Day 1
Using Midori as my sketchbook. The paper is great for most media and I carry it with me everywhere as it’s my diary – so no excuse not to do at least one drawing a day!
Day 2
My favourite field – part trees, part grass, part freshly tilled earth.
Thought I should give it ago this year….an ink drawing every day for month of October. Interesting challenge to resist the watercolours! So got out my fountain pens, gave them a clean. Then found that my favourite vintage Mont Blanc is broken – the threaded part of the barrel is breaking away – so that one is back in the drawer until I can get it fixed. So I’ve replaced it with a Rotring Art Pen (from one extreme to another!). I now have a range of nibs for both waterproof and non-waterproof ink:
First day of #olympic competition…all a bit boring! So spoldged around with some watercolours in sketchbook.
Messing around with a wide flat brush and splodgy watercolour. Makes painting a bit more abstract. Can’t get bogged down in detail – which for me is perfect. Nectarine and Lime
One of our six Jack Russells, and yes he is called Jack….snoozing after a walk on a hot day.
Couldn’t stand the tension last night so did some doodling to try and take my mind off it all. Only to wake up to the Out vote….what a miserable day.
The longest day of the year and a wander in the warm evening sunshine….
Sitting passing some time at the Senator furniture showroom in London. I’m waiting for the student work to arrive so that we can put their end of year exhibition up. It’s raining outside, and everyone is feeling a little damp. I’m sitting in one of the comfy felt booths, with coffee and sketchbook so thought I should put it to use.
Difficult to capture the differences between six Jack Russell mutts….Mona and Smudge
Went out this morning and these Iris flower heads were lying on the ground. Stems nibbled through by naughty snails (or slugs)! So put them in a glass of water hoping they’ll flower and took the opportunity to draw them. This time in pencil, watercolour, colour pencils and some ink at the end. Really like using colour pencils in this bold scribble way.
He’s frustrated by trying to set up email in an old computer!
Otherwise known as the dog bus in our household – transports six naughty mutts very comfortably! Broad nib Rotring Artpen, Mont Blanc waterproof ink cartridges and a couple of brush pens in A5 Seawhite sketchbook. Took about an hour sitting in the cool windy sunshine.
Such a brilliant idea. A pencil case that stands up and one that’s easy to see what’s inside.
Any of you out there know the work of Jonathan Twingley? I’m in need of new ideas and insights so decided to take an online klass at Sketchbook Skool. Mr Twingley is one of the fakulty and his klass is an absolute hoot – totally liberating – would highly recommend this for anyone feeling stuck in a drawing rut. These two drawings are obvious mimicry of his work, but doing them was such pure fun – no worrying about getting it ‘right’. Can’t tell you how good they made me feel. Think I’m having an ah ha moment!
end of the tulips on a grey winters day
Struggling with flu. Thankfully a full box of Lemsip is to hand!
New Year, new Twitter header. Thought I’d make my Twitter header all drawings – some buildings, a man, a bottle. After I put it together I realise there isn’t one watercolour – all done in either colour pencil or brushpens…I think it’s telling me something!
Not the first sketch of the year, but one I quite like of the man taking it quietly after New Years Eve. Trying out the sketchbook paper in Midori Traveler’s Notebook. Have to say it is absolutely superb for pen, brush pens, colour pencil and watercolour. Lovely to work on.
One of the locals in our nearby bar….
Had a great afternoon this week with the art group in Cafe de la Gare in Gourville, organised by Lulu Hancock. I go when I can to get a couple of hours of focused drawing time. Our model was Julie the bar owner, who was taking the pose of a Richard Diebenkorn painting. We were all working in different media and I chose to try and develop my use of brush pens, with a bit of colour pencil.
Decided to work in my sketchbook as that’s where I feel happiest at the moment – and these were just experiments. It’s a large (250 x 250) chunky Seawhite of Brighton book which is so forgiving for most media. The paper is heavy cartridge and takes wet media well and these Pentel Brush pens.
I managed to get a few drawings done – all quite quick, probably no longer than 15-20 minutes. No pencil set up, just Lamy Safari EF, and Lamy Joy F. The background is grey brush pen smudged with my finger whilst wet, as is the orange bag. Julie’s purple sweater is colour pencil. I’ve also used a black pentel brush pen for the darkest darks.
Drawing Julie above, I added more colour pencil to the brush pen which I think works really well – adds some texture. The brush pens are great for getting some strong tone down and for making the subject ping by filling the negative space around them. The colour pencil is good for adding detail and texture.
Then I decided to draw the drawers, which was quite easy as they were so focused on their own work that they weren’t moving around much either!
No page is wasted – just a few more to go and this sketchbook will be finished…
This is the equipment that I used…
The three brush pens on the right are Pentel, and are my favourites. By squeezing the body of the pen you can get more ink into the brush so can saturate the paper, and the brushes are very flexible. You can also buy refills for them. The next two (blue and ochre) are Tombow and are ok, but the brush is more rigid and you can’t control the flow. Next is the black Pentel brush pen which I love (again, refillable). The two fountain pens in the front are both Lamy – Safari with EF nib and Joy with F nib. The colour pencils in the plastic bag are a mixture of several makes. The Pentel brush pens come in a limited range of colours and they are all pretty punchy, the Tombow range of colours is much larger and more subtle.
Messing with colour pencils while watching the Rugby World Cup Final. Not convinced about them, but therapeutic to be colouring in! Much less stressful than watercolour but prefer the results of watercolour…..
Used to hate Marmite. Love it now. And the jar is great to draw! A lazy Sunday morning breakfast.
This is a quick test of bright colour brush pen as base colour then working colour pencil on top. Really like the vibrancy that comes through especially if I use a complementary colour pencil on top.
So a couple of drawings that are sort of trying this out but think I wasn’t brave enough with the colours. To be developed!
Poursac Church – platinum carbon pen and brush pens. The church is lovely and has a timber shingle tower. Trying to finish up my small Fabriano sketchbook.
This is one very unhappy man! He couldn’t believe that England threw the match away! Lamy Joy pen with brush pens grey, brown, black – in Fabriano Classic Artists Journal (toned Ingres paper)
Loving the mop brush I bought recently. Makes life very splodgy! No control and loads of water makes for loose painting
I’ve been getting bored with my usual watercolour palette. Partly due I think to having too many choices in it. So I’ve created another box, from a simple Muji plastic box, with just eight colours – three of which are greens. I’ve never ever used a ready mixed green in a palette but I’m starting to do more landscapes and thought it might make life a little easier to include a few.
In the box the colours look quite dull, but on paper they absolutely sparkle. The only problem is there are a mixture of makes – Daniel Smith (the two full size pans), Winsor and Newton, and Sennelier. I know the names of the DS and W+N paints, but only have a number for the Sennelier ones. But here is a photo of the palette with the info I have on the colours.
My first two sketches with this palette have turned out really well – I’m loving the colour mixes I’m getting. Figs from the garden at the top of the page, and dead yellow roses…
It’s a challenge for sure, but I keep trying. Experimented with a white pen, pentel brush pen and toned paper to try and find a way of drawing lots of people in the distance! I’m finding the more I try to make them not look like people, the more they sort of look like people!
Starting new sketchbook – Kunst + Papier – a gift from my stepdaughter in Berlin. It’s thinner paper than I normally like, so not so good for watercolour, but will just about hold it. Very nice quality paper – natural colour, not bright white with a bit of tooth. So think I’ll use it for more pen and ink, and colour pencil drawings.
It’s been a while since I posted here – had a project on that’s been distracting me. But that’s all sorted now, so back to some sketching which is so nice.
 still life – ink, colour pencil and some water over water soluble pencil
A very tired Bruce – ink with turquoise watercolour
