Category Archives: garden

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

Posted in Bath, botany, brush pen, coloured paper, comparisons, flowers, garden, urban sketching, white pen | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Mothly drawing

A quick sketch of a dead moth for my three-hundredth post. Followed by some older sketches of other insects found in our garden for your further enjoyment… Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, water-colour, tiny – about 10 minutes

Posted in fauna, from life, garden, insects, Lexington grey | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

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 , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

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

Posted in blossom, botany, comparisons, flowers, garden, seasonal, Spring | Tagged , , , , , , | 7 Comments

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 , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

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

Posted in botany, flowers, garden, grisaille, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, seasonal | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Snails

White Gelly Roll pen, Lexington grey fountain pen and water-brush,watercolour, A6 – 30 minutes Heavy day-time rain drew the garden snails out, so I collected a few and sketched them as they moved across a table. For a creature that’s proverbially slow  (1 … Continue reading

Posted in animals, botany, from life, garden, seasonal, white pen | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Dragon

A quick monochrome sketch of a three piece dragon sculpture at the bottom of the garden. I’ve drawn it before, concentrating on the head section, but this time wanted to show the full serpentine body, apparently swimming through the ground. 1mm … Continue reading

Posted in animal, garden, home, Lexington grey, monochrome, sculpture | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The Beetles

Beetles are the most diverse group of organisms on earth, representing a fifth of all living organisms, and there are over 4,000 species in the UK and Ireland alone. Here are three I’ve met since starting sketching… I found this Lesser Stag … Continue reading

Posted in from life, garden, insects, monochrome, pencil, sketching | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Scarlet tiger moth

A silent visitor to our garden on a very hot afternoon, a Scarlet Tiger moth. There’s a tiny glimpse of the moth’s glorious scarlet inner wings just visible at the base of the centre line. Its Latin name, Callimorpha Dominula, could … Continue reading

Posted in from life, garden, insects, Lexington grey, seasonal, sketching | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment