the photograph I was using, to the piece of paper that I had pre-stretched. I knew it was very important to get the curve of the railing correct in order for the drawing to work.

Here is a detail of the buildings in the background which you can glimpse through the foliage and give a real sense of depth to the picture…

There were lots of leaves to draw!

I then started to ink in the outline using a dip pen with various nibs and sepia coloured acrylic ink…

I love the slightly random quality that a dip pen creates…

The finished ink outline…

I started to build up the colours in layers using the coloured acrylic inks. This was my first time using them in this way, and it was quite tricky to make the washes in the background pale enough, as the inks are very intense. I needed to create a sense of depth.

It took some time to build up the layers of colour…

The background and middleground was taking shape, but I needed to make sure that the foreground was nice and strong in colour and detail..

I really enjoyed creating the rusty texture on the handrail! I wanted people to be able to know what it felt like…

I left the water until last as I was quite scared to tackle it! In the end I was quite pleased with the result. I built up thin translucent washes of colour and then used the slightly opaque white acrylic ink in the foreground to create bubbles and ripples..

The finished drawing…