3 months late, but here’s an update to my daily sketch-kit page…
I’m an Urban Sketcher…
Gallery
Can’t see the wood
A break from Cordoba with some recent tree sketches, rural and urban. The first two are of an old mossy oak in a wood of mostly Scots Pine, done a couple of months apart. Then a tree in Queen’s Square in Bath. It’s hard to know where to stop with trees, the branches keep on branching, smaller and smaller…
PS: On Sunday 26th April there’s a sketchcrawl in Bristol, meeting at 11.30am outside the Arnolfini. Details in the PDF below. Hope to see you there!
Brown Pigma pen, Lexington grey and Noodlers Brown 41 in water-brush, watercolour, A4/A5 – one hour each
Noodlers Brown 41 in fountain pen and water-brush, dilute Lexington grey in water-brush, A5 – 30 minutes
Near the Easter processions…
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 the key lines and gestures that describe an individual, and that capture their relationship with others nearby.
Lines drawn with brown Pigma pen and Lexington grey in fountain pen; dilute Lexington grey, Namiki blue and Noodlers Brown 41 in water-brush for shading, water-colour, A5 – various times
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
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 huge crowds watching and photographing, and the wonderful marching bands.
They slowly processed through the narrow streets of the old town, the Court of Oranges and the Mezquita.
I sketched the crowds while we were waiting, estimating the possible position of the floats, and then drew very fast to catch them as they went by. I managed line drawings on the spot, and added the shade and colour once the procession had passed…
Children rushed out to collect dripping wax from the long candles carried by the ‘Nazarenes/penitents’. The pointed hoods are hard to see out of, hence the hand held up to the face, pushing the fabric back.
Pencil, ink, paint, A5 – various times
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
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 religious floats, big marching bands, massive crowds…). In the meantime here’s mid afternoon in the shade of the Court of Oranges, and evening sun on the minaret/bell tower of the Mezquita, the mosque/cathedral in the centre of Cordoba.
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour, A5 – 45 minutes
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
68 feet
Commenting on my recent cafe sketches Chris said “How about a focus on feet and shoes for your next post? They drive me mad, and can make or break a quick sketch.” Be careful what you wish for…
Here are all the feet I could sketch in 20 minutes (just the lines, I added the ink wash later) while sat in a cafe near the counter. These are the customers waiting to place their orders, fidgeting impatiently, but holding still just long enough for some serious shoe gazing. 
These are different views of a plaster copy of (Michelangelo’s) David’s left foot. 
Here’s a clay sculpture of a sinewy foot by Sherry.
And finally a selection of feet in Hokusai’s manga; lots of sandals and strong calf muscles! 
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour, A5 – a few minutes for each foot/shoe?
Posted in brush pen, cafe, coloured paper, Feet, from life, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, objects, sculpture, sketching, urban
Tagged cafe sketching, collection of feet, drawing feet, fountain pen sketch, Hokusai manga, ink sketches, Michelangelo's David, Ride, sketching sculpture, sketching shoes, urban sketching
10 Comments
Japanese shrines
Four shrines in Japan, where many of the statues wear red bibs (‘yodarekake‘), placed on them as a sign of devotion and usually faded to a soft pink in the sun and the rain. The second sketch is looking down one section of the many miles of vermillion ‘torii’ avenues at Fushimi Inari-taisha in Kyoto. The third is at a shrine next to the huge fish market in Tokyo, soon to be relocated; I love the fox spirits’ mischievous and slightly sinister expressions. The 2 figures next to the statue in the final sketch were done as a challenge while riding the Bullet Train; they’re passengers waiting on the platform, and the train only stops for 90 seconds in any station so sketches had to be very fast!
torii
Lexington grey, Brown 41 and Bad Blue Heron in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour, various sizes – various times…
In the kitchen
More late night monochrome sketches, this time corners of the kitchen. In the first sketch I was drawn to the way that strong overhead light made shadows wrap around the apples. In the second one it was the tilted ellipses in the collection of bottles and jars. Working without colour I take more care over line, tone and shade; it’s all there is!
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, white gouache, A5 – 25 minutes
Posted in coloured paper, from life, fruit, grisaille, kitchen, Lexington grey, line drawing, monochrome, objects
Tagged domestic scenes, drawing ellipses, drawing jars and bottles, drawing shadows, fruit sketch, kitchen sketches, line and tone, monochrome sketching, overhead light, Peter Gabriel, sketching with fountain pen
1 Comment
Cafe life
People watching in cafes, mostly this year in Bath, but the last one’s from Istanbul a couple of years ago when I was using a marker pen. If you can get a good table a cafe’s a great winter sketching location; strong light sources, sheltered, fairly still subjects, and good coffee. I’ve been finding shoes tricky to get right; there’s something very odd about the angles of the sides of the soles…
Lots of media, including the inevitable Lexington grey, mostly A5 – various times
Posted in Bath, cafe, clothing, coloured ink, coloured paper, figures, from life, Istanbul, Lexington grey, line drawing, marker pen, monochrome, people, urban, waiting
Tagged Bath cafes, cafe sketching, drawing shoes, fountain pen sketches, Hafiz Mustafa, marker pen sketch, Rolling Stones, sketching people, sketching seated people, urban sketching
6 Comments
Street parking
More cars parked up on Bath streets. I didn’t use the acetate grid for these, but did have to work hard to get the relative size of the receding cars correct, to see what was there and not what I thought I could see. In the first picture I’m looking down the hill, but the cars still rise up the page! Here’s a short article about ways of seeing.
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour, A5 – 30 minutes each
Posted in Bath, cars, from life, Lexington grey, line drawing, sketching, street scene, urban, vehicles
Tagged Bath street sketch, drawing a street scene, drawing of line of cars, drawing what you see, fountain pen sketch, Public Enemy, receding cars, relative size, sketching cars, urban sketching
10 Comments
Mostly drawing 