Category Archives: from life

From a moving vehicle

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Ed Mostly

A collection of fast drive-by sketches; trees seen from a train, and vehicles from a car. The trees were glimpsed for a few seconds as we shot past, so a brush-pen was ideal for quickly capturing their individual shapes and key lines, with … Continue reading →

Posted in collections, coloured paper, from life, inks, journeys, monochrome, sketching, technique, trains, travel, urban, vehicles | Tagged drive-by sketches, individual trees, Lexington grey ink, sketching from a vehicle, sketching on coloured paper, sketching on the move, sketching trees, sketching vehicles, The Temptations, tree shapes | 2 Comments

2 hands, 2 keys, 2 watches, and some scribbles

Posted on September 14, 2014 by Ed Mostly

My 201st post is more sketches of things found on the table before going to bed. I’ve done a sketch every day for the last 3 years, and it’s these late night ones that are often the hardest to start, but also the most rewarding. … Continue reading →

Posted in coloured paper, every day matters, from life, hands, home, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, objects | Tagged bunch of keys, daily drawing, everyday drawing, fountain pen, Hand of Fatima, Kaiser Chiefs, late night sketches, sketches of hands, sketches of keys, sketches of watches | 2 Comments

Steam Fair

Posted on September 9, 2014 by Ed Mostly

The wonderful Carters Steam Fair was in Bath over the summer, with steam-powered bumper cars, dodgems, dive bombers, chair-o-planes, giant octopus and much more. I sketched some of the logos on the vintage slot machines in the penny arcade (just doing the lines on … Continue reading →

Posted in Bath, collections, from life, gouache, nostalgia, park, sketching, urban, vehicles, white pen | Tagged Arcade Fire, Bath, Carter's Steam Fair, fairground sketching, penny arcade, Scammel lorry, slot machine logos, steam fair, urban sketching, vintage truck | 1 Comment

Feather and tea

Posted on September 4, 2014 by Ed Mostly

A couple of sketches done using found/improvised resources during a trip to Grinda, the Stockholm island where I drew the 38 boats. The first was drawn using a dip-nib cut into the tip of a swan’s feather that I found (a bottle lid with … Continue reading →

Posted in dip pen, from life, holiday, inks, kit, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, pencil, technique | Tagged Band of Horses, cutting a quill nib, dip pen, Ferry views, Grinda, improvised sketching resources, Lexington grey, monochrome sketch, quill nib, sepia sketch, sketching from life, swan feather, tea as wash | 1 Comment

Mostly painting

Posted on August 30, 2014 by Ed Mostly

I’ve been reading ‘Urban Watercolor Sketching’ by Felix Scheinberger (here’s Tina’s review). It’s not very ‘urban’, but I recommend it as an enthusiastic, conversational and practical guide to water-colour sketching, with a strong focus on the power of colour. So I’m trying to be a bit … Continue reading →

Posted in colour, from life, fruit, kit, line drawing, technique, watercolour sketch | Tagged 'Urban Watercolor Sketching', apples, bananas, Billie Holiday, cake stand, Felix Scheinberger, fruit sketches, line drawing, oranges, watercolor sketching | 2 Comments

Swedish birds

Posted on August 24, 2014 by Ed Mostly

A collection of birds seen in Stockholm. First there are two sketches from the Biologiska Museet, a beautiful wooden Victorian museum full of dioramas populated by stuffed animals who’ll hold a pose for as long as you need (the first picture looks like a scene from … Continue reading →

Posted in animals, Birds, from life, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, museum, Stockholm, Uncategorized, watercolour sketch | Tagged Biologiska Museum, duck, goose, heron, Mercury Rev, Skansen, sketching birds, sketching from nature, sketching stuffed animals, Stockholm, swan family, swans, watercolour sketches, wolf | 2 Comments

Stockholm sketching

Posted on August 2, 2014 by Ed Mostly

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

Digital art

Posted on July 29, 2014 by Ed Mostly

Lots more fingers and toes, all drawn late in the evening when there’s nothing else around to sketch. Strange to see my hands age so dramatically as the drawings become more detailed, with more lines and shading… (A range of pens and inks, … Continue reading →

Posted in body, collections, coloured paper, from life, hands, night, self-portrait | Tagged brush pen, drawing feet, drawing hands, drawing own hand, fingers, fingers and toes, Lexington grey ink, Queens of the Stone Age, self-portrait, white gelly roll pen | 2 Comments

Sushi, again

Posted on July 25, 2014 by Ed Mostly

Back at Yen Sushi for another lovely lunch. From the top there’s green tea, steamed rice, aubergine salad, spinach with peanut sauce, and teriyaki prawns. I ate lots more but it didn’t hang around long enough to be drawn. Below … Continue reading →

Posted in Bath, cafe, every day matters, food, from life, urban | Tagged chopsticks, restaurant sketching, sake bottle, sketching plates and bowls, sushi, teriyaki prawns, urban sketching, Vince Guaraldi, Yen Sushi Bath | 2 Comments

46 strangers

Posted on July 20, 2014 by Ed Mostly

Urban sketching turns the busy city centre into a giant, free (clothed) life-drawing class. It’s great practise for gesture drawing, and you’ve got to be fast to catch the pedestrians, but some are sitting ducks… Here are members of the public around Bath over … Continue reading →