I’m an Urban Sketcher…
Gallery
Category Archives: buildings
Marlborough light
1mm Pigma pen, white and blue Uni Posca brush markers, Lexington grey water-brush, dilute blue and brown ink for roof and chimneys, A5 – 30 mins line drawing on location, 20 mins adding ink washes and colour at home Wet … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, buildings, coloured paper, from life, inks, Lexington grey, urban, white marker pen
Tagged Bath in Time, Bath stone, facade, Gerry Rafferty, Marlborough Buildings, royal crescent, streeview, symmetry, wind break
3 Comments
Night vision
Sketching at night presents some extra challenges; cold hands, low light, and increased self-consciousness (“What’s he up to…?”). So these two were done fast by the light of street lamps; the first while waiting for a bus in Larkhall (Streetview link), … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, buildings, from life, inks, Lexington grey, monochrome, night, pencil, urban, waiting
Tagged Larkhall, night sketching, Sesame Street, Stevie Wonder, street lamps, The Star Inn, Uni Posca brush pen, white gelly roll pen
2 Comments
Grey paper
A quiet street near the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul on a hot summer Sunday morning, a pool of dappled shade slowly moving across the tarmac. I love the strong contrast produced by gouache on coloured paper, very useful for (relatively) … Continue reading
Walcot Street
Night-time view up Walcot Street while waiting for a burger at Schwartz Bros, a Bath institution. It took about 3 minutes to draw the lines on location, and 5 more at home to add the ink wash and yellow highlights … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, buildings, from life, Lexington grey, monochrome, night, urban, vehicles, waiting
Tagged night time, pedestrian, Schwartz burgers, street lamp, street scene, Walcot Street
Leave a comment
Green Park Station
Saturday morning sketching with Louise and Mark at the farmer’s market in Green Park Station, Bath. (The last train left the station in 1962, part of the notorious Beeching cuts.) The line drawing took about 30 minutes, with another 20 … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, buildings, from life, inks, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, panorama, people, sketching, urban
Tagged Beeching cuts, farmer's market, Green Park Station, Poppy day, Remembrance Sunday, The Monkees
2 Comments
The Shrubbery
Looking down The Shrubbery, a steep path near our home in Bath. You have to squint a bit for it to work, and that’s a conservatory half-way up the house on the left, built on a balcony. (I blended dilute Winsor … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, buildings, from life, inks, kit, monument, urban, waterbrush
Tagged city view, complementary colours, Primal Scream, roof tops, steep path, The Shrubbery, Winsor and Newton inks
2 Comments
Distant urban texture
Two sketches looking West towards the Suleymaniye Mosque from the terrace of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. Once I’d drawn the key buildings I added an approximation of the city’s texture all around them (roofs, domes, chimneys, walls etc) not having … Continue reading
Posted in buildings, from life, Istanbul, Lexington grey, monochrome, sketching, urban
Tagged greebling, Suleymaniye Mosque, The Troggs, Topkapi Palace, urban texture
6 Comments
Tenby, Wales
A crowded double-page spread from a day trip to Tenby, in South Wales. No time to settle to a finished sketch, so lots of details and impressions instead. I’m looking forward to a longer visit in the future… There’s the view … Continue reading
Posted in buildings, from life, sketching, travel, urban, Wales
Tagged attic view, attic window, Augustus John, harbour, mermaid, Tenby, The Beatles, wine jug
Leave a comment
Tomb, hydrant, B+B
A final group of sketches from Portugal before I get to grips with scanning all the Istanbul pictures… The tomb of Luis Vaz de Camoes, Portugal’s greatest poet, in Jeronimos Monastery, Lisbon. Fountain pen with Carbon ink, water-brush with Lexington … Continue reading
Posted in buildings, from life, Lisbon, Portugal, sketching, travel, urban, watercolour sketch
Tagged hydrant, Jean-Christophe Defline, Jeronimos, Luis Vaz de Camoes, Palace, Sintra, Spiritualized, tomb
Leave a comment
Mosques at night
I was in Istanbul during Ramadan which meant the streets, squares and mosques were busy till late at night, with families breaking their day’s fast and socialising. I could wander around the centre of the old town as part of … Continue reading
Posted in buildings, from life, Istanbul, line drawing, monument, night, urban, white marker pen
Tagged architecture, Atik Ali Pasha, Blue mosque, Dobie Gray, minaret, mosques, night time, Ramadan, Suleymaniye
Leave a comment
Mostly drawing 