Lower Bridestones, Sleights Moor © Mari French 2012

I recently spend time happily chasing ink around the pages of my new Moleskine watercolour sketch book up on the windswept moorlands of the North York Moors…

Bridestone, North York Moors © Mari French 2012

…perched in cold wind, bright sun, or under lowering black rainclouds – among some of the many local standing stones (called ‘Bridestones’).

sketchbook © Mari French 2012

I was using the tissue and acrylic ink technique I’ve been experimenting with over the last year, and in my outdoors sketching it works surprisingly well…

… it is so much more intense than watercolour (which I still use – sometimes in conjunction with the ink), with the advantage of being waterproof when dry. I only tend to use two or three colours, depending on the subject in front of me…

Bridestone, Sleights Moor © Mari French 2012

… I just love the way the colours bleed and flow, running into the tissue creases (where used). For me it’s the perfect technique for rapidly capturing the texture, colour and moodiness of light on the North York Moors.

Rain, Sleights Moor © Mari French 2012

Rain, Rosedale Moor © Mari French 2012

Peat cuttings, Rosedale Moor © Mari French 2012

Above Rosedale Moor, North York Moors © Mari French 2012