Morrisseau, Hahnemühle and ZenART Supplies

 

Norval Morrisseau was an indigenous Canadian artist from the Ojibway Bingwi Neyaashi Anishinaabek First Nation. His work is recognizable by the bright colors, organic shapes and thick black outlines. Canadian artist Cherryl Moote recently designed a tangle she named Morrisseau in tribute to one of her favorite artists. 

Cherryl would work this tangle on a white background. I chose to go with a colorful background because that is more my style. The paper is Bristol Illustration paper from Hahnemühle. The watercolors I used are a set called Sereno from ZenART Supplies. And I just painted an all over layer of various colors, then dried it with a heat gun. I added a second layer that included all the roundish blobs of color, that I outlined roughly with other watercolors. And that was all the color prep I did. 

I tried several drawing pens, none of them worked well on this paint. So I went with my Sharpie fine point to draw the tangle Morrisseau. Heavy lines for the blobs, a little detail inside a few of them, then connecting lines - every blob needs to be connected. 

And then I weighted those lines. Remember, one of the things Morrisseau is noted for is the thick black lines. On my connectors I added a little weighting on each end where they touch the blobs. A little 'nzeppleish but it works. And I believe Morrisseau would leave it at this point. 

But not me. I went with some white highlights using a Posca paint pen. I really like the shine it gives each color and the pop it brings to the overall piece. Maybe I will do another piece starting with a white background, then adding color inside the blobs. You can also add tangles inside the blobs. Or in the areas created by the connectors. So many possibilities with Morrisseau. I can see myself playing with this one for awhile. 

Bristol Illustration paper from Hahnemühle can be purchased here. 

Sereno Watercolor Set from ZenART Supplies can be purchased here.