Mostly drawing

“…through the square window”

Posted on August 25, 2017 by Ed Mostly

Apologies for the lack of recent blog posts; we’ve welcomed a Schnoodle puppy into our home and posting on Facebook better suits my sleep-deprived attention span… But I have managed to make a new batch of sketchbooks; they’re still bound in super-light plywood, and are even bigger than previous versions (they don’t fit on the scanner, hence the oddly lit sketches below…), and they’re now square. Instagram abandoned the square a couple of years ago but I’m enjoying working inside this new shape after years of using the usual rectangle. The square echoes Polaroids, and my first experience of photography using a Kodak Instamatic; it also means one less choice to resolve before getting down to sketching (landscape? portrait? nope). I’m finding the square a more ‘democratic’ shape for composition, it encourages me to use the full frame, and also seems to lead to wider angle vision. But I was leaning towards these approaches anyway, and maybe the increased size of the page is what matters, so who knows?! Here’s a set of recent square sketches, all in bamboo dip-pen (another decision already made before I settle to drawing); let me know if you spot any patterns. They’re certainly easier to arrange in a grid…

I’ve also been looking for discussions about the reasons for choices between landscape/portrait/square formats in drawing/sketching/art and couldn’t find much. There were a few articles related to the ‘golden section’, and some on photography, focussing (ho ho) on sensor shapes etc. These led to interesting descriptions of the human visual field and how we perceive the space around us. Plenty to ponder…

Screen-Shot-2015-10-21-at-4.45.00-PM-1q7dxqi colin ware information visualisation visual_field

Posted in bamboo dip pen, Bath, comparisons, line drawing, sketchbooks, square, street scene, technique, urban, urban sketching | Tagged bamboo dip pen sketches, human visual field, sketching formats, sketching in Bath, square sketchbooks, The Who, urban sketching | 9 Comments

Compare and contrast…

Posted on August 2, 2017 by Ed Mostly

I love the way urban sketching explicitly celebrates the different ways we respond to a location. Here’s an example from Monday when I had the opportunity to sketch in Bath with Gary Yeung (a member of the USK Hong Kong group who’s visiting the UK), and local sketcher Jim (who shares his artistic explorations and discoveries here). It was raining, again, so we sheltered in the Abbey and settled to sketch for an hour in our various ways…

I sat right at the back and focussed on drawing the many visitors, who were draped over, leaning on, and sitting in the pews. I was using a bamboo dip-pen in a large sketchbook, looking for the key expressive lines that described the figures as simply and speedily as possible. I added the colour when I got home, and the overall effect is ‘cartoony’; Jim thought so too and later added some speech bubbles…

P1270831 ed-graphic-novel

Jim also drew figures, but used pencil in a small Moleskine. He worked on capturing tone alongside the more subtle shapes and structural lines. Jim’s sketches are careful studies that also carry enough information to inform future works; I think they reflect the time he has spent researching and experimenting with technical aspects of drawing and painting. abbey-sketching-20170731 (1) Gary focussed on the building, capturing the height and light of the interior space. He used very light pencil to plan the composition, then worked confidently in watercolour, followed by black pen to build and focus the darker elements of the sketch; the complete opposite to my usual sequence (ink lines, then paint). Figures appear as outlines framing white space, giving scale but allowing the building to speak for itself. 20476148_1106238929477515_2309508500798312584_n

I love seeing how other people sketch the world, and hope I can continue to learn by enjoying the diverse results, both online and in person. Thanks to Gary and Jim for a great afternoon! 20597957_10155762890440676_1146073588_o-1

Posted in bamboo dip pen, Bath, comparisons, pencil, technique, urban, urban sketching | Tagged Bath sketching, Gary Yeung, sketching in Bath Abbey, sketchtesting.co.uk, The Suzan, urban sketching, urban sketching techniques | 3 Comments

‘Busy busy world’

Posted on July 23, 2017 by Ed Mostly

Reaping the benefits of good weather by indulging in my default sketching mode: people watching. Bath is blessed by a huge variety of visitors from around the world adding to the interest. I’ve been trying to focus on crowds, groups and collections of people interacting as they seem to be a key part of the urban experience, looking for ways to merge their forms when possible. But some individuals are too interesting too ignore! So here are 27 sketches in all the usual media, mostly posted on Facebook over recent weeks; click on the image and you can see the full uncropped version…

Posted in bamboo dip pen, Bath, collections, figures, people watching, street scene, urban, urban sketching | Tagged Bath street sketch, Public Image Limited, sketching groups of people, sketching in Bath, sketching people, urban sketching | 5 Comments

Some fillums…

Posted on July 2, 2017 by Ed Mostly

Trying out timelapse sketching, using this goose-neck camera mount and this type of GoPro camera (when it was even cheaper!) which has a 170 degree very wide-angle lens. The films are fun to do, and an interesting way to reflect on your sketching process/approach/bad habits etc. The top one was done using a new ‘Franken-pen’ which combines a bamboo dip-pen at one end, and a water-brush at the other; I can dip both into the ink-pot (top right) for line and tone with minimal disruption to the ‘flow’ of drawing. Ridiculous looking, but it seems to work well!

First, a busy Sunday afternoon by Bath Abbey…

arnos vale (26).jpg

Second, a busy afternoon at the Roman Baths…

arnos vale (25)

Posted in bamboo dip pen, Bath, dip pen, from life, people watching, street scene, timelapse, urban, urban sketching, waterbrush | Tagged bamboo dip pen sketches, film of urban sketching, Franken-pen, sketching process, Teenage Fanclub, timelapse of sketching, urban sketching | 10 Comments

A weekend in Birmingham

Posted on June 27, 2017 by Ed Mostly

A few weeks ago I went to the first UK Urban Sketchers meet-up, kindly hosted by the Birmingham/Midlands sketch groups (sketches and reflections from the other participants are here). About 50 of us were there at various times over the weekend, sharing time, chat, sketch-books, kit ideas etc. It was like a very small and relaxed Symposium; no lectures, demos or workshops, so no tickets/costs! Instead we had a series of meet-ups each day at planned locations, introducing (most of) us to central Birmingham, and open to anyone who wanted. Apart from the social side it was very instructive to see other sketchers’ work on paper instead of on a screen, finding out how they’d achieved various effects, and how they chose their subjects. And it was lovely to finally meet online friends like Stuart, chatting about daily practise, considering why we post our sketches on Facebook, ‘next steps’ in our sketching etc. I hope this was just the first of many such UK meetings; any ideas for the next location? Bristol? Liverpool? Glasgow? Here are my sketches from the weekend…

First some ‘urban regeneration’ in progress. It took me a while to realise that the tower crane was hard to draw because it was moving, ‘weather-vaning’ in the wind… P1270730 (2)

Here’s a BBC reporter reporting on a demo. The cameraman told me the camera’s worth £50k, with £10k of that for the transmitter on its back, sending the images directly to the editing suite in the tower block looming in the background! arnos vale_0003 (6)

Stuart and me, sketch in progress, with the cameraman just visible between us. Sorry about the oddly toothy grin… 19029688_380471462347089_8767819441251427777_n Here’s the demo they were reporting on. arnos vale_0002 (7)

A hen party at the bar we all met up in one evening. I had to stop sketching as some of them had spotted me and I was scared of being drawn into their exciting evening… arnos vale (21)

Fellow sketchers and one of the beautiful Burne-Jones windows in the small and light-filled Birmingham cathedral.

And finally sketches from the first evening; my speed-sketch of Isabel speed-sketching me, and Homephoenix Wong.

19059292_1839766923009345_1335420689283729402_n

Posted in buildings, people, urban, urban sketching | Tagged Birmingham sketches, Lloyd Cole, sketch of hen party, sketching tv reporters, UK USk meet up, urban sketching | 11 Comments

‘Things to make and do’

Posted on June 15, 2017 by Ed Mostly

As a sort of late Spring-clean I’ve updated various bits of the blog for your perusal and enjoyment. Most of it’s kit related, but this seems to be the most popular content!

P1270725

‘Daily sketch-kit’ – now includes a couple of my bent-nib fude pens. I’ll do a full post on these soon; there’s much fun to be had with variable line width, and many types/brands/nib-angles to navigate. Here’s Parka Blogs comparison of some of the more popular models to whet your appetite.

51iWFv6o2DL

‘Current inspiration’ – looks at A Chinese Life, full of wonderful high contrast black and white ink-brush drawings.

cbvxcb14

‘Paint’ – includes the opaque watercolours I’ve added to my palette (instead of gouache, which I never warmed to) for sketches on toned paper.

cbvxcb20

Palettes – now has instructions on how I made the latest of many models; it’s lighter than ever, with more and deeper mixing wells and extra opaque colours and won’t be coming to a shop near you soon, so have a go at making one and bespoke it to your hearts content!

Sketchbooks and paper – has instructions for the plywood-covered completely fold-backable sketchbooks, and concertina books. And I’ve removed a couple of book-binding links that had died.

Bamboo dip-pen – has links to nib-improvement and multi-coloured ink-pots.

I’ll probably update the ‘Useful Books’ section next, but let me know if there are other bits that seem a bit dated or if there’s any useful information that you’d like me to add to the blog. Thanks

Posted in bamboo dip pen, concertina sketchbooks, kit, opaque watercolour, sketchbooks, urban sketching | Tagged Gordon Giltrap, portable sketch kit, sketch kit, urban sketching | 6 Comments

A country walk…

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Ed Mostly

Some Springtime rural sketching, mostly colour, with an intense black and white interlude. I’d set off across the fields to sketch Shotwick graveyard with its toppling stones and collapsing tombs, but ended up getting distracted en route, drawing pylons and a shady farmyard… This left only forty minutes to sketch at the church but I think this reduced time helped the final sketches; less is more for sketching?

arnos vale_0002

arnos vale_0001 (6)

arnos vale (8)

Posted in buildings, cemetery, church, farm, journeys, rural, urban sketching | Tagged Mahalia Jackson, Shotwick village, sketch of farmyard, sketches of graveyard, sketching pylons, urban sketching | 10 Comments

More tea vicar?

Posted on May 28, 2017 by Ed Mostly

Sketches from recent visits to the consistently lovely Comins Tea House in Bath. First my multi-tasking daughter; pouring tea, drinking tea, checking her phone, and reading, after delicious matcha ice-cream (apologies to her for the odd shaped hand holding the tea cup…). arnos vale (15)

Then the view loking back towards the entrance on a sunny Sunday near closing time….

arnos vale_0002 (2)

And the debris at the end of afternoon of Ruby Brandy tea and gyoza with sriricha sauce…
arnos vale_0003 (1)

Finally a couple of sketches from previous visits.

arnos-vale arnos-vale_0001

Posted in Bath, cafe, family, urban, urban sketching | Tagged cafe sketches, Comins Tea House, Ruby Brandy tea, sketches of tea drinking, sketching in cafes, The Rutles, urban sketching | 3 Comments

Rear windows

Posted on May 11, 2017 by Ed Mostly

The back of an old terrace of canal-side houses seen from Chester city walls, and a sketch looking right through a house on Camden terrace in Bath. Usually older buildings are more interesting to draw than new (lots of accretions, additions, alterations, patina…), and almost inevitably the best view is the rear view. (Further below others from my growing collection of Bath rear views)

P1270607 arnos vale_0004

Posted in Bath, buildings, drawing buildings, urban, urban sketching | Tagged backs of buildings, bamboo dip pen sketches, Jonny Cash, sketching buildings, sketching in Bath, sketching rear views, urban sketching | 2 Comments

Small world…

Posted on May 7, 2017 by Ed Mostly

A great afternoon in Bath with Susan from Salt Spring Island, BC Canada, sharing approaches and observations on urban figure sketching. Her island’s 7,500km/4,700miles from Bath, but coincidentally she lives 5 minutes away from my mother’s second cousin (whose daughter coincidentally married someone who went to my brother-in-law’s school…). A small world, made smaller, and also bigger, through sketching.

arnos vale (5) arnos vale_0001 (3)