"Playing our music", G

Ink and wash on 120g paper

As with the previous picture, where I had to draw the actual fencing I'd been hinting at before, here the two gentlemen really play their instruments instead of just flirting in front of the harpsichord.

The picture itself wasn't done in watercolour, but by using sepia coloured waterproof ink to make an ink-and-wash painting. The ink can be diluted with water to get the shade or intensity you want, and is applied with a brush after outlining the drawing with the same ink, using a nib.

I've since aged this painting by wetting it, tearing the edges, creasing the corners, crumpling it repeatedly and dipping it overnight in black tea. (No, I'm not mad - it's the treatment recommended by Eric Hebborn in his "Art Forger's Handbook".) It now looks like a slightly battered, lovingly repaired 18th century ink-and-wash painting, which is what I wanted. Unfortunately, the aged effect doesn't come across well on the scanned picture, so I'll have to find another way of showing it some day.