Here’s another collection of people in town, this time a monochrome set, done with a water-brush filled with dilute ink for speed. They were sketched one afternoon while sat outside a cafe in early Spring, hence the scarves and big coats. The last of the three was an attempt to meet Chris’ challenge of drawing feet on the move, very tricky…
Dilute lexington grey in water-brush, A5 – 30s to 1min per face/figure
My hands, family member’s hands, stranger’s hands on trains, and hands on porcelain figures. Complicated miniature landscapes of curves, shadows, contours and foreshortenings that make regular appearances in my sketchbooks. As individual and expressive as a face, and always a challenge. No excuses for not sketching, there’s always a hand in sight!
All the usual inks, but with cream and blue Posca marker pens in the third one, mostly A5 – various times
Spring has sprung and people are out and about, enjoying the extra light and air. Here’s a batch of recent sketches of the public around Bath, mostly in parks. The limited range of colours makes them look oddly like Gap adverts! (the wonderful original track is here)
The usual inks in fountain pen and water-brush, water-colour, A5 and smaller – a range of times
A marble Roman mask of Pan in the Cordoba Archeological Museum, a contemporary brass statue of Siva sat on my desk (distant cousins?), followed by a couple of views of a battered ‘crouching Aphrodite/Venus‘ (also in the Cordoba museum).
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour, A5 – 40 minutes
Sepia Pigment ink in fountain pen, dilute Lexington grey in water-brush, white Gelly Roll pen, A5 – one hour
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, white gouache, A5 – 20 mins
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour, A5 – 20 mins
I’ve used marker pens before, reloaded with different inks, with some mixed results. I tried a new one when I went to London last week. The bold lines were great for very fast sketches, and the ink is water-based (so doesn’t ‘bleed through’ the page), fast drying and waterproof. If only Edding did a version with grey ink… So here are some crows, a friend sketching, bored police, tube travellers, and a band that includes a 97 year old clarinettist! (See James Hobbs for more marker pen views of London).
Black Edding 30 marker pen, dilute Lexington grey, Brown 41 and Namiki blue in water-brush, watercolour for the police vests, and white crayon, A5 – about 15 mins each
More monochrome kitchen scenes, with lots of ellipses, variety and repetition in all the jars, cans, bottles and packets. Made a mistake with one? Draw another, and keep going till you fill the page!
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, A5 – 30 mins
Brown Edding 30 marker pen, Lexington grey in water-brush, white gouache, white Gelly Roll pen, A5 – 20 mins
Lexington grey in water-brush, A5 – 15 mins
Noodlers Brown 41 in water-brush and Bad Blue Heron in fountain pen and water-brush, A5 – 15 mins
Following the weeds, here are some more urban plants around Bath… Monochrome foliage on a Japanese Maple, ‘sticky weed’ amongst nettles (including initial line drawing), and a couple of attempts at ivy (the last one using a dried up marker pen and tea).
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, A5 – 30 mins line, 30 mins shading
Pigma 1mm pen, Lexington grey in water-brush, A5 – 40 mins
Noodlers Brown 41 in fountain pen and water-brush, dilute Namiki blue ink in water-brush, A5 – 30 mins
Marker pen, black tea, A5 – 20 mins
Back in Cordoba, this time inside the Mezquita. The first sketch is an attempt to describe the famous forest of columns, mostly inhabited by tourists; as the columns recede in all directions it feels slightly like being in an Escher drawing or a hall of mirrors. Then there’s a collection of carved stone faces on a tomb. And finally some very fast drawings of visitors photographing the lofty nave (incongruously inserted into the mosque in the C16th); they’d walk in, point a device, shoot, and leave, all in about 30 seconds, job done!
Pigma brown/sepia pen, Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, Noodlers Brown 41 in water-brush, watercolour, all A5 – 20-30 mins each
Enough of cars, here are some scooters, motorbikes and bikes seen around Bath. The curvy scooters are a real joy to sketch, toy-like with tiny tyres and complicated engine parts discretely covered (but the tilted oblique wheels are tricky…). The floating blue bike on the left of the last sketch was removed before I could draw the wheels!
All the usual inks and pens, water-colour, some pencil, mostly A5 – various times
More sketches of street-parking in Bath, ignoring the buildings, just strings of cars snaking up, down and around the contours (previously). Cars are ubiquitous, a familiar part of urban scenes, so I’ve been trying to get them right; the angle of the wheel arches seems key, and it’s important to make the shadows underneath the cars strong to help ground them. Reflections on the windows and shiny body-work next!
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, Platinum Blue and Noodlers Brown 41 in water-brush, white gouache, A5 – 40 mins each
Mostly drawing 