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: Lexington grey
@ Bristol #1
The massive main landing gear of an airliner, sketched at @Bristol. The wheels are about 5 foot high and it has an ‘articulating bogie unit’, hmmm… I spent 5 minutes marking the key lines in pencil to get the perspective … Continue reading
Specky
My commitment to daily drawing is regularly tested late evening. ‘It’s 10pm, I haven’t managed a sketch yet, what could I draw?’ Favourite models include a glass of water, my left hand, a model skull, or figures on TV; this … Continue reading
Posted in every day matters, from life, home, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, objects, pencil
Tagged Band of Horses, daily drawing, glasses, specky, spectacles
4 Comments
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
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Sketching fuel
My sketching’s mostly fuelled by Lexington grey, a wonderful ink made by Noodlers in the USA. I use it in almost every sketch I do as it’s rapidly waterproof, but also safe for fountain pens. It works well with water-colour washes, and you … Continue reading
Posted in from life, grisaille, inks, kit, Lexington grey, monochrome, objects
Tagged Fatboy Slim, fountain pen, grey ink, Ink bottles, Lexington, Noodlers, teapot, Ugg boots, waterbrushes
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Shrubbery steps
Bath is full of steep footpaths, and I’ve sketched this one several times before, always looking down. Here I’m looking up for a change, on an overcast afternoon. 1mm Pigma pen, water-brush with dilute Lexington grey and Windsor and Newton inks, … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, coloured paper, from life, inks, Lexington grey, sketching, urban
Tagged David Bowie, footpath, looking up, steps, The Shrubbery
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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 Wild West
Guns, tipi pegs and keys from the recent ‘Gangsters and Gunslingers’ exhibition at the American Museum just outside Bath. Strange to see so many battered objects intimately associated with legendary figures. Dillinger’s fake gun was a particular delight. (Following a … Continue reading
Posted in Bath, collections, exhibitions, Lexington grey, monochrome, museum, objects, pencil
Tagged American Museum, Custer, fake gun, John Dillinger, prison keys, revolvers, The Specials, tipi pegs, Tombstone jail, Wyatt Earp
1 Comment
A toad, a giraffe, two elephants and a Gorgonite
Toy figures are well-behaved models, holding their poses indefinitely. They also give the opportunity to sketch rarely seen creatures, and from unusual angles. Broad dip pen with Carbon black ink, water brush with dilute Carbon black ink, A5 White Uni … Continue reading
Posted in animals, collections, dip pen, inks, Lexington grey, line drawing, marker pen, monochrome, objects, toys
Tagged baby elephant, Carbon black ink, elephants, giraffe, Gorgonite, mug, toad, Tom Jones, toys
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Seasonal skull
Returning to a favourite model for a Halloween still life. This one’s a full size plastic medical model, bought in a flea market years ago. Skulls are fascinating subjects to draw, loaded with cultural traditions and artistic baggage, and currently appearing on … Continue reading
Posted in death, from life, Lexington grey, marker pen, objects, skeleton
Tagged Halloween, Kraftwerk, memento mori, memento vivere, skull, Uni Posca
2 Comments