I’m an Urban Sketcher…
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Category Archives: botany
Lockdown sketches #3: botanical
Having more time to watch the loveliest Spring I can remember means I’ve been drawing more plant life. Weeds like ivy and bindweed and sticky weed caught my eye at first; I love the way they’re creeping and covering. But … Continue reading
Overcooked?
Four sketches where I pushed the contrast by using stronger inks and white highlights, including some knobbly autumnal squash. With the last two I had that horrible moment when I realised I’d carried on working on them too long and that there wasn’t … Continue reading
Posted in botany, clouds, coloured ink, flowers, objects, white pen
Tagged coloured ink sketches, sketch of clouds, sketch of flowers, sketch of knobbly squash, Talking Heads
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Park tree
I went to the Botanical Garden to sketch the magnolias again, but it was shut (“Gates will be locked one hour before sunset”). So I sketched a tree across the road instead. Brown ink in a Kuretake #8 for the line … Continue reading
Magnolias
Three attempts to catch the rich lusciousness of magnolias blooming in Bath’s Botanical Gardens. For the first and last ones I used fountain pen for the initial drawing, for the second one brush-pen and white roller-ball. The white paper and Payne’s Grey … Continue reading
Bosky
Looking up a steep slope past an old yew tree, deep in the mossy/rocky woods below Bath University (Alex and Jim know the spot); followed by the boots that carried me there. The tree sketch line work was done on site, shade and colour … Continue reading
Seasoning
Another Autumnal post, this time a garden tree I pass on the way to work. My eye was caught by the way the tree was losing leaves from the top down, revealing a branching structure that closely matches the vein pattern of the leaves, … Continue reading
Hedgy
Three stages of a monochrome hedge sketch (sounds stunningly dull, but bear with me…). First the initial pencil line drawing; then adding grey ink (which blends really well with soft pencil) for the leaf shadows, and white gel-pen for the foliage outline; and … Continue reading
Posted in botany, comparisons, garden, kit, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, pencil, sky, technique, white pen
Tagged Explosions in the Sky, foliage outline, high contrast sketch, pencil line drawing, pencil sketch of hedge, sketch of hedge, sketching technique, white gel pen sketch
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Comparing flowers and sketches
More botanical sketching, this time in our back garden. First some new leaves sprouting from a shiny hazel trunk, then Japanese and Chinese wisteria flowers compared. The final sketch is a similar wisteria comparison study, but was done when I’d just started sketching … Continue reading
Urban jungle
Following the weeds, here are some more urban plants around Bath… Monochrome foliage on a Japanese Maple, ‘sticky weed’ amongst nettles (including initial line drawing), and a couple of attempts at ivy (the last one using a dried up marker pen and tea). … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, botany, from life, garden, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, urban, urban sketching
Tagged drawing plants, monochrome plant sketches, sketch of nettles, sketches of ivy, sketching urban foliage, sketching weeds, The Kinks, urban jungle, urban plants, urban sketching
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Weedy
Spring, sunshine and showers, and months of neglect, so weeds are flourishing in our garden. Each week a different one appears, competing with the others for light and space, and ripe for drawing… First a mostly monochrome sketch of some wild strawberry flowers amongst dandelions and other … Continue reading
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