Category Archives: pencil

Home brew

Posted on December 9, 2013 by Ed Mostly

Electric kettle, mug, tea-infuser, and a hazy reflection of me sketching while the tea brews. This was done a few weeks ago, when I was starting to appreciate the versatility of pencil, and the way it allows lines to shade … Continue reading →

Posted in coloured paper, from life, home, Lexington grey, monochrome, objects, pencil, self-portrait | Tagged Captain Beefheart, electric kettle, line and form, mug, reflection, tea, tea infuser | 2 Comments

Specky

Posted on November 25, 2013 by Ed Mostly

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

The Wild West

Posted on November 7, 2013 by Ed Mostly

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

Many hands

Posted on November 5, 2013 by Ed Mostly

Drawing hands continues to be a challenge so here are some recent attempts. The first set was while watching TV, pausing the program and drawing any hands in the shot as fast as possible. The second is a range of … Continue reading →

Posted in body, from life, hands, line drawing, monochrome, pencil, TV | Tagged Beastie Boys, Herge, left hand, oservational drawing, Tintin in Tibet, TV stills | 5 Comments

Sitting

Posted on October 29, 2013 by Ed Mostly

Three pictures of seated subjects from the same day sketching around Bath. Ceramic ‘Immortals’ at the Museum of East Asian Art, an excellent busker called Ben Powell, and a resting shopper. The last two sketches are tiny, and the black … Continue reading →

Posted in Bath, from life, Lexington grey, monochrome, pencil, people, urban, waiting | Tagged Barefoot, Ben Powell, busker, guitar, Immortals, Museum of East Asian Art, musician, seated, shopper, solitary, The Strokes | Leave a comment

Life and death #2 Mostly dogs

Posted on October 16, 2013 by Ed Mostly

More sketches from the recent British Museum Pompeii exhibition. First the famously contorted death-cast of a guard dog, followed by a mosaic door sign (“Cave canem”- beware of the dog) found in the same villa; it’s hard not to see the sign as a portrait … Continue reading →

Posted in animals, collections, death, exhibitions, from life, Lexington grey, monochrome, museum, pencil, sculpture, sketching | Tagged British Museum, British Museum Pompeii exhibition, cave canem, death-cast, dogs, guard dog, hounds, House of the stags, hunting, Pompeii, stag, Talking Heads | Leave a comment

Life and death #1

Posted on October 6, 2013 by Ed Mostly

Some sketches of famous finds from Pompeii, recently on show at the British Museum in London. The exhibition contrasted Roman art that celebrated life, with plaster casts that documented agonising deaths. The death-casts are very emotive objects, both expressionist and … Continue reading →

Posted in body, collections, death, exhibitions, from life, Lexington grey, monochrome, museum, pencil | Tagged body casts, boxer pose, British Museum, death-cast, dogs, Hercules, mosaic, plaster casts, Pompeii, Roman art, Simon and Garfunkel, the muleteer, urinating | Leave a comment

“I scream, you scream…”

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Ed Mostly

An ice-cream van next to the Royal Crescent, a tourist hot-spot in Bath. The owners packed up and left before I could draw them leaning out of the window serving customers, reminding me to sketch the people in a scene … Continue reading →

Posted in Bath, from life, pencil, urban, vehicles | Tagged ice-cream van, royal crescent, transportation, Van Morrison, Winsor and Newton inks | 3 Comments

The Beetles

Posted on August 27, 2013 by Ed Mostly

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 beetles, bloody-nose beetle, Ground beetle, Jonathan Richman, Lesser stag beetle, Mister Rogers Remixed, Penguin Cafe Orchestra | Leave a comment

‘Fail better’

Posted on May 19, 2013 by Ed Mostly

“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Samuel Beckett A good description of learning to sketch, amongst other things, and my frequent attempts at drawing my left hand are an excellent example! So here’s the latest batch … Continue reading →