In Rust We Trust . . .
I love rusted things and I love to paint them. This is a page from my little sketchbook about the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, the Vietnamese monk. His book, “Your True Home” inspired me to make a small sketchbook illustrating some of the most meaningful things (to me) I found in its pages. And here is another one . . .
In both of these, I used what I think is the best watercolor paint for rust. I will tell you about that in a moment,
First, here is a sketchbook challenge idea for making very interesting pages from things that are around you everyday.
Look around your life for something that meets these three criteria:
It is something that has been with you for a long time and you have never even considered getting rid of it.
It is something that came into your life in an interesting way, and you can remember that story to add to your page.
It is something that you are pretty sure you can draw.
All that makes for a great page that you can create anytime.
I am showing you two of mine as examples, Both reside in my garden year round and are very rusty. To be fair they are meant to be, and were rusty when I got them. The great thing about rust is that it just gets better over time. When I painted this single bell, I did not know about my favorite rust paint, and I used to combine Burnt Siennas, Quin Gold, Quin Rust, Indian Red - anything I could come up with that could make a believable rust, but never got the perfect solution. Always too bright or too red. Never could achieve that dead textured finish - like this . . .
This one has a great story. It was 1998 or so and my niece and I were on a road trip together. She was moving from Michigan to Santa Fe for a big life adventure, and to help manage my gallery. It was an incredible trip full of adventures including tornado warnings that had us hiding in the motel bathroom in Hot Springs, AR. But we had an awesome time there, and sometime I will tell you about it. I fell in love with Arkansas that week. When I find the photos (pre digital), I will do the journal for that trip and share it. You will fall in love too.
On our way out of town, we came upon a very rustic roadside flea market and I found this set of bells. They were obviously hand forged with much love and effort, and they were wondering how they ended up hanging in this otherwise unremarkable and unappealing booth.They were waiting for me and have lived in my garden ever since. I think I paid $5 for them, but money was no object (grin). Treasure does not have to have a big price tag.
This happened in 1998, and I drew this page and the single bell above it in 2014. I painted the single bell, with my ever questionable rust recipe, but left the set of bells in pencil until a couple nights ago, when I ran across it while looking for something else. As happens in my sketchbooks, there always “comes a time” when I feel compelled to finish the unfinished, so I used my now familiar favorite rust paint.
Just one paint and it is M. Graham Transparent Orange Iron Oxide. It even sounds like rust! Both the Lamp and the Watering Can at the top of the post are also painted with it.
I now use it for all my loving rust sketches. It even feels textured on the page.
I have a collection of 24 wonderful photos of interesting rusted things. I have compiled them into a collection for my paid subscribers - to use in their art in any way, or as reference for sketching and painting. Good chance to try out Trans Orange Iron Oxide!
That resource will post right after this one.
How do you paint rust?