This was a quick drawing exercise to test out a new surface with ink washes – Arches Aquarelle’s hot pressed 300gms water colour paper. However, I tried using chalk pastels as a base colour along with the washes, something I’d not tried before to help capture the warmth of the winter light.

The washes on the paper worked okay but were best applied in repeating thin layers because if too dark and wet they would easily pool and become uneven. On the main panelled wall you can see where this has happened. Another test would be to pre-wet the areas for the washes to see if they would spread the ink more evenly across the surface of the paper. The chalk pastel was difficult to give an even edge to so experiments with masking will need to follow.