Category Archives: travel

Roman bridge

Posted on April 21, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Looking across Cordoba’s Roman bridge to the old town from the top of the Calahorra Tower, a paraglider buzzing overhead, and the river running low. I drew one side of the bridge before the other and failed to notice that the projecting stone … Continue reading →

Posted in buildings, coloured paper, Cordoba, figures, holiday, Lexington grey, monument, museum, travel, urban, urban sketching | Tagged Calahorra Tower, Cordoba Roman bridge, fountain pen sketches, model of Moorish life, sketch of bridge over a river, sketch of people on bridge, sketches of Cordoba, The Cure, urban sketching, view from Calahorra Tower | Leave a comment

En route

Posted on April 18, 2015 by Ed Mostly

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 airport sketch, drawing of people waiting, Fellow passengers, Leonard Nimoy, sketching on planes, sleeping passengers, travel sketches, urban sketching | Leave a comment

Near the Easter processions…

Posted on April 10, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Back in Cordoba with people waiting for Easter processions to start, watching them from a balcony, and some band members recovering after hours of playing in the heat! I think drawing groups of figures is my default for ‘urban sketching’; I love picking out … Continue reading →

Posted in coloured ink, coloured paper, Cordoba, figures, from life, holiday, line drawing, monochrome, parades, people, street scene, travel, Uncategorized, urban, waiting | Tagged band members resting, Cordoba sketches, drawing a street scene, figures on a balcony, fountain pen sketching, Mike Nesmith, Semana Santa sketches, simple line drawings of figures, sketching groups of figures, urban sketching, waiting for Easter processions | 4 Comments

Holy Week in Cordoba

Posted on April 5, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Six Semana Santa processions in Cordoba, great practise for drawing spectators! Each one was subtly different, reflecting the brotherhood they represented; the colours of the pointed hoods, the scenes depicted on the floats, the specific music played. But all shared the thick clouds of incense, the … Continue reading →

Posted in coloured paper, Cordoba, figures, from life, holiday, journeys, parades, people, street scene, travel, urban, watching | Tagged Cordoba sketches, drawing crowds, Easter week parades, Jesus carrying cross, Moby, Pointed hoods, Semana Santa sketches, sketch of Holy Week procession, Sketching crowds watching parades, urban sketching | 5 Comments

Sunshine

Posted on April 3, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Back to the silvery grey light of England after a week of golden sunshine in Cordoba, Spain. I’ll scan and post the sketches over the next few weeks, including many attempts to capture the Holy Week parades (tall pointy hats, huge … Continue reading →

Posted in buildings, Cordoba, from life, holiday, journeys, Lexington grey, monument, people, street scene, travel, trees, urban, watercolour sketch | Tagged Afternoon shade, Cordoba, Cordoba sketches, Cordoba street scene sketch, Court of Oranges, Mezquita, Mezquita bell tower sketch, Palm trees sketch, The Legends, urban sketching | 9 Comments

3 Stockholm doorways

Posted on November 25, 2014 by Ed Mostly

Ostermalm in central Stockholm is full of late nineteenth century apartment blocks, some with lovely doorways. I planned to sketch lots of them when we were there this Summer but only managed three… All Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour, … Continue reading →

Posted in buildings, collections, from life, holiday, line drawing, Stockholm, travel, urban, watercolour sketch | Tagged apartment blocks, doorways, fountain pen sketches, grand entrances, My Bloody Valentine, Ostermalm, Stockholm sketches, urban sketching | 3 Comments

Tokyo commuters

Posted on November 2, 2014 by Ed Mostly

I spent last week on a study trip to Japan, a great opportunity generously supported by the Japan Foundation. The schedule was hectic and very full, but it helped to hone my speed-sketching skills, straight to ink using a simple fountain-pen and water-brush kit. So … Continue reading →

Posted in brush pen, collections, coloured ink, from life, inks, Japan, kit, line drawing, monochrome, people, trains, travel, urban | Tagged coloured ink sketch, Japan Foundation, Japanese priest, John Gregory Orchestra, Noodlers Brown 41 ink, sketching commuters, sketching with fountain pen, straight to ink, Tokyo, Tokyo commuters, urban sketch of commuters, waterbrush sketch | Leave a comment

An urban stroll

Posted on October 8, 2014 by Ed Mostly

I’ve been reading Freehand Drawing and Discovery by James Richards. Richards is an architect so his drawings look like planning proposals, but it’s got a lot of good tips on creating simple but effective urban landscapes. It also mentions ‘serial visions’, a … Continue reading →

Posted in buildings, from life, inks, journeys, line drawing, sequential, street scene, technique, travel, urban | Tagged city walls, Freehand Drawing and Discovery, Gordon Cullen, pedestrians, sequential sketches, serial vision, sketching an urban walk, street scenes, Tenby streets, Vision On gallery, walking through a town | 7 Comments

From a moving vehicle

Posted on September 18, 2014 by Ed Mostly

A collection of fast drive-by sketches; trees seen from a train, and vehicles from a car. The trees were glimpsed for a few seconds as we shot past, so a brush-pen was ideal for quickly capturing their individual shapes and key lines, with … Continue reading →

Posted in collections, coloured paper, from life, inks, journeys, monochrome, sketching, technique, trains, travel, urban, vehicles | Tagged drive-by sketches, individual trees, Lexington grey ink, sketching from a vehicle, sketching on coloured paper, sketching on the move, sketching trees, sketching vehicles, The Temptations, tree shapes | 2 Comments

Topkapi #2

Posted on March 4, 2014 by Ed Mostly

Water-brush, dilute Lexington grey ink, watercolour, gouache, A5 – 30 minutes Back in the Harem section of the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, this time looking through to the Black Eunuch’s Courtyard, with direct sun on the columns beyond. One of … Continue reading →