Mark Hewatt

Tag: pitt

  • Bound Sentry

    Bound Sentry

    This piece continues my exploration of folklore and the eerie quiet of deep woodland spaces. The composition centers on a massive, ancient tree whose trunk and sprawling root system dominate the foreground, breaking the forest floor like petrified muscle.

    Flanking the base of the roots are two hooded figures cloaked in deep ochre, standing motionless before the hollows of the trunk. High in the branches, the crimson ribbon appears once again, bound around the limbs—a subtle, recurring marker that weaves through this series, hinting at an unseen presence or a quiet rite known only to those who wander these woods.

    Technically, this was completed on Strathmore heavyweight mixed media paper using Faber-Castell Pitt pens and Staedtler fine liners, with subtle pointillism applied via acrylic pens. I used the fine liners to construct the heavy, modular texture of the bark, mapping out dense, individual fissures across the trunk. Pitt pen washes established the cool blue-gray tones of the wood and the glowing yellow light filtering through the background trees. To bring extra vibration to the canopy and ground plane, I layered fine acrylic dots over the ink work, giving the ambient light an electric, atmospheric tooth.

    • Bound Sentry - Distance
    • 2608_Bound-Sentry_Close2
    • 2608_Bound-Sentry_Close4
    • 2608_Bound-Sentry_Close1
    • 2608_Bound-Sentry_Close3
  • Swamp Fugue

    Swamp Fugue

    Continuing my focus on folklore and eldritch horror within deep forest environments, this piece moves into a dense, swampy green fugue. The scene is framed by heavy, twisted trunks—ancient, highly textured sentinels that act as a visual boundary looking out toward a distant clearing.

    Deep in the mist, a lit shack casts a warm, unsettling glow against the cool pale sky, drawing subtle, hooded figures through the woods toward whatever gathering awaits. Suspended in the midground, bound tightly around the branches of a gnarled tree, is a stark crimson ribbon. It is a deliberate, unnatural mark cutting through the wild green overgrowth. Whether it serves as a boundary, a remnant of some forgotten ritual, or a subtle signifier of the strange, ancient presences that drift through these woods, its true purpose is left unsaid.

    Technically, Swamp Fugue was worked on cold press paper using a combination of Faber-Castell Pitt pens, Staedtler fine liners, and Staedtler pigment pens. I used the fine liners to build the dense, organic contour lines that give the bark its heavy, ridged texture, while layering Pitt pen washes to establish the murky, moss-toned atmosphere. The fine stippling in the upper canopy allows the pale mist to hum with static, balancing the sharp, linear detail of the grass and foreground roots.

    • 2608_Swamp-Fugue-Distance
    • 2608_Swamp-Fugue_Close4
    • 2608_Swamp-Fugue_Close1
    • 2608_Swamp-Fugue_Close3
    • 2608_Swamp-Fugue_Close2
  • Amber Shadows

    Amber Shadows

    In this latest piece, I wanted to step away from the cooler, muted tones of the deep woods and test what happens when you push a landscape into high-vibrancy territory. The goal was to capture an impression of folklore—that feeling of stepping into a stretch of woods where the light behaves strangely and the trees carry an ancient, deliberate presence. Across these recent folklore experiments, a common thread has begun to emerge: the quiet, mysterious presence of distant figures going about some unknown, ancient task just beyond the foreground.

    Technically, this was built on cold press paper using a multi-layered approach with Faber-Castell Pitt pens, Sakura fine liners, and bullet-tip acrylic pens.

    The process relied on layering different styles of mark-making to establish depth and tactile friction. I used tight ink strokes and heavy cross-hatching with the fine liners to map out the complex, muscular bark and gnarled root structure of the central trunk. The rich, vibrant color fields throughout the piece were applied directly with Pitt pens. To create the vibrating, atmospheric background, I layered fine, precise dots of pointillist texture over those washes using bullet-tip acrylic pens. The tooth of the cold press paper catches those opaque micro-dots, allowing the canopy to hum with an electric, golden light.

    It’s an exercise in narrative and structural contrast—letting the rigid precision of ink linework clash against the soft, vibrating texture of a pointillist sky while hinting at a world moving quietly in the shadows.

    • Amber Shadows - Distance
    • 2608_Amber-Shadows_Close1
    • 2608_Amber-Shadows_Close2
    • 2608_Amber-Shadows_Close3
    • 2608_Amber-Shadows_Close4
  • The Fire Behind

    The Fire Behind

    This latest piece continues my dive into folklore-inspired landscapes, using a rural backdrop to hold a quiet, unsettling moment. On the surface, it’s a familiar structure—a weathered wooden barn or outbuilding sitting at the edge of a field. But the narrative turns on the corner of that wall, where three pale, hooded figures stand in the shadows, peering past the wood toward a sudden burst of flame.

    Technically, this was built using a tight mix of acrylic pens, Sakura gel pens, and Faber-Castell Pitt pens on cold press paper. I wanted the architecture and the field to feel heavily textured, using dense, directional strokes to capture the rough grain of the wooden siding and the dry, standing grass.

    The atmospheric tension comes from the contrast in mark-making and color temperature. I used a stippling technique for the sky, layering blues, purples, and cool grays to give the canopy a vibrating, electric static. That cold background makes the hot oranges and yellows of the fire spill around the corner with real intensity, throwing the three specters into stark relief as they witness whatever is burning just out of sight.

    Leaving the source of the fire and the identity of the observers open-ended is the core of the piece. It frames a moment of quiet intrusion—where the mundane rural landscape breaks open to reveal a ritual or a reckoning.

    • The Fire Behind - Distance
    • 2607_The-Fire-Behind-Close1
    • 2607_The-Fire-Behind-Close2
    • 2607_The-Fire-Behind-Close3
    • 2607_The-Fire-Behind-Close4
  • 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
    • 2606_Study-Frantic-detail2
    • 2606_Study-Frantic-detail3
  • 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 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
  • Spring Vetch

    Spring Vetch

    This study captures a spring field in Georgia, where the greens and yellows feel like they arrived overnight. I used India ink to build the colors in layers, following an Impressionist approach where the depth emerges slowly through repeated marks rather than solid lines. Against that translucent ink, I used acrylics sparingly as a solid, opaque counterpoint.

    I applied them specifically to the purple vetch in the foreground and a few select leaves to give the eye a place to land. The cold press paper captures and holds the ink exactly where I want it, keeping the pigment in place while allowing just the smallest edges to blend into the tooth. It’s a fast, rhythmic way to work that records the spirit of the place without getting bogged down in every individual blade of grass.

    Technical Details:

    • 8×10 140lb cold press
    • Sakura Pigma pens
    • Faber-Castell Pitt pens
    • Acrylic swipe
  • The Reader and the Statue

    The Reader and the Statue

    I’m sharing a new piece today, built from a reference photo I took on a cool spring afternoon at the Georgia State Botanical Gardens in Athens.

    Walking through the grounds, I was immediately drawn to the relationship between these two figures—a man reading on a bench and a nearby sculpture. I loved the accidental, imitative gestures; both the living man and the stone figure seemed equally invested in their quiet activities. The contrast between the fleeting stillness of the reader and the permanent stillness of the stone was a dynamic I wanted to capture on paper.

    For this piece, I wanted the technique to reflect the atmosphere of that afternoon. Instead of rigid, heavy linework, I relied on quick dashes and the natural, expressive tendency of India ink. My goal was to give the illustration a whimsical and impressionistic sensation, capturing the feeling of the garden rather than just mapping out its exact details.

    To balance that loose, kinetic energy, I brought in acrylic ink very sparingly. It was used just to provide some opaque grounding in a few sparse locations across the piece, anchoring the expressive ink lines and giving the composition a bit of weight.

    It’s a quick study of a quiet moment—where life and art happened to be doing the exact same thing.

    Technical Details:

    • 9×12 140lb cold press
    • Faber-Castell Pitt pens
    • Shuttle Art paint pens
    • Staedtler Pigment Liner

Powered by
►
Necessary cookies enable essential site features like secure log-ins and consent preference adjustments. They do not store personal data.
None
►
Functional cookies support features like content sharing on social media, collecting feedback, and enabling third-party tools.
None
►
Analytical cookies track visitor interactions, providing insights on metrics like visitor count, bounce rate, and traffic sources.
None
►
Advertisement cookies deliver personalized ads based on your previous visits and analyze the effectiveness of ad campaigns.
None
Powered by