Mark Hewatt

Author: Mark Hewatt

  • Lumbering Bier

    Lumbering Bier

    In this second installment of the series, our ambiguous land deity is no longer a distant silhouette on a ridge line. Here, the entity is a massive, lumbering presence actively moving across a raw, windswept field. I wanted to shift the atmosphere to something highly kinetic, capturing the restless friction of an old god traversing its domain while the grass churns around it.

    Technically, expanding this world required a dense mixed-media approach on cold press paper to handle the sheer volume of texture. I built the environment using a layered blend of Faber-Castell Pitt pens, Staedtler pigment pens, acrylic brushes, and Sakura gel pens.

    The process itself was highly rhythmic. I used the fine precision of the Staedtler and Pitt pens to map out the intricate, flowing lines of the prairie grass, mimicking the paths of the wind cutting across the earth. For the figure itself, I wanted a stark architectural contrast; its blocky, horned head is built with textured gray tones, while its heavy cloak is a dense thatch of deep crimson lines interwoven with pale, root-like fibers. The sky is composed entirely of meticulous stippling—thousands of individual dots of ink and acrylic that create a vibrating, static-like atmosphere above the field. The tooth of the cold press paper catches these distinct mediums differently, keeping the individual marks crisp while allowing the colors to optically blend into a restless, living landscape.

    There is a solemn, ritualistic quality to this giant form moving through the elements, acting as an ancient shepherd of the wild, untamed acres.

    • Lumbering Bier Distant
    • 2607_Lumbering-Bier_Close2
    • 2607_Lumbering-Bier_Close1
    • 2607_Lumbering-Bier_Close3
  • Sedge Walking

    Sedge Walking

    This pencil sketch is the first concrete concept for a new direction I’m exploring. The series centers on the quiet, ancient presence that occupies our fields and prairies, using a recurring horned entity as a narrative anchor. I’ve been drawing inspiration from the looming, watchful nature of old-world land spirits like the Leshen, mixing that folklore with the indifferent vastness of our own open plains.

    With this specific piece, titled Sedge Walking, I wanted to play with a very quiet, localized scale of cosmic ambiguity. On first glance, you see the entity cresting the far ridge line, surveying the landscape. But if you look closer at the foreground, tangled and collapsed beneath the rough blades of the sedge, there is a second figure.

    By pulling that detail into the frame, the entire relationship shifts. It moves the work into a space of forlorn loss and raises questions I have no intention of answering cleanly. Is this ancient presence an active participant in this person’s quiet end, or is it merely a cosmic custodian performing the final, silent funeral rites for what the earth reclaims? Is it a protector, or an accountant taking a cold inventory of the decay?

    Technically, keeping this in pure pencil on cold press paper allowed me to focus entirely on the texture and the weight of the environment. The fine, dense linework builds the chaotic grain of the grass, burying the foreground figure in a way that forces the viewer to slow down and actually look for the story. Future pieces will continue to track this entity—or the trailing remnants of its presence—through various field settings, establishing a running dialogue between the observer and the soil.

    • 2606_Sedge-Walking-Graphite-Distance
    • 2606_Sedge-Walking-Graphite-Close1
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    • 2606_Sedge-Walking-Graphite-Close2
  • Frenetic Canopy

    Frenetic Canopy

    I wanted to move away from the quiet, still qualities of a traditional landscape and focus entirely on energy. Nature is rarely static. It is constantly growing, decaying, and shifting. This piece was a deliberate experiment in capturing that hidden, frenetic activity—making a forest look as though it is writhing and moving right in front of you.

    Technically, this required a dense orchestration of different tools and medium behaviors on smooth hot press paper. I built the surface using a heavy blend of Faber-Castell Pitt pens, Staedtler pigment pens, acrylic pens, and Sakura gel pens.

    The process was rhythmic and intense. I used the fine precision of the Staedtler pens to create an intricate web of overlapping, high-contrast lines for the undergrowth and the tree trunks. The fine, colorful lines slashing through the foliage were accomplished with Sakura gel pens, giving those bright accents a sharp, clean edge. Instead of blending colors smoothly, I relied on rapid dashes and tight clusters of stippling with the acrylic and Pitt pens. By placing contrasting tones directly side-by-side—the electric greens against the deep purples and warm ochres—the canopy begins to optically vibrate.

    It is a chaotic way to build a landscape, but letting the marks layer over one another without correcting the friction gives the piece its pulse. It records the grit and the constant motion of the woods rather than a sanitized portrait of them.

    • Wall-with-frame
    • 2606_Study-Frantic-detail1
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  • Sells Mill: Late Winter Light

    Sells Mill: Late Winter Light

    here is a brief window at the end of winter where the landscape feels entirely transitional. The trees are still bare, but the light changes, catching the water and the earth differently. This study of Sells Mill was an attempt to record that specific, shifting energy.

    Technically, I’ve continued to explore the boundaries of my mixed-media approach on cold press paper. I used a combination of Faber-Castell Pitt pens, acrylic pens, and Sakura pens to build the scene layer by layer.

    The process is a deliberate balance between structured architecture and organic chaos. I used the fine precision of the Sakura and Pitt pens to draft the rigid lines of the historic mill and the dense, tangled thicket of branches in the foreground. For the sky, the water, and the stone façade, I leaned heavily into a pointillist technique. By applying thousands of individual dots of ink and acrylic, the surface begins to vibrate—allowing the cool blues of the late winter sky and the rushing stream to catch a sense of movement.

    The paper’s tooth works as a quiet partner here, holding the pigments exactly where they land but allowing the sheer volume of marks to optically blend. It’s a slow, rhythmic way to work that captures the texture of a place without forcing it into a sterile, perfect drawing.

    • 2606_Sells Mill in Late Winter - distance
    • 2606_Sells-Mill_Late-Winter_Close3
    • 2606_Sells-Mill_Late-Winter_Close2
    • 2606_Sells-Mill_Late-Winter_Close1
  • A Fragment of Departure

    A Fragment of Departure

    I wanted this piece to feel like a fragment of a larger, untold story. It is composed from the exact vantage point of an unknown observer looking through the brush, watching two figures stand at a crossroads on a path. You are witnessing a fleeting, high-stakes moment, but the context is deliberately stripped away. Is one figure looking back because they finally spotted you? Are they standing forlornly as someone else prepares to disappear into the heavy tree line? Or are they simply frozen in a moment of sharp indecision? Leaving those questions unanswered is the entire point; it forces the viewer to fill in the blanks.

    To build this sense of atmospheric suspense, I used a complex multi-medium approach on hot press paper. I started with an India ink wash to establish the deep, heavy values and the overall mood of the environment. From there, I used a mix of Pigma pens and Pitt pens to layer the finer, sharper architectural lines of the massive tree trunks and the dense foliage. I relied heavily on stippling in the canopy, using rapid dots of vibrant purple and green to make the air itself feel like it is vibrating. Finally, I used a white gel pen to pull out the stark, sharp highlights—catching the light on the foreground rocks, cattails, and the edges of the figures to create a punchy contrast against the dark background wash. By blending the fluid ink with the rigid precision of the pens, the process itself becomes a balance of control and chaos, keeping the image grounded in texture while letting the narrative remain completely elusive.

    • Wall-with-frame
    • 2606_A Fragment of Departure-close3
    • 2606_A Fragment of Departure-close2
    • 2606_A Fragment of Departure-close1
  • The Fence Line

    The Fence Line

    This is a small 6×9 study on cold press paper, born from an interest in the quiet friction between the ordinary and the unknown. On the surface, it’s a mundane rural scene—a sunlit field, a line of dense green trees, and a weathered wooden fence stretching across the frame.

    I built the composition using Faber-Castell Pitt pens and acrylic. The cold press texture acts as a partner in the process, catching the ink and stippled marks to build up the fields of color without losing the organic feel of the paper. I wanted the sky and the foreground greenery to feel alive, using rapid dots of pigment that make the light shimmer across the canvas.

    The real shift in the piece comes with the shaded figure standing in the foreground field. By placing this dark, silhouetted form right against the fence line, a simple landscape transforms into a moment of mystery. It introduces a narrative element without over-explaining itself, leaving the viewer to wonder who is standing by the field, and why.

    • Wall-with-frame
    • 2606_the fence line-close2
    • 2606_the fence line-close1
  • The Yellow Hat

    The Yellow Hat

    Today I am sharing a new multi-media piece that continues to push the boundaries of my recent experiments with pointillism, but with a distinct narrative twist.

    This piece, based on an older photograph of a dense tree line and brush, relies on a highly textured mix of India ink, acrylic pens, and Pigma fine liners. To capture the thick, almost claustrophobic atmosphere of the undergrowth, I combined sharp, vertical scratches for the tall grass with heavy, vibrating dots of color. The optical mixing of the bright yellows and oranges in the foreground against the deep, heavy purples and blacks of the background gives the entire scene a buzzing, nocturnal energy.

    But this isn’t just a landscape study. If you look closely at the middle-right side of the composition, tucked away in the tall grass, there is a cloaked figure wearing a wide-brimmed yellow hat.

    I rendered this figure using the exact same pointillist and linework techniques as the surrounding environment, perfectly camouflaging them into the brush. Much of my work centers around the idea of being a “quiet observer” in rural, forgotten spaces. With this piece, I wanted to flip that dynamic. It introduces a subtle, eerie, Southern Gothic narrative—a reminder that when you are out observing the quiet edges of the world, sometimes you are also being observed.

    • The Yellow Hat - Distant
    • The Yellow Hat - Close1
    • The Yellow Hat Close2
    • The Yellow Hat Close3
  • The Yellow Patio

    The Yellow Patio

    Today I am sharing a new graphic piece titled “The Yellow Patio.” The title is intentionally a bit on the nose—an ironic nod to a cheerful early spring setting that actually masks the heavier, psychological weight of the scene.

    Based on a reference photo of a small bistro area, this piece gave me the opportunity to lean heavily into a Synthetist, graphic style of color blocking. The composition is built entirely on the boundary between light and dark, inside and outside. To translate the intense feeling of that boundary, I used deep, unnatural blues and heavy purples to anchor the foreground shadows, which perfectly frame the harsh, acidic, vibrating yellow of the sunlight hitting the concrete floor.

    This piece ties directly into the theme of the “quiet observer” that runs through much of my work. By placing the viewer firmly within the cold shadow, looking out past the empty iron chairs toward a lone, distant figure beyond the fence, it creates a distinct sense of isolation and voyeurism. It’s a moment of being entirely separated from the warmth and the outside world, suspended in bold, flat color.

    Technical Details:

    • 9×12 140lb hot press
    • Sakura fine liners
    • India ink
  • Evening’s Quiet Unrest

    Evening’s Quiet Unrest

    Today I am sharing a new mixed media piece that explores a specific memory—twilight in a silent meadow. This composition, based on a low-light photograph taken a few years ago, was an exercise in capturing a delicate visual tension. The scene possesses a profound tranquility, yet beneath that stillness lies something subtly unsettling—a feeling I wanted to preserve and amplify.

    While the original photo provided the structure and the quiet posture of the figure, the translation to paper was driven entirely by a need to dictate emotional weight through medium. I build the density and movement in the foreground undergrowth through networks of energetic, scratching lines using Sakura fineliners and Faber-Castell Pitt pens, contrasting against the still, flat fields of color in the sky.

    By utilizing a Post-Impressionist or Synthetist palette—swapping natural colors for a heavy, low-light atmosphere of muted purple, cool blue, and an unnerving yellow-green—I aimed to create a psychological filter. This piece combines the raw texture of graphite and ink from my earlier studies with the bold, non-naturalistic color blocking I’ve been exploring recently. It is a portrait of solitude, suspended in a vibrating, eerie twilight.

    Technical Details:

    • 9×12 140lb cold press
    • Faber-Castell Pitt pens
    • Shuttle Art paint pens
    • Staedtler Pigment Liner
    • Sakura Pigma
    • Evening's Quiet Unrest - Distance
    • 2026_Evening's Quiet Unrest_det1
    • 2026_Evening's Quiet Unrest_det2
    • 2026_Evening's Quiet Unrest_det3
  • Summer Dusk

    Summer Dusk

    Today I am sharing a new 8×10 study that explores the specific atmosphere of late summer. I wanted to capture not just the intense colors of the season, but the underlying mood—a suggestion of the mysterious melancholy that often accompanies the heavy heat before autumn arrives.

    To build this atmosphere, I completely shifted my mark-making, relying on a stippling technique using Pitt pens and acrylic markers on cold press paper. By applying the color in thousands of distinct dots rather than smooth lines or washes, the surface of the piece seems to physically vibrate. The bright yellows, greens, and warm oranges create a visual “heat haze.”

    To introduce that feeling of mystery, I leaned on contrast. The cooler blues in the shadows of the house and the solitary, undefined figure standing in the yard anchor the piece in a quiet, slightly unsettling stillness. It is an exercise in letting the optical mixing of colors dictate both the light and the emotional weight of the scene.

    Technical Detail:

    • Shuttle Art acrylic brush pens
    • India ink
    • Dip pen
    • 9×12 140lb cold press
    • Summer Dusk-Distance View-1
    • Summer Dusk-Detail-1
    • 2603_Summer-Dusk_close-02
    • 2603_Summer-Dusk_close-03

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