welcome – Angela Jackson

Welcome

…to the website of Cumbrian artist Angela Jackson. Walking the road between realism and abstraction, nature and imagination. Portrait commissions sometimes available.

angelajacksonart

Cumbria, UK.

More homemade ink and pen doodling, this time on w

More homemade ink and pen doodling, this time on watercolour. I’d usually use a fine Rotring Isograph pen for line work so a bit of a departure!
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#inkdrawingart #linework #inkdrawing #mixedmedia #flowerfun #flowerswithfaces #penandinkdrawing #dippenandink #bamboopen #oakgallink

Compared to drawing with a fine Rotring isoograph

Compared to drawing with a fine Rotring isoograph pen, using a homemade bamboo dip pen feels a bit like drawing with your elbow! It has flow and a nice variation of line though and it’s growing on me. I feel I should make some darker ink but I am enjoying the subtlety of this relatively pale one, and I am assured that it will darken with time and exposure to the air.🤷‍♀️
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#inkdrawing #inkonpaper #pinkpigsketchbook #drawingonpaper #catdrawing #britishshorthair #catlover #lazycat #oakgallink #dippen #penandink

Time to try out my homemade oak gall ink and bambo

Time to try out my homemade oak gall ink and bamboo cane dip pen! Nice to just chill and play, enjoying the process without any expectations or rules. Honestly, when is the last time you allowed yourself that? Lovely afternoon, just the scratching of the pen and the crackling of the logs in the stove. ❤️
Btw, oak gall ink continues to darken when applied to paper. Tannic acid (in the galls) and the ferrous sulphate interact, forming ferrous tannate, which is quite pale. On exposure to air, the iron oxidises from ferrous (Fe²⁺) to ferric (Fe³⁺) tannate which is somewhat darker. The process continues over time. Quite magical✨

Reminds me of the ‘invisible ink’ we’d make as kids from onion or lemon juice. You wrote with the (almost colourless) juice then have to heat the message. This caused the ‘ink’ to caramelise and reveal the secret!✨
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#simplepleasuresoflife #oakgallink #dippen #bamboopen #bamboodippen #naturalartmaterials #natureinart #inkdrawing #inkdoodles

Thought I’d try making a dip pen to use with my

Thought I’d try making a dip pen to use with my oak gall ink. Found a use for those broken bamboo canes left at the end of summer! Just let’s not talk about my woodworking skills….

It’s a soft sort of nib, almost like a brush, but I did like that you can ‘sharpen’ it up with sandpaper. It held a surprising amount of ink and was much smoother to use than I’d expected 👍 Good fun to have a play at ‘whittling’ too!
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#dippen #inkpen #homemadepen #bamboopen #oakgallink #inkdrawing #whittling #penandink #dippenandink #studiolife #artstudiolife #artexperiment #artmaterials #bamboocanes

I collected some knopper galls whilst in the woods

I collected some knopper galls whilst in the woods because I hadn’t seen this type of oak gall before. There were lots so I decided to try to make some ink from them. 🤷‍♀️ This is called “instant ink” because with this method you don’t boil the galls or ferment them. It still took me days to make though.😂 It is acidic - both ferrous sulphate and the oak galls are acidic but I use it with a dip pen and don’t need it to last hundreds of years. You can add a buffering agent to reduce the acidity… maybe next time! Thanks to @goldsmith_ian for the nudge to make this!

Now I need to draw with it😊🪶

Example ingredients:

*2 oz oak galls ( a manageable amount!) crushed in a mortar and pestle or otherwise ground into small pieces
*1 pint of water
*2oz ferrous sulphate (recipes vary- I added a lot less as the ink went black quickly)
* approx 1/2 oz gum arabic dissolved in a little hot water (this is for flow & is something I need to experiment with- I used a couple of teaspoons in very little water).
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#oakgallink #naturalink #homemadeink #drawingmaterials #knoppergall #foraginguk #foragingforartsupplies #asmrrelax #artasmr #quiettime #chemistryfun #inkdrawings #i̇nkonpaper #homemadeink #knoppergall #woodlandinspired

Same old story… beautiful seductive paints distr

Same old story… beautiful seductive paints distracting me from what from what I came for! AKA ‘what I want vs what I need’. 🤷‍♀️ I’m actually supplementing my old stock of watercolours and taking time out to design and paint my Christmas cards (sorry for the ‘C’ word but there it is). They’re hopefully going to be nostalgic, sweet and a balm for the troubles of everyday reality🙏(to myself at least)! It’s another reason for artists to paint, it doesn’t always have to be in the same style, genre or medium or for the same audience. These pieces will be for my inner child!
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#watercolours #artmaterials #watercolourart #painting #studiolife #christmascards #christmasillustration #watercolourillustration #winsorandnewton #jacksonsartsupplies #colourenvy #artdesires #innerchild

On the easel just now. She might not be family, s

On the easel just now. She might not be family, she might not be friend. I find her fascinating enough to paint though. When it comes to unidentified people in my own family’s photo collection I’m sad, and the sleuth in me is maddened! 🕵️ So please, caption/label your photos as they will one day be old, and perhaps some of your descendants will be interested to learn about you and yours!

I just hope all our digital memories won’t be lost!🤔
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#edwardianlady #edwardian #familyconnections #geneology #ancestry #familytree #oilpainting #oilportrait #portrait #fascinatingfaces

I just had a bit of a sobering studio clean/ paint

I just had a bit of a sobering studio clean/ paint inspection. Even when you wipe the necks of the tubes when replacing the caps (we all do this every time, right) eventually there is ooze! Every so often I go in there and clean, hunt down missing caps and reorganise. In fact the reorganising of paints into colour groups has to happen pretty much every session or there’s that frustrating “WHERE IS IT?!🤬”. Followed by throwing tubes around till said colour turns up. And if I don’t tidy it, no one will!🤷‍♀️🎨

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#oilpainting #oilpaints #organised #studiolife #studioflow #shinyandnew #artmaterials #cleanup #messupcleanuprepeat #dailymess #studiomess

How to keep oil paints fresh and dust free? Well s

How to keep oil paints fresh and dust free? Well someone gave me a large ‘box’ of the popular gold wrapped chocolates for Christmas and I saw the potential (in the case!) They’re not my faves, but I couldn’t give them away fast enough so I suffered for my art😝. Though quite fragile, the case does its job. I like that it’s transparent and it holds a 9” x 12” palette nicely. So if you do happen upon a box of these you know what to do!
I’m trialling a Masterson artists palette seal too, it holds a generous 16’ x 12’ palette and is more robust. I do struggle to seal it all the way round without tipping the palette around inside though! 🤷‍♀️
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#artistspalette #chocoholic #ferrerorocher #recycling #oilpainting #chocolatebox #oilcolor #masterson #palette

So many reasons to paint…this is a recently disc

So many reasons to paint…this is a recently discovered great aunt (thanks @ancestryuk). She was one of 8, I don’t know much about her other than she had a spinal condition and died young, aged 39. Her expression was so haunting I had to sketch her, it’s a way of exploring the past and gaining perspective. Also makes a nice change from going cross eyed over online family records.
Impressive hairstyling too!😂
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#ancestry #familytree #oldfamilyphotos #familyportrait #edwardianfashion #roses #oilportrait #womenartists #oilpainting

Thanks to friends’ involvement with a historical

Thanks to friends’ involvement with a historical reenactment society I was able to borrow a sword for this painting. 🙏 Its blade has had some hard knocks which seemed appropriate, it also put me in mind of the Queen of Swords which in tarot represents the element of air. Some more abstract moth forms have found their way into the background, moths being symbolic of night, the soul’s journey and mystery. They add a soft, feminine counterpoint to the hard edge and shape of the sword.

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#moths #historicalreenactment #sword #queenofthenight #queenofswords #mothmother #crone #winter #moonart #portrait #oilportrait #womeninart #womenartists #souljourney #luna

Serious stuff, this…I’ve been at the framers’ and had the usual double doubting dilemmas! 😵‍💫Tray frame? Floating frame? Neutral? Warm tone, cool tone? Minimalist, contemporary or traditional? Deep or shallow? With or without slip, and which one? For works on paper, there’s the mount board..single, double, triple, white (and which one) or coloured as well as the frame and glazing!
Do I play it safe or be bold?
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#studiolife #framer #artframe #style #oilpainting #portrait #wildlife #birds

I think I got away lightly when this pheasant got

I think I got away lightly when this pheasant got into the studio today- nothing appears to be trashed at least! It’s the first chance I’ve had to paint the studio doors on the outside, so left them open to dry. Pheasants aren’t known for their intelligence so I’m happy she got out none the worse for her adventure!
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#pheasant #openstudio #birdbrain #oilpainting #wildlife #countrylife

Torrential rain and a power cut last weekend, so s

Torrential rain and a power cut last weekend, so stove on and candles lit🤷‍♀️ Vintage candlestick with face by Muggins Pottery Leicester UK (husband has collected their stuff since the 1970s!) I thought 11.5 degrees a little on the cold side for June, boiler and internet also upset by the power outage but thankfully settled down now. Still needed to call plumber out, as switching on and off (which is the extent of my skills) didn’t work!
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#portrait #oilpainting #oilportrait #coldwaxpainting #candlelight #studiolife #inthestudio #mugginspottery #studiopottery

This time of year goes by so fast, you’ve just

This time of year goes by so fast, you’ve just got make the most of it! The weather is too good to be working inside, ☀️I had to find a filthy ruler to clean in the garden, ‘cos that’s productive, right?!🤷‍♀️
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#midsummergarden #midsummer #garden #studiolife #paintinginmyhead

…and it’s stopped raining, yayy! ☀️Summer

…and it’s stopped raining, yayy! ☀️Summer is at full throttle, make the most of it if you can, as the days start to shorten again! (Lola cat lives for the summer and her catmint 😹)
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#garden #midsummer #midsummersnight #summersolstice #englishcountrygarden

The Moth figures frequently in the folklore and my

The Moth figures frequently in the folklore and myth of many cultures. It can be symbolic of transformation, change, rebirth -and this one just happens to be a Phoenix moth! Sometimes seen as messengers of the spirit world, or soul guides, moths are associated with the moon and mystery, love, hope- and also death.

Night flying moths are predated upon by bats, and many have developed special hairs and scales which absorb the frequencies of the bats’ squeaks. This helps makes them undetectable by the bats which use echolocation to hunt. The moths’ ‘stealth cloak’ means that no sound bounces back to the bats’ bio sonar!
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#moths #ukmoths #oilportrait #oilpainting #moonlight #transformation #folklore #myth

My new easel lamp is a bit of a step up from my la

My new easel lamp is a bit of a step up from my last cheap one (which broke). It’s by @daylight.lamps & I chose it because it has high (95+) CRI leds, clamps onto my easel and spreads the light well.
Accurate colour rendering is massively important and working at different times of the day means different lighting temperatures and intensities which can be a pain, especially in winter (so most of the time in the north of the UK!)
As our eyes age, we need more light so ‘extras’ like these lamps are really essentials!
Best to bear in mind though, that most homes aren’t lit by daylight temperature (around 6000k) bulbs. We tend to prefer warm ambient lighting (nearer 3000K) in our homes, so I do have a mix our lights in the studio. Light doesn’t only affect colour perception -if you always paint in very bright light, your colour mixes might end up darker - so your work might look really dark in the average home, and detail might be lost. Our brains compensate and too warm a light might mean you mix cooler colours, too cool a light and you might mix them warmer!🤦‍♀️
Everything is relative, which is why that tester pot of emulsion you buy for your bedroom looks different on every flipping wall!!

The summer of womanhood, a time of expansion, flow

The summer of womanhood, a time of expansion, flowering and flipping hard work! Whilst we’re young we don’t always feel we can absorb our lessons fast enough, and hindsight is a wonderful but elusive thing; we are caught up in the immediacy of life. Time seems to flow differently as we progress through the years…though I now have some perspective, I feel life is going at warp speed!😂🦋💫☄️
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#oilpainting #oilportrait #portrait #summervibes #youth #bloom #womensupportingwomen

My planning has had to go out of the window with t

My planning has had to go out of the window with this painting. I have recently discovered some incredible older women who have made me wonder at their strength of spirit and humour, despite suffering losses in body, heart and mind.
So this piece is evolving on the canvas and is an open ended question…“How?”!
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#womensupportingwomen #amazingwomen #humanspirit #humanity #oilpainting #oilportrait

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