Portrait Painting Using Ink And Tea

Carne Griffiths reveals how he paints a portrait with ink and tea on watercolour paper, using calligraphy inks and a fountain pen to create detail and tone

- Carne Griffiths

The piece I’m discussing here – Solace – was created as the final work to accompany my solo exhibition, Nature’s Riches. The series is based on taking images from fashion and advertising and replacing parts of the original shoot with motifs and elements from the natural world, in particular floral motifs. The common thread is humankind’s connection to the natural world and how we are part of it and yet consider ourselves to be separate or superior.

The painting explores techniques that rely on chaos and chance, often blending together seemingly random mark making with detailed and deliberate fountain pen lines. These two different approaches are often applied layer after layer and the process is one of both destroying and manipulating the underlying layers during each pass.

Step-by-step: Create a portrait that’s full of energy

1 SKETCH OUT THE PORTRAIT

I begin with a tonal drawing in graphite to give structure to the work, while at the same time keeping detail fairly low. This provides a framework for the following layers and serves as a guide to where the liquids will be applied. I often work with an eraser, drawing in vigorous erased lines to give a sense of direction to the sketch.

2 THROW DOWN LIQUIDS