Category Archives: urban

Twilight

It’s either late afternoon or early evening. Lights are coming on but the sky is still reflected in the car windows, colour’s fading from the cars, buildings and people. That’s the back of the Royal Crescent silhouetted in the background, a … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, brush pen, drawing buildings, figures, ink brush, rooftops, street scene, twilight, Uncategorized, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Dusky

Midwinter twilights in Bath; low light, muted colours, an occasionally dramatic big sky, silhouetted rooftops and chimneys, hazy views, and cold fingers while sketching… Happy New Year! Kuretake #40 and water brush with Lexington grey, pencil, watercolour, A5 – various … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, brush pen, drawing buildings, ink brush, rooftops, street scene, twilight, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Fourty-eight fast faces

First twenty-nine drivers, sketched from the passenger seat while overtaking on the motorway. Their faces were only glimpsed in passing, so I had to quickly memorise the key lines, but they were always in full profile which helped simplify things! … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, brush pen, cars, collections, faces, ink brush, journeys, Lexington grey, people, street scene, urban, urban sketching, vehicles | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Winter crowds

Bath’s Christmas shoppers filling the wet streets (a festive carousel in the far distance), battling the wind and rain, pacing the pavements, queuing for the bus home, and generally milling around town. All sketched using my new best friend, the Kuretake #8 brush-pen, … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, brush pen, dogs, figures, ink brush, Lexington grey, people, street scene, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Tenby people

The last few Summer sketches from Tenby. This time people-watching around the town, moving from fountain-pen to ink-brush for the key lines. I was using a fairly ‘blunt’ brush then (a well-worn detailer water-brush) filled with dilute ink, so the pictures weren’t as crisp as the … Continue reading

Posted in beach, brush pen, comparisons, figures, holiday, ink brush, monochrome, people, people watching, technique, Tenby, urban, urban sketching, Wales | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Ink-brush buildings #2

Another sketch of the rear windows of the Circus (older versions below), this time using the Kuretake #40 ink-brush. Ink-brushes are wonderfully suited to drawing soft, curved and organic subjects (people, clothing, foliage, landscapes etc) so I’m seeing how they work with … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, brush pen, buildings, comparisons, drawing buildings, ink brush, Lexington grey, sketching, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Lots of buskers

Lots of buskers, mostly in Bath, and some of their audiences (ranging from the totally disinterested to the partially engaged). There’s a few more sketches of barefoot Ben Powell, a bottle-neck slide cigar-box guitar player, and a couple who were accompanying … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, brush pen, buskers, comparisons, figures, ink brush, Lexington grey, monochrome, people, street scene, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Oxford faces

I’ll follow Stuart’s advice and post something cheerier and less morbid (mostly). So here’s a range of faces seen on a day trip to Oxford, most from the wonderful Ashmolean Museum, which I’ve posted about before. They span the whole history of portraiture, … Continue reading

Posted in body, brush pen, faces, grisaille, ink brush, Lexington grey, monochrome, museum, Oxford, people watching, sculpture, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Return to Arnos Vale…

After our sketchcrawl I returned for another go at sketching the old crematorium oven. I tried an oblique angle this time and used the acetate grid to get the angles right before starting with the ink (see below). I entered the … Continue reading

Posted in Bristol, cemetery, death, Lexington grey, line drawing, museum, objects, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Seasoning

Another Autumnal post, this time a garden tree I pass on the way to work. My eye was caught by the way the tree was losing leaves from the top down, revealing a branching structure that closely matches the vein pattern of the leaves, … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, botany, ink brush, seasonal, street scene, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments