I’m an Urban Sketcher…
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Category Archives: from life
Sunshine
Back to the silvery grey light of England after a week of golden sunshine in Cordoba, Spain. I’ll scan and post the sketches over the next few weeks, including many attempts to capture the Holy Week parades (tall pointy hats, huge … Continue reading
Posted in buildings, Cordoba, from life, holiday, journeys, Lexington grey, monument, people, street scene, travel, trees, urban, watercolour sketch
Tagged Afternoon shade, Cordoba, Cordoba sketches, Cordoba street scene sketch, Court of Oranges, Mezquita, Mezquita bell tower sketch, Palm trees sketch, The Legends, urban sketching
9 Comments
68 feet
Commenting on my recent cafe sketches Chris said “How about a focus on feet and shoes for your next post? They drive me mad, and can make or break a quick sketch.” Be careful what you wish for… Here are all the … Continue reading
Posted in brush pen, cafe, coloured paper, Feet, from life, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, objects, sculpture, sketching, urban
Tagged cafe sketching, collection of feet, drawing feet, fountain pen sketch, Hokusai manga, ink sketches, Michelangelo's David, Ride, sketching sculpture, sketching shoes, urban sketching
10 Comments
In the kitchen
More late night monochrome sketches, this time corners of the kitchen. In the first sketch I was drawn to the way that strong overhead light made shadows wrap around the apples. In the second one it was the tilted ellipses in the collection of bottles … Continue reading
Posted in coloured paper, from life, fruit, grisaille, kitchen, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, objects
Tagged domestic scenes, drawing ellipses, drawing jars and bottles, drawing shadows, fruit sketch, kitchen sketches, line and tone, monochrome sketching, overhead light, Peter Gabriel, sketching with fountain pen
1 Comment
Cafe life
People watching in cafes, mostly this year in Bath, but the last one’s from Istanbul a couple of years ago when I was using a marker pen. If you can get a good table a cafe’s a great winter sketching location; strong light sources, sheltered, … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, cafe, clothing, coloured ink, coloured paper, figures, from life, Istanbul, Lexington grey, line drawing, marker pen, monochrome, people, urban, waiting
Tagged Bath cafes, cafe sketching, drawing shoes, fountain pen sketches, Hafiz Mustafa, marker pen sketch, Rolling Stones, sketching people, sketching seated people, urban sketching
6 Comments
Street parking
More cars parked up on Bath streets. I didn’t use the acetate grid for these, but did have to work hard to get the relative size of the receding cars correct, to see what was there and not what I … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, cars, from life, Lexington grey, line drawing, sketching, street scene, urban, vehicles
Tagged Bath street sketch, drawing a street scene, drawing of line of cars, drawing what you see, fountain pen sketch, Public Enemy, receding cars, relative size, sketching cars, urban sketching
10 Comments
Camden Road
Chimney pots and windows at the back of Camden Road in Bath, sketched from the road above, while leaning on a high wall (in the foreground bottom left). It’s another view of Bath where the chaotic backs of the buildings are more interesting than the … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, buildings, cars, from life, grisaille, Lexington grey, line drawing, street scene, technique, urban
Tagged acetate grid, Bath, Camden Road, chimney pots, composition of sketch, Fatboy Slim, fountain pen sketch, grisaille, rear windows, rooftop sketch, street scene, urban sketching, using a grid when sketching
10 Comments
Waiting in town
A bus queue lined up alongside Bath Abbey, and more tourists sat on benches (previously, and here). Drawing directly with ink means ‘mistakes’ are visible, recording the process of feeling out where the lines need to go. Usually I just restate the line, … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, body, buildings, figures, from life, inks, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, people, street scene, technique, urban, waiting
Tagged Bath Abbey, Bath tourists, bus queue, couple on bench, Fail better, fountain pen drawings, mistakes in drawings, people on benches, restating lines, sketches of people in town, The Byrds, urban sketching
2 Comments
Cars, at rest
Parked cars on the road approaching Lansdown Crescent (where the sheep were). Below is the picture without the water-colour glaze, then without the Lexington grey ink washes, revealing the ink drawing that I did on site. The pencil grid helped with the basic placing … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, buildings, cars, from life, grisaille, Lexington grey, line drawing, street scene, technique, urban, vehicles
Tagged Bath street sketch, cars on street, drawing cars, fountain pen sketch, Lansdown Crescent, sketch of parked cars, sketching technique, step by step sketch, Streetview sketch, The Who, urban sketching, using a grid for drawing
2 Comments
Mostly drawing 