I’m an Urban Sketcher…

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Blogroll
- Antonia Santolaya/Enrique Flores A chance to browse through 26 travel sketchbooks. Lots of fresh watercolour, ink and pencil location pictures.
- Buttnekkiddoodles Don Colley’s blog, sharing fabulous brush-pen drawings of people and much else. He’s a big fan of Pitt Artist brush pens.
- Danny Gregory His book ‘The Creative License’ got me sketching, and his other books have helped to keep me going. He has a wonderfully loose style, using dip-pens, saturated colour inks etc.
- Handprint Exceptionally comprehensive information on watercolour paints and equipment. Exhaustive details on pigments, translucency, comparing brands etc. Essential viewing for the true obsessive.
- James Gurney A mine of information on ‘plein air’ painting and sketching from the author of ‘Dinotopia’. Daily posts, always interesting.
- Nina Johansson Stockholm based urban sketching, with lovely clarity and glowing colours. Lots of useful information on sketching kit that helped to get me started.
- Russel Stutler Lots of very useful information on brush pens, palettes, sketching techniques. Based in Japan.
- Steven Reddy Great use of pen drawing and grey ink washes, sometimes combined with clear colour on top.
- The Sketching Forum Informal sharing of ideas, techniques, pictures and general chat about sketching. Set up by Russ Stutler.
- Urban Sketchers A constant parade of individual responses to the challenge of urban sketching. Always good for some inspiration, a new approach to try…
Category Archives: buildings
3 Stockholm doorways
Ostermalm in central Stockholm is full of late nineteenth century apartment blocks, some with lovely doorways. I planned to sketch lots of them when we were there this Summer but only managed three… All Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour, … Continue reading
Urban sheep
A flock of sheep on the steep field in front of Lansdown Crescent on the Northern slopes of Bath. An odd but lovely urban sight, a very faint echo of the times when drover’s roads criss-crossed the UK, bringing flocks of sheep into many city-centre markets. … Continue reading
Posted in animals, Bath, buildings, coloured paper, from life, Lexington grey, sketching, urban, white pen
Tagged Bath, coloured paper, Curved Air, drover's roads, flock of sheep, fountain pen sketching, Lansdown Crescent, Lexington grey ink, medieval Bath, Noodlers brown ink, sheep in city, sketching sheep, urban sheep, White Rotring pen
2 Comments
An urban stroll
I’ve been reading Freehand Drawing and Discovery by James Richards. Richards is an architect so his drawings look like planning proposals, but it’s got a lot of good tips on creating simple but effective urban landscapes. It also mentions ‘serial visions’, a … Continue reading
Posted in buildings, from life, inks, journeys, line drawing, sequential, street scene, technique, travel, urban
Tagged city walls, Freehand Drawing and Discovery, Gordon Cullen, pedestrians, sequential sketches, serial vision, sketching an urban walk, street scenes, Tenby streets, Vision On gallery, walking through a town
7 Comments
Stockholm sketching
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour, A5 – one hour We spent last week in Stockholm, and I was delighted to have the chance to go on a sketchcrawl, kindly arranged by Nina Johansson. Here are Tina (on the fence) and Nina … Continue reading
Posted in buildings, from life, holiday, journeys, people, sketching, Stockholm, urban, waves
Tagged docks, fountain pen, kayak, Nina Johansson, ship, sketchcrawl, sketchers, Stockholm sketching, The Doors, urban sketching, water
2 Comments
Bath streets
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour, white Gelly Roll pen, A7 – 10 minutes drawing and ink wash on site, 10 minutes at home for colour My recent sketching’s been more domestic than urban so here are a … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, buildings, from life, Lexington grey, urban
Tagged architecture, Bath streets, cars, clouds, David Bowie, fountain pen, Georgian buildings, Lexington grey, terrace, urban, urban sketching, watercolour sketch
2 Comments
Rear windows #2
White Uni Posca brush-pen, pencil, white pastel, A5 – one hour over two days The back of the King’s Circus, Bath, drawn from a convenient bench outside the Fashion Museum. Standing in the middle of the Circus the circular terrace of symmetrical … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, buildings, coloured paper, from life, line drawing, monochrome, pencil, sketching, technique, urban, white pen
Tagged bench, chimney pots, circular buildings, drainpipes, drawing buildings, Kings Circus, Pop Muzik - M, rear windows, Tv aerial
2 Comments
Spring has sprung
Pencil, Lexington grey water-brush and fountain pen, watercolour, white Gelly Roll pen, blue Uni Posca brush pen, A5 – various times A double page spread from last weekend, when the weather was fine, the clocks went forward and everyone was out … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, botany, buildings, coloured paper, flowers, from life, park, people, seasonal, sketching, Spring, urban, waiting
Tagged Botanical Gardens, magnolia flower, Mother's day, North Parade Buildings, old couples, park bench, Spring, Uni Posca brush pen, walking sticks, white gelly roll pen
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Topkapi #2
Water-brush, dilute Lexington grey ink, watercolour, gouache, A5 – 30 minutes Back in the Harem section of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, this time looking through to the Black Eunuch’s Courtyard, with direct sun on the columns beyond. One of … Continue reading
Posted in buildings, coloured paper, from life, grisaille, inks, Istanbul, Lexington grey, museum, people, sketching, travel, urban
Tagged Andy Williams and Pearl Bailey, Black Eunuchs courtyard, decorative tiles, gateway, gold gouache, grey ink, Lexington grey ink, passers by, portraits, Topkapi
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Topkapi #1
Two sketches done a year apart in the ‘twin kiosk’ rooms in the Harem section of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. The first was done in 2012 focussing on the decorative tiles and trying to get the perspective right. The second … Continue reading
Rear windows
1mm Pigma pen reloaded with Lexington grey, Lexington grey water-brush, white Gelly Roll pen, watercolour, A6 – 50 minutes Revisiting Marlborough buildings, this time the higgledy-piggledy back, on an overcast afternoon. You can pick out some of the symmetry and … Continue reading