Tag Archives: brush-pen sketching

Heading North…

All packed for four days of sketching indulgence at the USk Manchester Symposium, which starts tomorrow. I’ve done a few final brush-pen sketches about town (thumbnails of street-scenes and quick portraits of passers-by) in rehearsal for my demonstration, and have finished sourcing … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, brush pen, figures, ink brush, Manchester Symposium, people watching, street scene, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Groups and crowds

After many sketches of individuals and couples about town here are some attempts at drawing crowds and larger groups, trying to catch the body language and brief gestures that help to connect the figures. The first three were sketched from the top … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, brush pen, cafe, comparisons, figures, Inktense, people watching, street scene, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Improving a brush-pen

My favourite media for urban sketching is brush-pen (Inktense pencils a close second), and my favourite brush-pen is the Kuretake #8. It’s the cheapest (direct from Japan here), has great ink-flow (the Pentel is very dry), the brush is springy (firmer than … Continue reading

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Compare and contrast

Recent sketchbook pages of people (and horses) around Bath, drawn with either ink-brush/brush-pen or Inktense pencils; spot the difference! I’m tending to oscillate between these two media, still loving the speed and fluency of the brush for figures, but also the slightly … Continue reading

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Selfies, again

The usual parade of glum and suspicious late night portraits… Sherry says the third one is how I’ll look when I’m seventy! In the second one my mouth is my third hand, holding the extra brush-pen I’m using. By the next one I’d … Continue reading

Posted in brush pen, faces, ink brush, Inktense, self-portrait, technique | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Around Funchal

More from Madeira, three general views around the capital. The first is from a rocky beach (they’re all rocky on Madeira…) near the harbour, buildings crowding the crumbling cliff. Then looking down a central street towards the surrounding hills, cloud … Continue reading

Posted in beach, brush pen, buildings, clouds, coloured paper, holiday, ink brush, Madeira, street scene, urban, urban sketching, white pen | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Park tree

I went to the Botanical Garden to sketch the magnolias again, but it was shut (“Gates will be locked one hour before sunset”). So I sketched a tree across the road instead. Brown ink in a Kuretake #8 for the line … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, botany, brush pen, coloured paper, ink brush, Kuretake, park, trees, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

City life

People about town; waiting for the lights to change so they can cross the road (excellent fast sketching opportunity, the tableau changes every couple of minutes…), watching a busker (the violin playing slack-rope walker I’ve sketched before, see below), dodging … Continue reading

Posted in Bath, brush pen, buskers, figures, ink brush, Kuretake, Lexington grey, monochrome, people watching, shoppers, street scene, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Walking zoom

A sequence of tiny sketches, starting half-a-mile away from Bristol’s St Mary’s Redcliffe church (which Queen Elizabeth I called “the fairest, goodliest and most famous parish church in England”), passing the Thekla boat, and gradually zooming in on the beautiful and unusual moorish doorway and … Continue reading

Posted in Bristol, brush pen, buildings, church, ink brush, sequential, street scene, urban, urban sketching | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Bath Half

Sunday was the annual Bath half-marathon, with great weather helping over twelve thousand runners pace the streets. It’s an amazing and moving spectacle, with a huge variety of people running for lots of different causes, some very personal and some very … Continue reading

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