Mostly drawing

Travel thumbnails #2, trains

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Ed Mostly

You can see so many subjects for a sketch when travelling, but you’re usually moving past too fast for anything detailed… I’ve been trying quick thumbnail sketches when on the move and gouache seems perfect for capturing the basic shapes and colours speeding by. It’s a good test for your dexterity with a portable sketch kit and very good practise for your short-term visual memory!

My first go at these travel thumbnails was from a car a month ago, so here are some from trains, all very small on the page. Airplane thumbnails will follow shortly; planes, trains and automobiles in reverse.

Four rural views near Bath while heading East on the train to London.

Gouache, A6

And four views from the Newport to Chester train, moving through sunshine and rain as I head North. Pre-drawing the window frames helped, along with coloured paper.

Blue Pigma pen, water-brush with Lexington grey ink, gouache, A7?

Posted in from life, gouache, journeys, Lexington grey, sky, trains, travel, weather | Tagged landscape, rain, sky, The Guillemots, thumbnail sketches, train windows, transportation, visual memory | 1 Comment

People watching

Posted on August 17, 2013 by Ed Mostly

Istanbullus sitting, walking, fishing, watching, on the phone, and waiting. Slowly learning to construct figure drawings out of lots and lots of curves.

Fountain pen with carbon ink, Pigma 1mm black pen, water-brush with Lexington Grey ink, A5

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people2

people1

Posted in body, brush pen, from life, Istanbul, line drawing, monochrome, people, sketching, urban, waiting | Tagged curves, figure drawing, fishing, Istanbullus, on the phone, people watching, Richard Hawley, sitting | Leave a comment

Tea please

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Ed Mostly

Some of the many cups of black tea that I enjoyed in Istanbul, in a variety of media. Good practise for drawing ellipses; it’s very obvious when they’re right or wrong…

tea cups1

Posted in cafe, collections, from life, Istanbul, objects, sketching | Tagged black tea, drawing ellipses, ellipses, Istanbul, tea, tea cups, The Rutles | Leave a comment

Tomb, hydrant, B+B

Posted on August 10, 2013 by Ed Mostly

A final group of sketches from Portugal before I get to grips with scanning all the Istanbul pictures…

The tomb of Luis Vaz de Camoes, Portugal’s greatest poet, in Jeronimos Monastery, Lisbon.

Fountain pen with Carbon ink, water-brush with Lexington grey, watercolour, A5

One of Lisbon’s very distinctive fire hydrants, standing on the equally ubiquitous chunky mosaic pavement.

Fountain pen with Carbon ink, water-brush with Lexington grey, watercolour, A5

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The lovely Bed and Breakfast we stayed in in Sintra…

Water-brush with Lexington grey ink, gouache, A5

… and the view of Sintra Palace from our bedroom window. (Interesting to compare with Jean-Christophe Defline’s sketch of the Palace and trying to work out where he was standing/floating to get that view!)

Water-brush with Lexington grey ink, water-colour, A5

Posted in buildings, from life, Lisbon, Portugal, sketching, travel, urban, watercolour sketch | Tagged hydrant, Jean-Christophe Defline, Jeronimos, Luis Vaz de Camoes, Palace, Sintra, Spiritualized, tomb | Leave a comment

Mosques at night

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Ed Mostly

I was in Istanbul during Ramadan which meant the streets, squares and mosques were busy till late at night, with families breaking their day’s fast and socialising. I could wander around the centre of the old town as part of a festive crowd. The coloured paper and white marker pens worked well for low light sketching.

mosques at night3

The Blue Mosque isn’t, but it is here. It has a beautiful cascade of domes and a lovely arcade running around the main courtyard.

White marker pen, water-brush with Lexington grey ink, gouache, A5

mosques at night2

The Suleymaniye Mosque, with picnicking groups and a Ramadan message written in bulbs suspended between two of the minarets. The mosque is positioned on a high terrace with great views across the Golden Horn to Galata and beyond.

White marker pen, black 1mm Pigma pen, water-brush with Lexington grey ink, gouache, A5

mosques at night1

The Atik Ali Pasha Mosque, and older and smaller mosque near the Grand Bazaar, sketched in a hurry, the single minaret and artificially lit trees dramatic against the night sky. The perspective went a bit wonky as I craned my head upwards.

White marker pen, gouache, A5

Posted in buildings, from life, Istanbul, line drawing, monument, night, urban, white marker pen | Tagged architecture, Atik Ali Pasha, Blue mosque, Dobie Gray, minaret, mosques, night time, Ramadan, Suleymaniye | Leave a comment

Steep street

Posted on August 8, 2013 by Ed Mostly

Looking up a street near the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, next to the entrance to the seventeenth century Valide Han or caravanserai on the right. It was a Sunday and most of the shops were closed, with shutters down. The Han was also closed, but although the big gates were locked several traders slipped in and out through the small wicket gate. I sat on the narrow pavement, watching the strong shadows creep across the road and the occasional lost tourist wander past.

I used a mark on the road at eye level (Bassoons! French horns! Beige polo-necks!) as the fixed centre point for all my estimates of distances and angles etc. It took me a while to realise it was a piece of litter and was being moved by the breeze…

Black Pigma 1mm pen, water-brush with Lexington grey ink, and a tiny bit of watercolour, A5

Posted in buildings, from life, Istanbul, Lexington grey, monochrome, sketching, travel, urban | Tagged caravanserai, Grand Bazaar, street scene, Valide Han, Van der Valk, wicket gate | 1 Comment

Jet set

Posted on August 3, 2013 by Ed Mostly

My view on the way to Turkey, about 5 miles high, somewhere over France. I spent 6 days in Istanbul, mostly sketching, which was a great luxury. So lots to scan and post over the coming weeks, including lots of lovely gouache and white and grey marker pens on coloured paper…

Blue Pigma pen and gouache, A5

And here’s the plane I flew in, waiting at Heathrow airport.

Brown Pigma pen, water-brush with Lexington grey ink, A5

Here’s a similar view from my trip to Istanbul last year.

Posted in airplane, clouds, from life, gouache, Istanbul, journeys, Lexington grey, monochrome, travel | Tagged airport, sky, The Kinks | Leave a comment

Londoners

Posted on July 25, 2013 by Ed Mostly

19 of the thousands of people I saw yesterday in a very hot London. Sketched in cafes, train stations and the passport office where I was getting my passport renewed at extremely short notice ready for a return trip to Istanbul tomorrow…

Fountain pen and water-brush with Lexington grey ink, blue and brown Pigma pens, A6

Posted in from life, Lexington grey, monochrome, people, sketching, urban, waiting | Tagged cafe, London, pigma pens, profiles, station | 1 Comment

Brock Street

Posted on July 21, 2013 by Ed Mostly

Late afternoon, looking down Brock Street while sat under one of the huge plane trees in the centre of the King’s Circus, Bath. There’s a red sight-seeing bus heading towards towards the Royal Crescent, and a delivery van parked up on the pavement. Britain’s enjoying a heatwave at the moment so the grass is parched yellow and people are muttering about the weather.

I’m still enjoying experimenting with coloured papers and gouache. Here the brown paper gives a consistent background for the uniform Bath stone buildings, with dilute Lexington grey ink adding the shadows. The unfinished figure reclining bottom right got up and left…

1mm Pigma pen, water-brush with Lexington grey, Gelly Roll white pen, gouache, A5

Posted in Bath, buildings, from life, gouache, Lexington grey, sketching, urban | Tagged architecture, Bath stone, Brock Street, heatwave, Kings Circus, Marthe Reeves, plane treees | Leave a comment

Toy museum

Posted on July 19, 2013 by Ed Mostly

A couple of sketches from the wonderful and surprisingly large Toy Museum in Sintra, Portugal. The museum houses the personal collection of João Arbués Moreira, who was there on the day we visited, keen to chat about his favourite exhibits and explain why some were so rare (especially the Nazi era toy soldiers which were understandably mostly destroyed after the war).

sintra_0007