Category Archives: pencil

Feather and tea

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 , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

38 boats

While in Stockholm we caught a ferry to Grinda, one of 30,000 (!) islands in the surrounding archipelago. We swam in the warm Baltic and I tried to sketch the many pleasure craft that passed. As most were going fairly fast I ended up with a collection … Continue reading

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Take off, in-flight, landing

Scenes from a flight to Stockholm… A sketchy impression of the rolling patchwork landscape around Bristol airport as the plane took off, random images from a flight safety card (including a wildly optimistic ‘landing on water’), and planes waiting at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport under low … Continue reading

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Sketchcrawl

Lexington grey water-brush, pencil, white pastel, A5 – 30 minutes Here’s Jim busy drawing when six of us met up for a Bath sketchcrawl this weekend. One of the main motivations for starting this blog was to try and meet up … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, coloured paper, from life, hands, Lexington grey, monochrome, pencil, people, sketching, urban, watching | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Rear windows #2

White Uni Posca brush-pen, pencil, white pastel, A5 – one hour over two days The back of the King’s Circus, Bath, drawn from a convenient bench outside the Fashion Museum. Standing in the middle of the Circus the circular terrace of symmetrical … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, buildings, coloured paper, from life, line drawing, monochrome, pencil, sketching, technique, urban, white pen | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

All together now…

Pencil, Lexington grey water-brush, water-colour, A6 – 20 minutes A small part of the excellent Mendip Male Voice Choir, pencil sketched while they sang ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘Always Look on the Bright Side of Life’ at All Saints Church in Weston, Bath. I added … Continue reading

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At the fair

Pencil, white Gelly Roll pen, water-brush with dilute Lexington grey ink, gouache, A5 – 20 minutes pencil drawing at the fair, 20 minutes at home with the ink and gouache We’ve been away for the week (I’ll post some seaside sketches soon) and in … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, coloured paper, from life, gouache, park, pencil, trees, urban, vehicles | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Night vision

Sketching at night presents some extra challenges; cold hands, low light, and increased self-consciousness (“What’s he up to…?”). So these two were done fast by the light of street lamps; the first while waiting for a bus in Larkhall (Streetview link), … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, buildings, from life, inks, Lexington grey, monochrome, night, pencil, urban, waiting | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Royal visitor

My parents’ terrier, Queenie, came to stay for a couple of days during Christmas. She was an interesting subject to draw, especially her back legs, but easier to sketch when resting in her basket… Lexington grey water-brush and pen, white Uni … Continue reading

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Pedestrian

Another sketch done while walking, this time behind family members on a Christmas holiday walk. The light ink-wash was added back home. Pencil, Lexington grey water-brush, A7 – 2 minutes

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