I’m an Urban Sketcher…
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Category Archives: sketching
Life and death #2 Mostly dogs
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
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Distant urban texture
Two sketches looking West towards the Suleymaniye Mosque from the terrace of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. Once I’d drawn the key buildings I added an approximation of the city’s texture all around them (roofs, domes, chimneys, walls etc) not having … Continue reading
Posted in buildings, from life, Istanbul, Lexington grey, monochrome, sketching, urban
Tagged greebling, Suleymaniye Mosque, The Troggs, Topkapi Palace, urban texture
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Chester Zoo
A busy afternoon sketching a tiny fraction of the 11,000 animals and 400 species on view at Chester zoo. The baby Asian elephants were charming, the flamingos were like animated brush stokes, and the giraffes were improbable wonders of balance and grace, … Continue reading
Posted in animals, from life, Lexington grey, monochrome, sketching, zoo
Tagged Chester zoo, elephants, flamingos, giraffes, monkeys, nature, painting with tea, Simon and Garfunkle
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Tenby, Wales
A crowded double-page spread from a day trip to Tenby, in South Wales. No time to settle to a finished sketch, so lots of details and impressions instead. I’m looking forward to a longer visit in the future… There’s the view … Continue reading
Posted in buildings, from life, sketching, travel, urban, Wales
Tagged attic view, attic window, Augustus John, harbour, mermaid, Tenby, The Beatles, wine jug
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Archeology Museum #1
I spent a very hot afternoon sketching in the cool shade of the Istanbul Archeology Museum. It houses a wonderfully rich collection created during the Ottoman Empire, when Turkey ruled Egypt and the ancient lands of Mesopotamia, Assyria, etc. A large … Continue reading
Posted in animals, collections, from life, Istanbul, museum, objects, sketching, white marker pen
Tagged Babylon, figure curves, Ishtar gate, Istanbul Archeology Museum, lion, Mesopotamia, small figurines, The Kinks
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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
Enough thumbnails, already…
A last example, for now, of travel thumbnails. This time in a taxi from Istanbul airport to a city centre hotel, where we arrived before I could finish the last frame. The driver was puzzled when I showed him the … Continue reading
Posted in airport, from life, Istanbul, journeys, Lexington grey, monochrome, sketching, urban
Tagged city streets, gelly roll, rear view mirror, Rolling Stones, taxi driver, taxi ride, transportation, windscreen view
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Travel thumbnails #3, planes
More travel thumbnails in gouache, this time the view from an airplane flying Istanbul to London. The window shapes and wing-tips are a bit wonky… All in Black Pigma 1mm pen, water-brush with Lexington grey ink, gouache, A5 Taxiing down the … Continue reading
Posted in airplane, airport, from life, gouache, journeys, sketching, sky, thumbnails, travel, urban, weather
Tagged airplane windows, aviation, clouds, gouache, Heathrow, Istanbul, London, sketch, Thames, travel thumbnails, window shapes
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People watching
Istanbullus sitting, walking, fishing, watching, on the phone, and waiting. Slowly learning to construct figure drawings out of lots and lots of curves. Fountain pen with carbon ink, Pigma 1mm black pen, water-brush with Lexington Grey ink, A5
Posted in body, brush pen, from life, Istanbul, line drawing, monochrome, people, sketching, urban, waiting
Tagged curves, figure drawing, fishing, Istanbullus, on the phone, people watching, Richard Hawley, sitting
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Tea please
Some of the many cups of black tea that I enjoyed in Istanbul, in a variety of media. Good practise for drawing ellipses; it’s very obvious when they’re right or wrong…
Posted in cafe, collections, from life, Istanbul, objects, sketching
Tagged black tea, drawing ellipses, ellipses, Istanbul, tea, tea cups, The Rutles
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Mostly drawing 