The longest day of the year and a wander in the warm evening sunshine….
colour pencil
Copper lamps
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.
Dogs
Difficult to capture the differences between six Jack Russell mutts….Mona and Smudge
Snail ate my Irises
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.
Twitter Header
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!
Brush pens and people
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.
Colour Pencils
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…..
My mate Marmite
Used to hate Marmite. Love it now. And the jar is great to draw! A lazy Sunday morning breakfast.
Brush pens and colour pencil
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!
Christmas colour pencil
I realise I haven’t even posted my Christmas drawings – so here are a few – only three months late!
Trusty suitcase
I seem to spend a lot of time with this suitcase at the moment. It’s travelled on Ryanair and Eurostar more than any suitcase has a right to! But it does it’s job and is fun to draw on the Stansted Express..
The harvest – colour pencil
Driving home from a “tasting” market in La Rochefoucauld. The maize looks dead, perfect for harvesting. The combine harvesters are out in force like prehistoric monsters eating it all up. And the grain silos are waiting to receive it all. Boiling hot day – weird for October….
Broken barn window
Colour pencil and pen sketch in sketchbook
Fruit bowl – colour pencil drawing
Wobbly fruit bowl wedding present filled with fruit. Colour pencil in sketchbook.
Sketch tagine pots
Mini tagine pots – a memory of Morocco. Pen and colour pencil in sketchbook
Riad rooftop drawing
Sitting in the rooftop garden of the Riad in Marrakesh, Morocco – one of the many drawings from my trip earlier this year. It was hot, so hot, with the call to prayer echoing around, and the hushed but busy sounds of the city. Colour pencil, A4 size – double page spread.
Barbican construct
The Barbican in London is one of my favourite brutal buildings. This drawing is in colour pencil and pastel A3 size.
