IN CONVERSATION
A City Morning Bicycle, pen and ink and white, 8×113⁄4in (20×30cm). ‘This was produced from a very blurry phone snap, but it had a certain something that I thought would make a painting. I made this drawing to work out tonal balance and arrive at a striking composition. Pen allows you to build tone in stages, so it is very good for refining tonal values.’
Rob Adams began painting watercolours at the age of 15, and his first forays with pen, ink and watercolour were to satisfy his growing passion for depicting abbeys and cathedrals. ‘I am spoilt for choice of subject where I live in Dorset but it is still important to find one with an interesting structure. If something in the subject does not really grab my attention, the resulting painting will not be memorable, either. Something that breaks down into distinct tonal areas is often good,’ he says.