Ella Johnston – Ella's Place

Posted on July 9, 2022 by ellajohnston12

A look inside my artist studio

As I said last time that I’d put my personal vanity aside to give you a look inside my artist studio. So here I am, looking a bit tired, in the studio!

Ella Johnston, artist. Photography Nathan Jones — Photography Nathan Jones

I love having a large dedicated space where I can really make a mess, explore mark-making and create both large and small-scale works.

I’ve had the keys to the studio for a whole year today! So it’s apt I’m posting this now.

I have certainly filled the space and made it my own. I’m always amazed whenever I get a new space that my work rate goes up and my desire to experiment and entertain new ideas increases dramatically.

It really can’t be understated what a luxury, yet necessity for me (not one I can always afford), it is to create an environment that is totally focused on creativity. A space where I can see my tools and materials and be inspired by their presence. The colour, texture, mark and intensity possibilities of each instrument and surface. The space to play, to reflect, to research, read and generally be in space where your art practice is central.

Ella Johnston studio, artist. Photography Nathan Jones — Photography Nathan Jones

I’m lucky to have creative job that adds to both my artist life and my employment life. But sometimes those lines can get too blurred. Gaining that physical distance from the everyday work to concentrate purely on my artistic project is a gift indeed. And one I don’t take for granted.

Ella Johnston, artist materials. Photography Nathan Jones — Photography Nathan Jones

What do I do in my studio? Well, some days I’ll go in switch on the radio or some music and simply play with my art equipment. I’ll experiment, make mistakes and even have the occasional breakthrough. Other times I’m deeply immersed in a project or series, deep into creating my work. There are some times where I’ll sketch and work out ideas. And there are days where I’ll read, make notes and look out the window.

The space used to be a butchers, which is hilarious because I’m a vegetarian! From the get-go the studio has always had an incredible energy to it. This was very important to me as I felt immediately comfortable in the space – even before I filled it with the furniture, equipment books and little things that inspire me and make me feel safe.

Ella Johnston Artist Studio photography Nathan Jones — Photography Nathan Jones

I was so pleased to recently invite the photographer Nathan Jones into the studio to take some photos of me working. It was lovely to welcome him into the space and get a quality record of what is a very special and rewarding period of my creative life.

Posted on June 20, 2018June 18, 2018 by ellajohnston12

New work: Bird prints

I’ve recently launched a whole new collection of illustrated bird prints now available on my Etsy and Folksy shops.

I really enjoyed drawing this wren – I created it using new uni-pin sepia pigment ink pens on watercolour paper. This delicate avian illustration is then scanned and printed as a fine art print on archival paper ensuring that it will last a lifetime.I originally created the watercolour and ink Peacock artwork for an exhibition. The artwork showcases vivid blue, pea green and violet watercolour washes combined with shimmery golden POSCA pen washes. I then overlaid the painting with pigment ink pen.
My golden plover drawing was originally created for the book The Migrant Waders, published by Dunlin Press. It was one of my favourite illustrations and I love looking at it, so I had to turn it into a print. Again this is printed on high quality archival paper so it will last a lifetime.

Posted on June 1, 2018 by ellajohnston12

New botanical print; Juniper berries

This is my new botanical print, juniper berries illustrated in watercolour and ink. A perfect gift for gin fiends!I’ve been producing a lot of new work recently and I’m going to get into the habit showing some of it to you on a regular basis. This juniper berries drawing was really fun to do – I love its needles (something I’m not too familiar with in terms of illustration) and its juicy berries.

The new art print is available on my Etsy shop.

Posted on October 9, 2017 by ellajohnston12

October drawing of the month: Flying Dunlin

My October drawing of the month is of a flying dunlin.

As the co-founder of Dunlin Press this bird is particularly important to me and Dr B. We are very fond of these birds, very soon they’ll be scuttling around in the mud on Wivenhoe quay.

I’ve been drawing dunlins for a little while now, and even have a print of another dunlin drawing available on Folksy, but I’ve never attempted to draw a flying dunlin before. They are quite magical when they fly. I normally spot these wading birds in groups scurrying around on the mud as the tide is coming in during twilight so it’s quite hard to see them at first. You can just about detect them by a little flash of white on their bellies. It’s only when they fly do you see them fully as the white plumage underneath their wings catches and twinkles in the moonlight, it’s lovely.

I created this illustration with washes of watercolour and picked out the details with a uni-pin fine line pen, you can see me adding some detail in the video below…

Posted on September 13, 2017 by ellajohnston12

September drawing of the month: Strutting godwit

So pleased to be kicking off my regular illustration posts with my strutting godwit as September’s drawing of the month.

I think godwits are my favourite bird (at least today they are – it’s a bit like picking a favourite song or album for me, it depends on the day, the mood, how I’m feeling etc). You can expect to see godwit bird illustrations coming up quite a few times on my drawing of the month posts.

Work in Progress: Godwit watercolour and fine line illustration (c) Ella Johnston — Work in Progress: Godwit watercolour in the process of adding my fine line

This godwit is sporting his spring/summer mating plumage. I remember seeing an omniscience of godwits (Isn’t that a lovely collective noun? I could have also used “a prayer of godwits” or “a pantheon of godwits”) with their gorgeous russet breasts and soft golden feathers on Iken cliffs and I was practically moved to tears by the birds’ stunning colours and graceful countenance. By the way, if you haven’t been to Iken cliffs it is well worth a visit, it’s one of my favourite places on earth. So atmospheric and serene in any weather.

I created this drawing using Winsor and Newton watercolours on hot-pressed watercolour paper. I then added detail using the Uniball uni-pin pen. These pens have different nib sizes which offer fantastic versatility when working on something like feathers. You can see me start to overlay this pen detail in the video below.

Posted on May 15, 2017 by ellajohnston12

Monday Moodboard #mondaymotivation – House plants

What better way to brighten up this dull Monday than with a plethora of house plants for this week’s moodboard?

Last week I noticed that the first 17 pictures (I know I counted them) from the people I follow on instagram were of house plants. These images particularly showed off the gorgeous greenery against cream, light grey or blush pink walls. Why not? Lush green leaves are a thing of beauty both indoors and out so I’m all for the botanical house plant trend and for bringing nature’s beauty into every aspect of our lives – even our bathrooms.

I’m even cultivating some monstera plants of my own with varying degrees of success; here’s my efforts so far…

True to form I’m turning this current obsession into illustration too with Monstera watercolours on a blush pink background selling as prints on Not On The High Street, Etsy and Folksy.

Posted on April 10, 2017April 6, 2017 by ellajohnston12

Monday Moodboard: Birds

Well it was only a matter of time before I treated you a Monday Moodboard of birds.

As you know an awful lot of my drawing practice centres around birds. So much of my time is spent trawling and taking images of birds to study and illustrate. This is absolutely no hardship for me. I could honestly spend all my time looking at my feathered friends.

Recently I have been focussing on heads and shoulders to create bird portraits for my show at the Over The Sofa Gallery at Wivenhoe Bookshop. It’s a small space and I wanted to do it as a site specific piece, the show is called Family Portraits so it has a kind of homely feel. It consists of nine A6 watercolour and ink drawings and four A6 pieces.

The show is on until April 30.

Wanna know what each bird is? Well here they are…
Top row from left: Puffin, Long Eared Owl, Starling
Middle row from left: Lapwing, Peacock, Pigeon
Bottom row from left: Cormorant, Robin, Crested Grebe
On shelf: Black Redstart, Budgie, Goldfinch, Dartford Warbler.

Posted on March 29, 2017March 27, 2017 by ellajohnston12

Drawing of the week: Happy yellow budgie

This time my drawing of the week is of a very happy yellow budgie.

I do tend to anthropomorphise the subjects of my drawings particularly my bird portraits as I do find a very deep connection with the animals in my illustrations. I suppose I can’t help but be sentimental about this guy in particular as my sister had budgies as pets.

But it’s true of all of my creature illos; when you spend the time with them that I do studying and scrutinising every feature, you can’t help but feel closer to your subjects. I admit that after many sessions with my watercolour and ink to create each drawing I probably imbue my animals with qualities they don’t really have.

For example I think this yellow fella is smiling at us – he just looks so cheekily delighted with himself.

Posted on March 22, 2017 by ellajohnston12

Quick Mother’s Day upcycled crafts…

This sounds terrible but I am rubbish at Mother’s Day. I love my mum but the day always lands between my birthday and my dad’s so it always gets a bit lost – not good considering. If you’re like me and always leave it to the last minute to sort something out then here are two quick and easy handmade craft solutions that you can whip up to suit your mum’s style in time for the day.

For my upcycled jewellery dishes, I found a set of plain ceramic hearts and got to work on them three ways. You could do these on any ceramic surface, in fact these designs would all look lovely on a plain white saucer or little bowl.
The first one is a simple black on white floral drawing using a thin black posca pen. This will really suit my mum. Like me, she is a very keen drawer, she also loves simple, elegant lines and an expressive touch, so this is perfect for her.
Heart shaped Jewellery holders 3 days (c) Ella Johnston I then used some paints to create a more contemporary version for the modern mater. I’m a bit in love with this combination of soft peach with dark grey. I masked off the areas I wanted to paint with very think strips of masking tape then filled in the edges once the large areas were dry. I then added white outlines for further contrast. Heart shaped Jewellery holders 3 days (c) Ella Johnston I tried marbling with nail varnish on the last two. I like this combination of mauve and pink. It almost makes the white ceramic look a bit creamy, which I love. Mind you this was a messy process. You tip the varnish in a tub of water and muddle it with a skewer, you then dip your ceramics in. It smells and gets everywhere so I suggest a big tub and clear area to work in and some rubber gloves!
My second make is really easy, mess free and is the ultimate easy upcycle.
As you may have noticed the shops and style guides are full of botanical motifs. So I grabed a plain white pot, little black perspex off-cut (they are bloody handy little things and make great coasters) and a green posca pen and got drawing. This tropical leaf design is so easy to do; you just draw a thin curved line then create thicker curved shapes along it. Simple but effective. Again this design can work on any shaped mug, coaster or plate and makes a nice little on-trend gift for a green-fingered mum.

Posted on February 28, 2017March 7, 2017 by ellajohnston12

Drawing of the week: Cormorant bird

My drawing this week is that of a cormorant. When I do my little morning walk along the Wivenhoe quayside I often see these pre-historic looking birds with their wings out stretched soaking up the sun or in a little group looking like they are waiting for a bus. When the tide is up they often bob about in the water on the hunt for fish. I love them so I wanted to capture these creatures in watercolour and ink.

If you want to catch a glimpse of these sleek guys, you can find them around the UK coastline on rocky shores, coastal lagoons and estuaries. You may also catch them at reservoirs, lakes and gravel pits.