Mostly drawing

54 people, mostly seated, and 2 dogs

Posted on September 20, 2015 by Ed Mostly

During the Summer holidays I binged on sketching the general public in Bath, my default approach to ‘urban sketching’. I enjoy the seasonal differences: sunglasses, shady hats and bare arms in Summer; compared to high collars, long coats and wooly hats in Winter! The ink-brush works well for this, faster than pen as it produces both line and tone, and the softness of the marks suits figure drawing.

(The Urban Sketchers Bristol/South West group will be visiting Bath for a sketch-crawl next month, Saturday 17th October. Details of time/location soon. Hope to see/meet you then..)

Lexington grey in water-brush, water-colour, A5 – 1 to 2 minutes per figure

Posted in Bath, brush pen, clothing, comparisons, figures, ink brush, Lexington grey, monochrome, people watching, seasonal, sketchcrawl, technique, urban, urban sketching | Tagged Bath sketch-crawl, drawings of seated figures, ink brush sketching, seasonal differences, sketching figures, sketching in Bath, The Mynabirds, urban sketching, urban sketching technique | 3 Comments

Mothly drawing

Posted on September 18, 2015 by Ed Mostly

A quick sketch of a dead moth for my three-hundredth post. Followed by some older sketches of other insects found in our garden for your further enjoyment…

Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, water-colour, tiny – about 10 minutes

Posted in fauna, from life, garden, insects, Lexington grey | Tagged back garden sketching, fountain pen sketch, sketch of beetle, sketch of moth, sketches of insects, The Byrds | 2 Comments

Ink-brush buildings

Posted on September 15, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Following on from my experiments in sketching with an ink-filled water-brush I dug out an old Platinum fude brush pen. The nylon brush-tip’s a bit shredded so it’s not very detailed, but the ink flow is hugely better than the very popular Pentel brush-pen. I love its immediacy and the speed with which you can describe complete shapes, instead of using a pen for the edge lines and then a brush to add shadows and tone etc. I’m still trying to get the right strength of ink to complement the colour-wash, but overall the brush-pen is very liberating, encouraging me to have a go at quick urban sketches around Bath that I usually wouldn’t attempt in the time. (And I’ve given in to the lure of the sable-tipped version to get finer detail. Delivery from Japan takes two weeks…)

Lexington grey in Platinum fude brush-pen and water-brush, watercolour, A5 – various times

Posted in Bath, brush pen, buildings, drawing buildings, ink brush, Lexington grey, street scene, urban, urban sketching, vehicles | Tagged Bath streets, fude brush sketches, ink brush sketching, sketches of Bath, sketching street scenes, The Libertines, urban sketching, urban sketching kit, urban sketching technique | 8 Comments

Regency Parade

Posted on September 13, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Quick ink-brush sketches of yesterday’s ‘Grand Regency Costumed Parade’, part of the annual Jane Austen festival held in Bath. The parade ended appropriately in Parade Gardens, where some of the 500 participants stood still long enough to be drawn. On the right is Cecilia on her ‘hobby horse’, a pedal-free early bicycle, and right at the bottom a tiny glimpse of the wonderful ‘Amazing Camera Obscura’ which provided some Regency entertainment. My drawings don’t do justice to the extreme silliness of the Naval hats, and next year I’ll try and capture more of the wide range of beautiful costumes on display. Maybe I’ll dress up as a Regency sketcher and join the parade?

Lexington grey in ink-brush and water-brush, water-colour, A4 – 30 mins

Posted in Bath, brush pen, clothing, figures, parades, urban, urban sketching | Tagged Bath Regency parade, Camera Obscura, early Naval costumes, ink brush sketches, Jane Austen costume sketch, Jane Austen Festival, Parade Gardens, Regency costume sktches, sketch of hobby horse, The Jam, urban sketching | Leave a comment

Outdoor museum

Posted on September 10, 2015 by Ed Mostly

The Weald and Downland Museum is a collection of old buildings that have been saved from dereliction and demolition and given a new home. It’s like a much smaller, rural English version of Skansen, the wonderful original ‘open air museum’ in Stockholm. There’s lots to sketch, but I just managed the dark interior of a smithy, a thatched cottage from 1380 and some poppy heads with a hover-fly. I had fun gradually building up the shadows in the first picture, and note the other sketcher shamelessly sketch-bombing in the second picture.

Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, white gouache, A5 – 45 mins

Lexington grey water brush, watercolour, A5 – 20 mins

Posted in brush pen, buildings, drawing buildings, ink brush, monochrome, museum, rural, technique | Tagged drawing of anvils, pavement, rural sketching, sketch of hover-fly, sketch of poppy heads, sketch of shady interior, sketch of smithy, sketch of thatched cottage, Weald and Downland Museum | 4 Comments

A slice of life

Posted on September 8, 2015 by Ed Mostly

It was stone cold by the time I’d finished drawing it, and tastier than it looks. Mmm, jalapenos…

Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour, A5 – 30 mins

Posted in domestic, food, from life, grisaille, hands | Tagged fountain pen sketch, sketch of hand, sketch of hand holding pizza, sketch of pizza slice, sketching food, The Monkees | Leave a comment

Same difference

Posted on September 4, 2015 by Ed Mostly

Compare and contrast time again with three sketches looking down the same street towards the Royal Crescent, while sat under one of the five huge trees in The Circus. The first was done with ink-brush a few days ago (colour wash added at home), the second with fountain-pen about six months ago in Winter, and the last in Spring three years ago using felt-tip and gouache. I think the ink-brush needs to be darker to hold its own when given a colour wash, and it can look a bit myopically hazy, but it’s an excellent medium for quick sketches…

Lexington grey ink-brush, water-colour, A6 – 20 mins ink sketch, 20 mins water-colour

Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, white gel pen, A5 – 45 mins

1mm Pigma pen, gouache, white gel pen, Lexington grey water-brush, A5 Kraft paper – one hour

Posted in Bath, buildings, comparisons, grisaille, inks, Lexington grey, monochrome, street scene, urban, urban sketching | Tagged Bath, Bath sketches, Brock Street, fountain pen sketching, ink brush sketches, Rolling Stones, The Circus, urban sketching, urban sketching techniques | 7 Comments

..and now in colour

Posted on August 31, 2015 by Ed Mostly

I’ve copied the two Tenby ink sketches (putting water-colour paper through our printer works!) and added some colour. The printer made the original ink sketch lighter and the overall effect is a bit washed out, but it’s interesting to compare with the monochrome originals; how the eye is drawn to other details and reads the scene differently… Preferences?

Posted in drawing buildings, ink brush, street scene, Tenby, urban, urban sketching | Tagged ink brush sketching, monochrome and colour sketches, Sidney Barnes, sketch of street scene, sketching technique, tenby sketches, urban sketching | 4 Comments

Tenby in ink

Posted on August 29, 2015 by Ed Mostly

The view from Castle Hill, and Tim’s corner barber-shop (“Quality haircuts at fair prices”). I used the acetate grid to mark some key lines in pencil, and then started in the middle with the ink-brush and worked my way out. They’re both A4 which gave me a bit more room for detail. I’m strongly tempted to add a light colour wash, particularly in the second one, but have resisted so far… Maybe some red for the barber-shop sign and green for the distant hills at the end of the street?

Pencil (now erased) and Lexington grey in water-brush, A4 – one hour each