A glass of milk, mugs of tea, and a glass of water; late night drink sketches (more here). I’m still fascinated by the way that something so simple can be so tricky to get right; the combination of ellipses, curious lighting effects (the light patches in the glass shadow, internal reflections), and the opacity of the drink. Familiarity with the object makes it obvious when it’s wrong!
Lexington grey in water-brush and fountain pen, gouache, A5 – 30 minutes
I’ve added a new page to the blog, sharing books that are currently inspiring my sketching; the first is Hokusai’s Manga (‘manga’ originally meant ‘light drawings or sketches’). After copying some of his very simple but individual faces (bottom of post) I sat outside a cafe and tried to sketch the faces passing by using a water-brush filled with grey ink. The brush was much faster than a fountain pen as it applies line and shape at the same time. It was very hard to remember all the different aspects of the faces, they were gone in seconds, but very satisfying when it worked (about 1 in 10); great visual memory training! I’ll try whole figures next…
‘Detailer’ water-brush with Lexington grey ink, water-colour, A5 – about 30 seconds for each face…
Drawn at dusk, sat on the bottom steps of The Shrubbery (previously), looking down Harley Street in Bath. My eye was caught by the telephone wires and chimneys silhouetted against the winter sky. I was sorry that I didn’t get round to drawing the amazing overhead cabling in Japan, (see the photo below of a street in Kyoto); ours is very delicate and restrained by comparison!
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour, A6 – 30 minutes
I’m looking forward to more outdoor sketching in Spring, but in the meantime here are some well worn shoes (previously), a phone recharging, utensils hanging in the kitchen, and a bag waiting by the door… Everyday domestic scenes, the stuff of life.
Bad Blue Heron, Brown 41 and Lexington grey inks in fountain pen and water-brush, watercolour for the table-top under the phone, A5 – about 20 minutes each
First there’s Skip, who sat beside me while I sketched people on a beach in Tenby. She was poised and alert, watching a gap in the fence where a rat had just appeared and vanished, but I had to be quick! Then there’s 3 pages of Queenie, my parents’ dog, best drawn when resting. She’s a bit more active in the final set of drawings, sitting up and having a good scratch…
Pencil, fountain pen with Lexington grey, water-brush with Parker blue, Noodlers Brown 41, Bad Blue Heron and Lexington grey, water-colour, A5 – 5 mins per dog
It’s cold and dark outside, but there are always toys to draw…. Here’s Henry (a mild mannered janitor), some Airfix 1:72 scale knights, a Playmobil vulture, a shire-horse, a grass-hopper, and The Thing from the Fantastic Four.
Pencil, Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, Noodlers Brown 41 in fountain pen, water-colour, A6 – 10-30 minutes each
…than the sword. A quick post following the Paris attack where people were killed for publishing offensive cartoons, for drawing pictures that other people didn’t like. This was a direct attack on freedom of expression, and the right to challenge and mock authority.
“Though the self-righteous have killed satirists they will never annihilate satire itself. Just the opposite. From now on Charlie Hebdo will be the rallying point for all those who cherish life and laughter over the death cult of sanctimonious gloom”- Simon Schama.
“You don’t need blood to deal with despots – whatever their politics, whatever their religion: just laugh these murderous clowns back into the dustbin of history”- Martin Rowson.
The usual three inks in fountain pen and water-brush, and a touch of white ink for the nib, A5 – 30 mins
The large numbers of tourists visiting Bath means that it is blessed with many good street entertainers, excellent models for a quick sketch, and mostly fine performers. So here’s another collection of buskers, this time including one I saw in Japan. From the top there’s Kwabana Lindsay, a violin playing slack-rope artist who’s been performing in Bath, and around the world, for 28 years! Then Khoomiiman, a Japanese player of Mongolian music who I saw in a park in Kyoto; he was playing the horse-headed morin khuur to accompany his khoomi throat singing. Followed by several regular Bath buskers all seen on one Saturday afternoon before Christmas; Benji Ross playing the sax, Joel Grainger who plays looped violin, and Ben Powell who I’ve sketched several times before. Finally Ben, again.
The usual inks in fountain pen and water-brush, white roller-ball, watercolour, A6 – about 20 minutes each?
(Ten hyperlinks, no, eleven! A new record…)
The most popular posts and pages on this blog are generally concerned with kit and resources, as are most of the questions that I’m asked through comments and emails. This is great as I set up the blog after realising how vital the internet was in getting me sketching, helping me find out how other sketchers were working and the equipment they used. So I’ve added a new page to the blog, describing my current favourite sketch kit, the one I carry every day. I’ll update it monthly-ish as I change inks, find new pens, take up urban-knitting etc (The more detailed background information on how I chose from the huge range of paints, papers, pens etc is still on the blog under ‘sketching kit’.)
Welcome to 2015! This blog started two years ago and now gets about 50 visitors a day, so many thanks for your ongoing interest in my hobby. After sketching every day for almost four years I’ve settled to a particular set of resources, mostly fountain pens and dilute ink in water-brushes, and recurring themes are becoming clearer (my left hand, toys, the unsuspecting general public about the city, skulls, my left hand again). But change is good so this year you can brace yourselves for some self-portraits (shudder…), more use of different brushes, and I’ll try to do some more generally urban sketches, not just people sat on benches but also their surroundings. I aim to carry on posting about twice a week (always including a musical hyper-link) and suggestions for posts/themes are welcome. So in the spirit of new beginnings here is my right hand in the first sketch of the year.
Lexington grey in fountain pen and water-brush, Noodlers Brown 41 and Bad Blue Heron in water-brush, A6 – 10 minutes
Mostly drawing 