Category Archives: monochrome

mostly Greek

More sketches of classical statuary, mostly from the ongoing ‘Defining Beauty‘ exhibition at the British Museum, which is so full of wonderful stuff that I ended up doing very fast drawings with a marker pen, out of sight of the … Continue reading

Posted in body, coloured paper, exhibitions, figures, London, monochrome, museum, objects, pencil, sculpture, statues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Ink brush sketching

Here’s another collection of people in town, this time a monochrome set,  done with a water-brush filled with dilute ink for speed. They were sketched one afternoon while sat outside a cafe in early Spring, hence the scarves and big coats. The last of the … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, body, brush pen, clothing, Feet, figures, inks, Lexington grey, monochrome, people, people watching, street scene, urban, urban sketching, waterbrush | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Hands, again

My hands, family member’s hands, stranger’s hands on trains, and hands on porcelain figures. Complicated miniature landscapes of curves, shadows, contours and foreshortenings that make regular appearances in my sketchbooks. As individual and expressive as a face, and always a challenge. No … Continue reading

Posted in body, collections, coloured ink, coloured paper, family, hands, monochrome, people, people watching, self-portrait | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Statuesque

A marble Roman mask of Pan in the Cordoba Archeological Museum, a contemporary brass statue of Siva sat on my desk (distant cousins?), followed by a couple of views of a battered ‘crouching Aphrodite/Venus‘ (also in the Cordoba museum). Lexington grey … Continue reading

Posted in coloured ink, coloured paper, Cordoba, Lexington grey, monochrome, museum, objects, statues | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Back in the kitchen

More monochrome kitchen scenes, with lots of ellipses, variety and repetition in all the jars, cans, bottles and packets. Made a mistake with one? Draw another, and keep going till you fill the page! Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, A5 – … Continue reading

Posted in collections, coloured ink, coloured paper, domestic, home, kitchen, line drawing, marker pen, monochrome, objects | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

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

Inside the Mezquita

Back in Cordoba, this time inside the Mezquita. The first sketch is an attempt to describe the famous forest of columns, mostly inhabited by tourists; as the columns recede in all directions it feels slightly like being in an Escher … Continue reading

Posted in buildings, collections, coloured ink, Cordoba, faces, monochrome, monument, people, travel, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

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

Bristol docks, horizontal and vertical

Two sketches from Sunday’s inaugural sketchcrawl for the new ‘Urban Sketchers Bristol/South West’ group. It was chilly down by the water’s edge, but good company and absorption in sketching kept the cold at bay. Thanks to Jules and Charlotte for setting it all … Continue reading

Posted in boats, Bristol, buildings, Lexington grey, monochrome, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

En route

Fellow passengers on the way to Cordoba; waiting at the airport, sleeping on the plane, and passing time on the train. Pencil works well for larger and more detailed portraits, it can be hard for a face to recover from a poorly placed ink-line… (My previous post got … Continue reading

Posted in airplane, airport, coloured paper, faces, from life, holiday, journeys, monochrome, pencil, people, trains, travel | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment