Category Archives: urban

A cast of thousands…

…,well, at least a hundred. Too late for the ‘one hundred people sketched in five days’ challenge (I was still bed-bound) but still good practise for quick gesture drawing skills. They’re done in a wide range of media as I … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, people, shoppers, street scene, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Sketching while walking

I recommend drawing while walking as one way to encourage looser, simpler ‘right side of the brain’ sketching. You’re so busy not falling over/wandering into people, while balancing sketchbook/pencil etc, and trying not to be too conspicuous/creepy that the drawing becomes almost … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, Feet, figures, pencil, people watching, street scene, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

Bath time!

Some recent sketches of the Roman Baths in bamboo dip-pen and pencil, with watercolour washes. The Baths are a great winter sketching location; outdoors but warmed by the thermal springs, and with lots of passing people to add interest and … Continue reading

Posted in bamboo dip pen, Bath, buildings, Mendips, people, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Hospital view

Apologies for the recent blog neglect; I’ve had some major elective surgery to prevent recurrence of the diverticulitis that laid me low in July (these are my hospital sketches from that visit) and am now recuperating well. So here’s a view … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, cars, hospital, monochrome, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Tea-time

Sketches from a couple of recent visits to the lovely Comins Tea House in Bath, trying out new markers for versatility (Winsor and Newton watercolour markers, and Zig Twins – both are water-soluble allowing blending with a water-brush). The second one, … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, figures, people watching, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Docking

When is a sketch not a sketch? This one from October took almost two hours, which seems to take it beyond ‘sketchiness’, losing some of the looseness and energy along the way… It was done on my third visit to Bristol … Continue reading

Posted in bamboo dip pen, boats, Bristol, River Avon, sketchcrawl, urban, urban sketching, white pen | Tagged , , , , , | 6 Comments

Skylines

Sorry for the lack of posts here recently (and thanks to Chris for the reminder!). I’ve got into a habit of posting my urban sketches to the USk Facebook page, leaving just the more domestic ones for the blog. So … Continue reading

Posted in bamboo dip pen, buildings, drawing buildings, Manchester Symposium, monochrome, Stockholm, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Drive by…

Seventeen drivers sketched as we overtook them on the way down the M5 on Boxing Day, heading home after a family Christmas in the North. A few look exhausted, some are fairly relaxed, and a couple are even smiling. I’ve broken a couple … Continue reading

Posted in cars, comparisons, faces, journeys, line drawing, people, travel, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

My eyes! My eyes!

A GIF-tastic round-up of some recent sketches, mostly of Bath, showing how water-colour works with drawings done in bamboo dip-pen and coloured ink. I love the way that the coloured ink lines can fade back into the sketch or be brought forward, … Continue reading

Posted in bamboo dip pen, Bath, boats, coloured ink, figures, GIF, inks, kit, technique, urban, urban sketching, watercolour sketch | Tagged , , , , , | 8 Comments

Multi-coloured dip-pen

For the last few months nearly all my sketching has been in bamboo dip-pen and multi-coloured inks. I love the juicy draggable lines I get with the dip-pen, the wide variation in width and saturation, and having a range of coloured inks … Continue reading

Posted in bamboo dip pen, coloured ink, inks, kit, line drawing, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments