Sketches by Fiz

December postcard

2012-01-21T14:14:00.000+01:00

If there is one word that sums up December for me, it must be 'clutter'. Television cluttered with Christmas ads, the shops are cluttered with more naff things to clutter your house with and everywhere just cluttered with people! I try to ignore it as best I can but the end of the year always ends up cluttering my head too!

Having to do a postcard each month makes you realise how fast months can whizz by if you're not paying attention. December came and went before I could gather my thoughts to make a card. Anyway, my January card has just been sent so I'm now back on track again and able to offload some of the guilt!

Once again, I'm happier with the back than the front! I drew the oak leaf and snail in coloured pencil. On the front, on the left, is a Linden seed (I've become quite fascinated with these seeds and they have featured a few times on the postcards), on the right a gingko biloba leaf, and I have no idea what the leaf in the middle is but I picked it for it's fabulous colour.

November postcard

2012-01-14T14:52:00.000+01:00

I completely forgot to show my November postcard on the blog. Inspiration was very low at the time so I decided to stick to a very simple design and just paint one colourful Virginia Creeper leaf. I used two of my favourite Schminke colours for this, May Green and Translucent Orange but I've forgetten which red - possibly a Sennelier Carmine and then Schminke's Magenta to deepen the edges.

I masked off the borders and sprayed a rectangle background using May Green and splattered over green, red, orange and purple for a speckled effect.

For the back I decorated it with two tiny Maple leaves, drawn life size, from a plant in the garden.

September and October postcards

2011-10-25T18:29:00.001+01:00

Time for a little update on this poor, neglected blog! This is the postcard I sent Martin in Germany, for the month of September. As it was quite hot at the time, I wasn't doing a lot of walking so it seemed more fitting to paint some things from the garden. We had some fabulous little bugs at the time and they were obviously enjoying our delicious leaves so I wanted to include those too.

This is the October card for Vivien in England and I kept it very simple partly because I wasn't feeling very inspired at the time - it seemed to be a lull between all the summer colours disappearing and the autumn colours taking over but the maples were looking lovely.

I haven't been all that happy with the postcards I've produced but I always enjoy adding little sketches to the back and envelope. I'm always late sending my cards off so the snail has become my trademark! I've just finished reading a lovely and fascinating book called The Sound of a Wild Snail Eating by Elizabeth Tova Bailey. Basically a book about illness (the author is bedridden and given a pot of violets with a snail by one of her visitors!) and snails but it makes you thankful for all the basic things we take for granted every single day and a respect for the tiny little things, like snails, we share the world with. Definitely a book to read to keep things in perspective.

Postcard

2011-08-30T13:21:00.002+01:00

This months postcard went to Liz Steel in Australia. I wanted to do something a little different to the usual watercolours so drew these Linden/Lime tree seeds in pencil and the spritzed them with green and blue watercolours. I really wanted it to be more colourful than this but I should have made the image darker because it looked like it was going to be lost if I did any more. It's a technique I'd like to experiment more with though.

My usual snail on the envelope, but this month he is having to hurry as I was sending it off quite late! A hot chocolate on the back of the card because Liz loves tea rooms and cream teas. The hot chocolate had so much cream it has toppled over - it wasn't just a wonky drawing! That was done with coloured pencils because the surface on the back of the paper (Saunders Waterford HP) doesn't take watercolours very well.

Postcard

2011-07-19T09:24:00.000+01:00

This month's postcard went to Robyn, of Have Dogs Will Travel, in Tuscany. The aim of the postcard exchange is to get the postcards out around the end of the month for the next. I had no inspiration at all until the month has nearly gone and I spotted these berries. Then I couldn't wait to get started - funny how inspiration comes and goes so dramatically sometimes.

Most of it is painted with watercolours (Sennelier) on 640gsm Saunders Waterford paper and finished off with some touches of coloured pencil. I used coloured pencil for the border and then gave it a splattered background with the green and purple watercolours.

Now, I think, is the right time to take a little break from blogging and the computer and re-charge the batteries. Thanks very much for visiting!

Sparkling form

2011-07-18T22:25:00.001+01:00

I was totally taken with the colours in this amazing shoe! Now that I've painted it I realise why because when I got out the watercolours to match they were all my favourites. I used all Schmincke's Transparent Yellow, Transparent Orange, Magenta, Brilliant Purple, May Green and Cobalt Turqouise, except for Winsor & Newton Opera Rose. I don't think it's possible to do justice to this shoe to show how it sparkles - maybe the metallic Daniel Smith colours would work? I put down a wash with all the colours first and then drew circles over it with a Luminance Black pencil.

Painted on 640gsm Saunders Waterford HP paper.

Best foot forward

2011-07-16T16:43:00.001+01:00

Oh, how I wish I could say this was mine, but alas, it's only drawn from a photo I took! There is a Christian Louboutin shop in town and I never really took much notice until a couple of weeks ago. It's right across the road from a supermarket I go to and I went over to peer in the window and a couple of them just knocked me out - they are like little works of art!

I had a feeling I should have attempted this in watercolour and now I'm finished I might never pick up a coloured pencil again! It was so frustrating. It's mostly one colour, Polychromos Burnt Carmine with a light layer of Vermilion at one stage - there were a lot of layers! Maybe it was just the way that Burnt Carmine handles but it was like drawing with a wax candle that handled like a piece of chalk. It didn't seem to layer very well and it smudged like mad. To make matters worse, I didn't get the drawing of the studs down properly before I started and worked around them thinking I would tighten them up as I progressed. But then I added a Lyra Rembrandt Black at the stage where it usually makes the details 'pop' but instead they looked wonky and I found that black is impossible to erase, even with my battery powered eraser! I also lost a lot of my white highlights I'd been careful to preserve! I have to say, this shoe was not nearly as much fun to draw as it is to look at!

Polychromos and Lyra colour pencils on Winsor & Newton cartridge paper.

Postcard to Katherine

2011-06-17T09:02:00.000+01:00

This month's postcard was posted to Katherine Tyrrell of Making a Mark. Strangely, I didn't find anything on my walks that I liked more than this dried maple twig. I loved the shape and the subtle colours found in it's leaves.

Most of it was completed with watercolours and then touches of coloured pencil were added to emphasis the greens and yellows and add a little definition to the edges of the background. Then the whole thing was lightly splattered with the various colours (purples and greens) to give it a little more interest. In retrospect, I think I should not have copied one of the leaves so closely and changed it's shape but sometimes you don't see things until they are pointed out so I won't point them out here! I tried removing some of the shapes but the colour was staining so I added a couple instead.

I was actually happier with this quick pencil sketch (of the Jet d'Eau) I put on the envelope. It was fun to do something with just a suggestion of detail and although it was from a photo of mine, I thought this quick technique could be applied to sketching en plein air.

Postcard exchange

2011-05-24T19:40:00.000+01:00

A whole month has gone by since my last post so I think it's time to replace that Easter bunny now! This is the postcard I made for this month for the Postcard from my Walk exchange. I'm still not producing work for my cards that I'm entirely happy with. For some reason the nerves keep getting the better of me so I'm trying to keep the designs fairly simple.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T13:09:00.000+01:00

Happy Easter and thanks as always for hopping over!

Photinia leaves

2011-04-16T17:47:00.001+01:00

As my inpiration was so low for quite a while, I've been drawing and painting on a very small scale - just little things to keep me ticking over. So now I'm motivated again I decided it was time to do something larger for a change. It was only when I'd nearly completed this page that I realised it wasn't going to fit my scanner! My scanner seems to put a pale mist over everything so perhaps this photo is a better representation anyway.

These are Photinia leaves from the little tree in our garden. At the moment it has a lot of new growth on it and the leaves are a soft brick colour. But the older leaves, as they are about to fall off, are a fantastic assortment of vivid red, orange, yellow and green with the most amazing patterns. I think if I only painted Photinia leaves for the rest of my life I'd never lose interest!

I've painted these on Saunders Waterford HP 140lb paper in a spiral bound Fat Pad measuring 28x38cm. I used very few watercolours - Winsor & Newton Alizerin Crimson, Schmincke's Transparent Yellow, Transparent Orange and May Green. Over the top I've added touchs of red, orange, blue and yellow with Lyra Rembrandt coloured pencils. They take beautifully over the chalky watercolours and really intensify the colours. They have to be used carefully though so as not to ruin the effect - they can sit on top and look harsh so they need to be applied lightly and blended in.

Jamie Oliver

2011-04-01T18:46:00.000+01:00

A small sketch in a 6"x6" sketchbook. It felt like ages since I did a portrait or used coloured pencils but I can't believe it's actually been a year! It was lovely to get back to faces - hair, not so much!

I used a combination of Polychromos and Lyra Rembrandt pencils here. The sketchbook is by Green & Stone but made by Seawhite of Brighton and has slightly more tooth than cartridge paper.

Dried fuschias

2011-03-26T13:54:00.000+01:00

It's suddenly become quite warm and sunny here in Geneva but about 2 or 3 weeks ago the first big bumble bees were spotted in the garden. It seemed a bit early since so few things had really flowered. We had left a couple of our hanging fuschias out over the winter, and they had dried mid-flower as it got colder. It was strange to see this year's early bees buzzing around them looking for pollen - I wonder what on earth they made of these strange things!

In a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook using mainly Yellow Ochre and Sepia. The more I looked, the more I noticed that there were hints of the colours they used to be, so there are little touches of Ultramarine Violet and Opera Rose.

Monkey Puzzle seeds

2011-03-13T20:52:00.000+01:00

Monkey Puzzles are one of my favourite trees because they are so unusual and I noticed that they seemed to grow in some very unlikely places. That is until I found out that they were something of a status symbol in Victorian times so you generally only saw them in the gardens or grounds of large houses. There is one growing not too far away from me, in a small park next to a mayor's office, and it was only last week that I discovered what the seeds look like. I picked some up and took them home and then when I Googled for more information, I found out that the trees have either male of female cones so my local tree is in fact a female!

This is a quick little sketch using Winsor & Newton watercolours - mostly Magnesium Brown and Sepia with touches of red and yellow, on Saunders Waterford HP paper.

New shoes

2011-03-03T21:42:00.003+01:00

It's been a while since I drew any of my shoes so I thought it was time they were updated. Styles have changed quite a bit since my last drawing! I loved platforms the fist time round so I'm really pleased to see they are back with a vengence! I like this years big platform/lower heel too so you don't have to break your back trying to walk in them.

Taupe is an interesting colour to try and represent in paint or pencil. I had to mix some yellow, brown and a smidge of red until I got something close. Both of these are painted first and finished with coloured pencil. The black shoe is a mix of Burnt Sienna and French Ultramarine, which gives an interesting granulated effect. I used a black Polychromos pencil over that. The paint gave it a chalky surface which felt nice to draw on and really gripped the waxy pencil. The suede areas of the sandal are painted and then lightly shaded with a Taupe Derwent Artists pencil. The rope effect is drawn with a Warm Slate Grey Lyra Rembrandt pencil with a touch of the taupe pencil. On Saunders Waterford HP paper.

Postcard

2011-02-06T17:36:00.000+01:00

This was going to be my first postcard, or at least these three leaves were to form the basis of it. It's nerve wracking making art for other artists and this second attempt seemed to be going well until I completely ruined it with a horrible border. I quite like the leaves though so I cut them out and scanned them, editing out the edges.

Postcard from my Walk

2011-01-24T17:53:00.000+01:00

I'm taking part in a postcard exchange with some of the fantastic artists on the Sketchercise group. Cathy Gatland, in South Africa created this brilliant logo, above, and you can follow our progress on the new blog at http://walk-postcard.blogspot.com/. Probably goes without saying I'm feeling pretty nervous about this but hopefully it will be less nerve wracking with practice! At the moment, I tend to paint the things - usually leaves - I collect on my walks but I think this will inspire me to come up with other ideas. I know from doing my fabric postcards that the small format is fun to work with and I enjoy the challenge of coming up with different compositions.

Check out the new postcard blog for all the introductions. We'll be sending out the cards this week so the postcards will be appearing on the group blog very soon.

This blog has been very quiet as I took some time out, but now I'm feeling inspired again so I hope to have something to post soon!

Rattling my jewelry

2010-12-10T20:24:00.001+01:00

I thought it would be interesting to do some simple pencil drawing again as it's been so long since I've done one. It was interesting but also time consuming - I'd forgotten just how long these sorts of drawings take in comparison to the coloured pencil and especially the watercolours! It was losing an earring (the little leaf one, bottom centre) that put jewelry on my drawing radar. I've written a more detailed account on my other blog, but the two rings at the top are the two I wear every day (my wedding ring is top left). The two earrings below, centre and left, are favourites that I now cannot wear as I've lost the other one. I'm especially miffed as the one on the left is my all time fave.

These are all silver and fairly recent. The top three are by Olga Ribler. I had an amusing encounter with a sales assistant in Globus when I was buying one of these as she told me they were too young for me! I was speechless - it never occured to me that earrings could be out of bounds to women of a certain age! I bought another pair (in my new profile pic!) but then decided I was going to go back and get them anyway in defiance of her and old age!

The dangly earrings were drawn first and as I got back into my stride I started slowing down and getting more detailed. These were done with an HB. The second drawing, top, was all done with an F pencil which was easier to control, with an HB and 3B for the darkest areas (although my new scanner seems to give everything a cloudy, slightly out of focus look). It was fun, but I think I'm ready for a bit of colour now!

Shattered!

2010-11-03T19:04:00.001+01:00

I'm shattered! It was my favourite cup and now it is no more, shattered too on the kitchen floor! However, it does go to show why drawing everyday things is such a good idea. I'm glad I recorded it while I had the chance.

Two things about this drawing - one that it should have had a shadow. Maybe I will still get around to doing that. Secondly, I never, never, take a photo and convert to black and white to see the values. Odd, perhaps, since I don't have anything against shortcuts but this one, for some reason, is something I feel is just wrong. I think it's up to the artist to dictate how they want the image to appear, and how they want the values. I was though, just this once, almost tempted. Because when I was drawing this, I couldn't decide which of the colours was darker - the teal or the brown. As I was throwing the broken cup away, I thought 'this is the last chance to find out'...but no, I still couldn't bring myself to do it!

I drew both of these in 2006. Funny to think how much life has changed, how much I have changed, since then! I've hardly drunk any tea since then either - I love it, but it doesn't love me! Oh well, the quest for the new one begins and I'll enjoy that!

Turk's Turban

2010-11-01T16:08:00.004+01:00

A strange name and a strange looking object. This is actually an edible squash - although I seriously doubt this one is now, given how long I took over it! I started it a few weeks ago but I've been in the grip of a quilting bug so I put it to one side while I was sewing. I had a plan to move my watercolours into Paul's room while he was at university and keep the quilting and painting separate, but that didn't work out. Paul's room is very cold this time of year so eventually, after putting one of my quilts together, I brought the paints back into my messy room. It may be a little too bright, being south facing, but at least it's warm during the day, and bearable!

This was painted on Saunders Waterford paper, which is my favourite, but not the Fat Pad this time but a block. I don't know if it's just me being very picky, but the two papers seem quite different. The paper in the Fat Pad seems smoother and this has just a touch more grain. I didn't mind this except for the shadow which I wanted to have a smoother look.

I mostly used only four colours here - Schmincke's Translucent Yellow and Translucent Orange, and Sennelier's Cadmium Red Light and Sap Green. I used Sennelier's Manganese Violet mixed with a little French Ultramarine for the shadow and then I added some touches with Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils just to enhance the top and the bumpy surface and smooth the shadow.

Sycamore seeds

2010-09-21T12:30:00.000+01:00

I spotted these seeds on the ground by our post box a few days ago. I was really struck by the colours but also the fact that I'd never noticed how beautiful they were before now. How did I not notice for the last couple of years?!

I seem to gravitate more towards my little palette of Senneliers when I'm painting plants. It's a botanical set that I saw Billy Showell writing about in a magazine and available from Artifolk (here). I've squeezed them into pans and have them in a little palette so I've found them very convenient. I particularly like their Sap Green (I also like Schmincke's Sap Green too), Cadmium Red Light and Cadmium Yellow Light, they mix and handle so well. I used Carmine Genuine from this set with a little Manganese Violet to darken the edges and enhance the pink. There is a touch of Cadmuim Yellow Orange to warm up the yellow areas - a very light wash - and Winsor & Newton Sepia for the darker brown areas.

The shadow gave me the greatest trouble - as usual! - as it has to be smooth and fade out. That takes a bit of experience and for me at the moment, that's a bit hit and miss. I used Neutral Tint (W&N) which stains, mixed with a touch of Manganese Violet and it was a bit blotchy. I should really go for non-staining colours and mix to suit rather than go for that 'one size fits all' tint!

I haven't had any problems with the Moleskine watercolour paper before, but I did notice a tiny area where I'd pulled out some colour took off some of the surface and it reacted like blotting paper. I guess it doesn't withstand too much abuse, something to remember in the future because I do like this paper.

Fig

2010-09-17T18:30:00.000+01:00

I had a very long break from drawing and painting as my mind was on other things. I wonder how some artists talk of life and art as if they are two separate things when surely what happens in your life influences your art?

After a period of mulling things over I thought I'd do some little thing to get me going again, something symbolic. This represents something I no longer 'give a fig' about, something I wasted too much energy on. It certainly did the trick - I felt much better afterwards!

This was done on my favourite Saunders Waterford HP paper using Sennelier watercolours. I added a little white gouache for the highlight.

Eats, sleeps and leaves

2010-07-05T09:04:00.000+01:00

A collection of leaves from the garden with resident snail - who woke up and took off as I was painting him! Saunders Waterford HP paper.

Chinese Jasmine leaves on Moleskine watercolour paper.

It's still too hot to go out so I've been painting leaves from the garden. It's even too hot to be in my room so I've brought my paints downstairs to the kitchen which overlooks a little patio area. I don't have any real method to write about, but I thought a photo might show how I planned the top page. I played around with leaves on the page to work out a composition - I changed my mind after painting the first leaf and one of my 'references' shrivelled up overnight! I have another pad alongside to try out colours and mixes. Also here I worked out which colours to put down first and which to use as a wash on top. I then tried combinations of colours for the shadows - oranges, purples and blues - and settled on a very dilute Neutral Tint with some Cobalt Blue. Most of the time I work wet in wet to get some control with the shading and occasionally, for instance when I need hard edges, I paint those drectly and then soften the inner edge with a clean damp brush so that the edge is crisp but fades on the other side. I should really make more notes because even between spreads, I forgot the method I used for the same leaf I painted the day before! I daren't take a break at this stage and do some colour pencils drawings just in case I forget everything!

Birds in watercolour

2010-06-16T10:47:00.001+01:00

I'm a bit behind with my posting as I finally got around to finishing the page of birds I was doing but a migraine got in the way of posting. It also took a while because instead of going with the flow, I was trying to make it something it clearly wasn't - i.e. a sort of nature journal page - and I left it for a few days. Once I decided to just enjoy it and not worry about composition and what sort of birds (!) it was finished in no time.

At least, it feels like no time compared to drawing in coloured pencil. One of the many things I'm beginning to love about watercolour, is how very dark I can go in such a short time. Unlike coloured pencil, which I have to build up in many layers and eventually it reaches a point where the paper will take no more, I can get close to the darkest value in just two or three washes. I don't have to worry about it looking waxy and uneven as the pencils are inclined to do.

With the Bowerbird, top right, I thought I'd try and make black from other colours but I couldn't get a dark enough mix. So I went over that with black (I use Winsor and Newton Ivory Black or a Schmincke black I've forgotten the name of) and then I put a light wash of brown over that which gave it a more realistic look - which of course is completely lost during scanning!

Something else I love about watercolour - and a surprise to me - is that I really enjoy the fact that you have to leave things to dry. I like to get up and walk away as this happens which I think is good practice for me. I'm inclined to 'faff about' with pencil, touching up here and there, thinking things over, whereas the act of getting up and walking away enforces a certain discipline. I like that watercolour dances to it's own tune. It seems to be a gentle rhythm too, which suits me just fine.

Kingfisher

2010-05-27T21:38:00.000+01:00

A kingfisher painted from a photograph taken in Australia -sadly these colourful birds are not common around Lake Geneva! I think I may have to accept my fate and give in to the fact that my precise style is going to take over with the watercolours too. This was intended to be a sketch and became much more realistic than I was aiming for!

I would have thought it easier to make things look realistic with pencils but doing this little watercolour sketch made me think twice about that. I'm not sure that I could have got those same dark values with pencil without a lot of layering. On the head I used Sennelier's Ivory Black which seemed to go on very dark in one layer - not wishy washy like some blacks can be. On the wings, I used Cobolt Blue, Indigo and Ivory Black and on the underside, a little Yellow Ochre and Cadmium Yellow Orange.

The main lesson I learned from this one was that I need to plan my painting more carefully and work out beforehand what effect I'm going for and how to achieve it to save time in the long run. Masking fluid was used for the eye and the lights on the feathers but a little more care on the latter would have saved me having to work on those to make them less obvious. On the positive side though, I have learned how much patience is needed and how important it is to wait between layers and leave things alone until absolutely dry. Even - and especially - when things go wrong!

Turnip in watercolour

2010-05-11T13:25:00.005+01:00

I've taken a complete break from drawing in order to concentrate on improving my watercolours. It would have been easy to keep drawing and keep the blog updated but I've never been very good at doing two things at once and I knew if I didn't give 100% of my attention to watercolours it would go on the back burner, yet again, for a year or two.

Of course, it's going to take years to feel in any way comfortable with watercolours but my being able to post something here and feel reasonably OK about it is a pretty major improvement for me! It's a combination of drawing from life and using Billy Showell's DVD (Fruit & Vegetable Portraits)to follow which colours to mix and how to put them on. Her turnip was a lot darker, more purple than mine, which was more pink with a yellow tinge so I had to add some colours of my own too. Initially though, I followed her advice to use a mix of Winsor & Newton French Ultramarine and Quinacridone Magenta and a touch of Cadmium Yellow Pale for the main colour, and for the green shoots, a mix of Cadmium Yellow Pale and Winsor Blue Green Shade. After that I deviated as my turnip was a lot more yellow and used a very pale wash of Yellow Ochre and after that dried a little Neutral Tint as the shade underneath it had a 'dirty' grey look to it. I added a little red to the base of the shoots as a shadow and to make them blend in. I took the Yellow Ochre down the root and blended it in to Neutral Tint.

I stopped as I wasn't too sure how to improve it - not because it couldn't be improved but because I don't yet have the techniques or the finesse with the paintbrush! I can see it needs quite a bit of refining, although I'm not going to fuss over this particular painting but keep up the practice and hopefully that will come.

New pages

2010-03-22T19:13:00.004+01:00

I have a few ideas for new pages which I will add gradually. I've posted the first 'Art materials' so visitors can see at a glance what pencils and paper I use. I may tweak them over time. Feel free to comment, criticise or make suggestions!

A new drawing!

2010-03-19T08:39:00.001+01:00

Yes, Raymond Blanc may well look surprised! After such a long slump, I'm surprised I haven't forgotten how to draw! I thought he'd be a fitting subject as he's been inspiring me with his TV show Raymond Blanc's Kitchen Secrets. Taking a complete break from drawing and doing other creative things has been really beneficial.

After a long break, and especially with not drawing on white paper for a while, you forget all the shortcuts and you're open to learning anew. I started off here in the same way I would a drawing on brown paper - with Derwent pencils and a loose scribbly technique but had to quickly adjust. After a layer of Derwent Gold Brown and a bit of Rose Pink, I went back to my Lyra pencils as they just seem to work better with cartridge paper. (Could well be my imagination so don't take this as a fact!) Back with my favourite, Venetian Red, but there is a lot of Burnt Ochre, a bit of Cinnamon, Magenta and Warm Slate Grey (gosh, this sounds like a recipe!). A dash of Derwent Smalt Blue in the background and a big slug of Luminance Black for the hair. The hair I'm not happy with as the Luminance pencils are waxy and not so easily manipulated. I used tissues and tortillons on the skin but I had to keep layering the black. It wasn't working at all so I just went for coverage rather than detail.

Drawn on Winsor & Newton cartridge paper.

New template

2010-03-12T08:04:00.003+01:00

Funnily enough, I was on my other blog last night changing the header because I thought it was looking a bit tired. Then I saw that Katherine, of Making a Mark had posted some links on Twitter regarding Blogger's new templates. What a coincidence! I think these ones are much more 'me'! But what do you think - are they OK on the eyes? Initially Sketches by Fiz had a black background which I quickly changed to a dark grey. Even so, I still felt it needed to be a shade lighter but I couldn't find the exact thing I had in mind. Oh, but I like this brown, especially with my brown paper portraits!

Anyway, I'm still feeling my way around - the posting template and the HTML is different and I'm not sure it will publish the way I like it, but I think I've settled on these two backgrounds - I have a lighter one for Felicity's Philosophies.

Hmm, I think this will inspire me to get drawing again! In the meantime, here is Alex when he was younger looking cute!

How to Draw a Yorkie

2010-01-24T15:17:00.003+01:00

How do you draw a Yorkie? I wouldn't know how to answer that question but strangely it seems to be the no.1 reason people find this blog! It was also why I thought it might be a good idea to re-do an old graphite drawing in colour but I lost interest after a while and put it away. I was rather shocked to see how long that was- the WIP was posted in May last year! Time to finish or bin it!

It looks like it's been done on the same paper as my last few drawings but this one was draw on a larger brown sketchbook made by 'Seawhite of Brighton' and bought in Green & Stone, London. There is quite a difference too - this one is made for drawing on (although it's a bit smooth for my taste) and bits don't flake off the way they do with the paper from Paperchase. (That isn't a criticism since it's intended to be a scrapbook not a sketchbook.)

As for the colours, I'm afraid I threw so many colours at this I can't remember them all. It was looking very dull and I just put colour on with a bit of abandon. I used Lyra Rembrandts and added quite a lot of Grey Green and Brown and Yellow Ochre in the fur on his body. The very lightest highlights are, again, White (Luminance) and after Alex suggested it looked too light I put some yellow over it (he was right!). I have a few new Luminance colours and Raw Ochre went over the white to tone it down a little. (Other brands I have don't mix with the waxier Luminance pencils so I normally put those on last.) I saw a lot of green in his fur so I put that and some blue in too, especially on the darker fur on his back. The background has spots of Lyra - Cobolt Blue, Light Blue, Paris blue, True Green and Sap Green.

Jesse

2010-01-21T18:26:00.003+01:00

Jesse was Sheila's dog (of Idaho Beauty's Creative Journey) and took me quite a while to draw. Not in actual time, but constantly taking breaks from it to see it anew to try and get the likeness right. Having Googled lots of images of black labradors, I realised that Jesse was quite unique (especially her ears!) and therefore even more important I get her right.

I'd love to say that I could see all sorts of colours in her coat, but I'm afraid I couldn't so it is drawn mainly with a Black Luminance pencil. Luminance are quite waxy and normally I don't like them but black in other brands, like Lyra or Polychromos look weak comparatively. I used Polychromos and Luminance greys for the highlights and Luminance white for the lightest parts. Even so, I couldn't get the light in her eye as bright as I wanted so I added some Titanium White watercolour with a tiny point! Some Lyra Light Blue was added in the background and then rubbed off partially with a tissue.

TV sketch in progress

2010-01-05T15:33:00.004+01:00

I think of my other blog, Felicity's Philosophies as the 'why' - why I choose the subjects I do - and this blog as the 'how' - more focused on the materials I use and how. So what better way to start the year than with a 'how to'. More for myself, to be honest, as I have a terrible memory and I forget how I achieved certain effects when I look at old drawings!

So, above, the finished sketch of Alastair Stewart and Saira Khan drawn from Celebrity Mastermind. And below, step one, just getting the outline down lightly on paper. I used an HB pencil to start (Faber Castell) and I draw in a rectangular (6"x8") Winsor & Newton journal which has, I think, 120gsm cartridge paper.

When I'm happy with the proportions I darken the eyes and darken and tidy up the lines a bit.

Next I add some shading - I think of shading at this stage as checking proportions, adding blocks and looking at them as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, checking the distance between them and their relationship to each other. This is the first stage of laying down some pencil lines - hatching rather than cross hatching as the results are smoother...

and here is the same drawing but smudging the pencil marks with a tortillon. It makes the pencil look lighter (in the darker areas) so I carry on layering more pencil and smudging it to get the values I want. I've switched to a 2B and at the end I added a 4B to get the darkness I needed in her hair.

Here is the one I used, but I use smaller ones too for areas like the eyes and nose if I need greater control. Once the tortillon is black, like it is in the photo, it can be used on it's own to add details or shading. I used it on the edges of the hair to create a wispy, out of focus look.

I use a Staedtler Mar Plastic eraser as it works best on this type of paper but also a battery powered Jakar eraser in parts (photo here) as it's very handy for putting highlights in hair or re-directing the way the hair flows. Before I had one of these erasers, I used to leave the highlights white and work around them but it was much less flowing and spontaneous, quite a laborious process. I brought her hair in closer to make her neck look slimmer as she was looking a bit stout! I also brought the shading down from his jacket to frame her face in order to get rid of that heavy outline and add some light around her hair for interest. This stage shows quite clearly the lines I created in her hair with the eraser before I've softened them.

I've included the finished drawing again, below, as it shows how I changed his neck - it looked too heavy - and changed the line of his jacket at the back as it was too straight. I also changed the line of his shirt a little as his neck seems to end too close to his body and looked rather odd! I lightened the shading on his nose as it looked a little dark in relation to the rest of his face.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-24T15:12:00.005+01:00

I wonder would anyone notice this is an old drawing if I don't mention it? Recycling is very fashionable so I'm sure no-one will mind! This is one of my favourite drawings and one of my favourite objects - a little ceramic bell Paul made in primary school.

I'm posting old drawings on both my blogs as I haven't anything new to show, having had 'flu for the last few weeks. Overall 2009 wasn't a very productive year for me as I spent too much time questioning. At the end of it I realised the answer to 'why?' was simply 'why not?!' so I've resolved to have fun and not to feel my art has to have any reason, purpose, meaning or explanation. I'm very grateful that despite that some of you have continued to stop by and even leave a comment! Hopefully next year there will be a much more productive one than this year! So thank you very much for your company and your encouragement and I'd like to wish you a very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and very creative New Year!

TV sketching

2009-11-28T17:26:00.002+01:00

Sketching from the Swedish TV series 'Wallander'. I've had a very long break from drawing to recharge my batteries. It's something I occasionally do but this time it took a bit longer, and unlike previous times, I feel it has actually worked! These three sketches were originally supposed to be quick little things for me to get warmed up, but I found them so enjoyable I didn't want to stop shading! I have a coloured pencil drawing lined up but after doing these, I think I'll be using the graphite pencils a bit more frequently too.

Brown Lemur

2009-09-30T13:27:00.004+01:00

I was getting a little bored with the brown paper so I thought it was time to use the white again before I forget how to! Unusually for me, I've included a bit of background too as it makes the light around the edges of the fur stand out better. This is a Brown Lemur from Madagascar - after cats, lemurs are my favourite animals, and I met my husband in Madagascar so it's always been a bit special for me!

The drawing is done on Winsor & Newton cartridge paper (in their square format leather bound journal) and I used a combination of Derwent and Polychromos pencils with the usual addition of black and white from the Luminance range.

Sinéad O'Connor

2009-08-23T10:47:00.003+01:00

Don't ask me why I drew Sinéad O'Connor, I have no idea! Inspiration just disappeared over the summer but it's been slowly returning and I just thought I'd draw something, anything, to get going again when I saw her face.

I did think about drawing on white paper again (I think I may have forgotten how!) but I just enjoy this brown paper (by Paperchase) so much and it's so quick to do portraits on it! I used all Derwents here except for Black and White in the Luminance range because of their coverage, and a Lyra Rembrandt Warm Slate Grey which is irreplaceable - I haven't seen another grey in quite that shade and it's perfect for skin. In the Derwents I used a lot of Light Rust for the foundation, and lots of Venetian Red, Golden Brown, Mahogany (gorgeous colour!) and Magenta. Actually there was a Polychromos Purple in there too but only a touch as it seems to go on quite heavy. Mineral Green (Derwent) was used for the background.

Jenson Button (2)

2009-06-19T17:30:00.003+01:00

Although I admit doing more than one drawing of the same subject is a bit of an easy option, it is a very interesting exercise - perhaps not for the viewer but certainly the artist! Like the first portrait, this one is done in my square Paperchase book with the unforgiving paper. This time though, the paper didn't just break up, a little chunk came off, right on the tip of his cap, leaving a little trench! I'm tempting fate to keep using it, but part of me enjoys the challenge!

Unlike the last portrait, I gave some new pencils a try -Derwent Artists. And very nice they are too. They have some lovely shades suitable for skin tones and one of them, 'Mahogony' is a really gorgeous warm brick red and just the tiniest bit redder than my favourite Venetian Red. They go on very well but I still used some of the usual Lyras and Luminance Black and White for the lightest and darkest areas.

Jenson Button

2009-06-10T13:54:00.004+01:00

I know from experience I can procrastinate for a very long time over a drawing I'm not enjoying so rather than put off the Yorkie drawing, I got on with this one instead. Jenson Button is looking almost certain to become the next Formula One world champion. I haven't switched allegiance, I'm still rooting for Lewis Hamilton, but I just liked the angle of his face here.

This was done on the first page of my new square format brown sketchbook (photo here) and if anything the paper is even more unforgiving than the smaller Paperchase ones I've been using. The surface breaks up so easily it's almost impossible to erase anything once the colour is down. Normally I try out a couple of colours in the background but this time I had to stick with the blue. He's this year's 'blue eyed boy' so I guess it's appropriate.

The face is mostly Lyra Rembrandt Medium Flesh and Venetian Red with Luminance White for the highlights and a lot of Polychromos Burnt Ochre too. Initially I started this and put it away for a day but when I came back to it it looked so pale and insipid I got the Venetian Red and really scrubbed it on and it improved instantly. I used a Luminance Black for the darkest areas as that covers really well. Real F1 fans will notice the cap isn't right but I wanted to keep that as simple as possible.

Yorkie WIP

2009-05-28T16:05:00.003+01:00

A drawing I have on the go at the moment. It's actually the same Yorkie I drew here, but always wanted to know how I'd go about it in colour. Since I put the Feedjit traffic meter on the blog I've been surprised to see that most of my hits come from people Googling 'how to draw a Yorkie'. Since no-one has left a comment I'm still left wondering if this is a drawing challange or competition.

Anyway, it prompted me to try this little dog again as I like the photo so much. However, I'm not keen on drawing hair and fur so I'm now putting this away for a little while. I'm feeling a bit frazzled from keeping up the blog and keeping up with everyone else's blogs and feel it's time to slow the tempo down a bit - I can't give up reading blogs completely so I have to be realistic! I've decided to return to another creative love of mine and do a little quilting (see my other blog) while I recharge my batteries.

Julia Sawahla (3)

2009-05-10T12:47:00.004+01:00

The third of the three Julia Sawahla portraits. The colours are, again, similar to the other portraits but last time I used no Light Carmine, and this time I used much more. I used Light and Medium Flesh (Lyra) as usual to build up the base of the skin tones, adding Luminance White to put in the lightest highlights. There is quite a bit of Polychromos Light Sepia in the darker areas and the face, and again, that lovely warm glow of Burnt Ochre (Polychromos). Venetian Red (Lyra) is the one I use for adding shade and there is Magenta and Sepia in there too. It looked a little flat but the Light Carmine really brought it to life. Around the eyes I've used Magenta, Purple Violet (both Polychromos) and Warm Slate Grey (Lyra) to create a cool contrast with all the warm tones. I used a Jakar battery powered eraser to bring out some highlights and strands (after putting down Sepia, Burnt Ochre, Venetian Red and Black) and then emphasising highlights with a White Luminance pencil.

For the hat I tried Vermillion (Polychromos) - a gorgeous orangey red - but it looked a little flat. However, adding Light Carmine on top, in loose circular squiggles, and letting the two reds show made it much more vibrant and brought out the knitted texture. Finally I added just a hint of white around the edges in the background.

I made a video - just a short snippet - of this drawing in progress here on my other blog.

Julia Sawahla (2)

2009-05-06T15:56:00.003+01:00

Julia Sawahla again. I'm really inspired by her colouring as orange, purple and green is perhaps my favourite colour combination. The oranges and golds in her hair and skin look wonderful with green and purple, so I added these to the clothes and background. The exact shade of her eyes is quite hard to match but I used a touch of green and grey. I used many of the same colours as in my last portrait except for the Carmine red - I added Venetian Red and Magenta for her lip colour instead - and used Luminance black instead of Polychromos as it seems to give a better saturation.

Julia Sawahla

2009-04-25T14:39:00.006+01:00

The finished portrait. (Check previous post for the work in progress.) I'm happy with this and again, like the Lewis Hamilton portrait, I'm more concerned that it's a good drawing rather than a good likeness although I think this one is closer!

It was the light that inspired me here and the warm glow it cast, but I do think she is very beautiful and as I seem to mainly draw men, it made a pleasant change!

Julia Sawahla - WIP

2009-04-25T13:20:00.006+01:00

I thought it would be fun to post another work in progress but this time right from the beginning. I've taken photos rather than scans as this is much quicker for me (my new-ish laptop doesn't work with the old scanner) but hopefully the quality is good enough to see the details and colours. Normally I write words under the photos I'm describing but after I publish I seem to have huge gaps between the words and photos and I haven't been able to sort that out. So, the first stage, below, is where I've done the outline and indicated the lightest lights with a white Luminance pencil and the eyelashes and pupils with black. The graphite outline will smudge and grey the colours so I rub it out just enough so I can see it and then replace it with the relevant colour, in this case I indicated the hair in brown.

Next I used Polychromos Light Flesh to indicate the next lightest value and blend in with the white.

Next, Light and Medium Flesh all over and then blending it with a tissue wrapped around my finger. This takes off most of it but leaves a residue in the paper to build on again so this process might be repeated a couple of times. It makes a nice smooth base to build on. Although I must say it tends to work better on white paper than this very smooth brown stuff.

The colours look too pink and the face inspired me because it has such a wonderful warm orange glow, so I try out other colours. I don't have a plan, I just see how things look and take them off with a tissue if I don't like them. Here I'm trying Cinnamon and I think Burnt Ochre Lyra pencils and indicating some darks in the hair with Light Sepia (Polychromos). I put some of the warm tones in the hair too so hopefully it will create a glow later.

Building up layers of skin tone, restating some highlights. Using some Venetian red, one of my favourite skin tone colours, to tone down the pink and deepen the shadows.

This Polychromos Burnt Ochre pencil is quite soft so I put a layer over the whole face and into the hair to give it a nice warm glow.

Out comes the black - that always makes a huge difference but I have to resist the urge to use it too soon! It's used very lightly here in the face but more heavily to create the hairline. I put more Venitian Red in the skin around the temples and use it to blur the edge of the hairline - and blend it into the hair too. Constant layering of the other colours already used with the addition of some Light Carmine on the lips. Another favourite colour Warm Slate Grey (Lyra) added around the jawline and a touch under the eyes.

One colour always 'makes' the portrait and it's different every time, I'm always looking out for it. Here it was Burnt Ochre but I also discovered a great effect when I used the Light Sepia pencil on it's side and put down a layer. It seemed to have a messy hair effect and as I had worried how I was going to do the hair, I decided when I saw this to keep it very sketchy and loose. Overall, I'm really pleased with this - I just wish I had this paper in a larger size as this is crammed into a tiny 6"x8" sketchbook!

When I tried blending that brown, it almost smudged right off. In fact, the pencils act more like pastels on this paper, but it's an effect I quite like. In the finished drawing, I used a touch of Apple Green and Emerald green in her clothes and Sky Blue (all Lyra) for the background (see next post).

Lewis Hamilton

2009-04-12T20:10:00.003+01:00

Well almost. The eyes are not quite right but it was enjoyable to do nonetheless. I tried so many colours I can't remember the names of them all but I wanted to bring out some pink tones so I started with Medium Flesh (Polychromos) to put in the lightest colours first and built up the skin tones with various light browns and even some green and blue along the chin and jaw. I wanted the shadow on his forehead to glow so there is quite a bit of Light Carmine there and around the eyes. With every colour pencil drawing, I find there is always one colour that really makes it pop and I didn't find that colour until it was almost finished - that was Caput Mortuum (Polychromos).

Unfortunately, this brown paper doesn't scan well at all so the subtle shades are completely lost. It looks very flat compared to the original and as the brown paper hasn't even scanned as the correct colour I don't think there is any way around that. Again, close but not quite!

Self portrait

2009-03-23T19:06:00.006+01:00

I have it on very good authority (Alex!) that this looks nothing like me. (It's a mirror image, that's my excuse!) Just as well really as this is me feeling quite unwell and I think it shows. Having recently had two bouts of migraine with an attack of sinusitis in between I'm hoping that's all behind me now. I'm not sure why I wanted to do a self portrait but maybe to remind myself to stick to my anti-migraine diet, no matter how tedious and boring it might be!

After the first migraine, I switched to a diet high in fruit and started taking these probiotic drinks hoping that might help but instead had a dramatically negative effect! (Blogged about here.) So, two drawings to remind me of a not so wonderful time, but at least they got me drawing again. I find these (colour pencil on brown paper) very satisfying to do as they are so quick and I can scribble and build it up using very loose strokes - they don't show on this paper. The only problem is (or maybe it's a good thing) the paper doesn't take very much abuse before the surface breaks up so little or no erasing and fussing is possible. The migraines break up the flow so these are perfect for a quick fix and getting my momentum going again.

I've used a white Caran d'Ache Luminance pencil here for the first time as the Lyra and Polychromos white pencils aren't opaque or strong enough to really show up well on the brown paper.

Zoe Wanamaker

2009-03-03T14:05:00.003+01:00

Drawn from a BBC programme called Who Do You Think You Are, tracing celebrities family histories. It's a very interesting progamme but equally interesting this week were the lovely glasses and some of the clothes Zoe was wearing! (I'm wondering where she got a chocolate brown suede jacket - I've been looking for something just like it for years!) I knew I had to draw those black and white spotted glasses and that red cardi though!

Of course, to do colour I need to press pause but it's still not that easy - I have to have a whole tin of pencils in front of me so I have everything to hand. Once I got the pencil sketch done though, it was surprisingly quick - by my standards of course! There is something about the name of the pencils called Light and Medium Flesh (by Lyra) that puts me off using them as if it's 'painting by numbers' but Light Flesh worked perfectly here for the skin and I just added some red and purple on the left side for warm and shadow. The skin colour on the hands were very lightly indicated with quick touches of the same colours and a light touch of black in the shadows. Her hair was amazingly quick with White, Ivory, Yellow Ochre (Polychromos) for the light areas first and simply adding shading around those lines with a warm brown. I find it much easier to do the light areas in the hair first rather than having to leave them and work around them as I do with graphite. The lines look much more natural and flowing this way too.

The paper is by Paperchase and although it's the colour of brown wrapping paper, this particular shade is very hard to find in sketchbooks. This was done in the 6"x8" version but I'd like to see a larger version and for them to get rid of the oversized spirals that eats up space and makes it hard to scan.

Art Blog Award

2009-02-21T13:20:00.002+01:00

I rarely get blog awards but as four very kind bloggers awarded me this one, I was pretty amazed! I'm very honoured so thanks go to

Teresa at Blueberries Art & Life
Grahame N Butler
Spinnereta at Jacobite Rose
Christine at Creative Life Studio

I have to list 7 things I love. Making a list always makes my mind go blank so it took a while to come up with something and not repeat things I've said before. And I should say, this excludes the obvious - family, health, chocolate, art materials etc.!

1. This was easy, cats! Chocolate brown Burmese or Siamese, I can't decide which, but I do love cats. They are so elegant, beautiful and completely mad, which is a great combination, I think!

2. Also brown and beautiful - Black Lemurs. I've always been drawn to Madagascar and it was a really amazing to visit a reserve on the island of Nosy Komba and have them jump on my arm for a banana! I can still feel those soft little fingers today!

3. Holidaying in West Cork as a child. It was such a thrill to drive to the beach along deserted county roads on a warm August day. Just before we'd arrive I'd look up at the fluffy white clouds over the hills and think of the fun we'd have on the beach just beyond. There is something about the clouds where sea meets land that still gives me a thrill. I'd hate to go back there now as it would probably ruin the memory!

4. Shopping in London. Going to Cork was an escape from London, but after so many years, on and off, of living in other countries, I think of London as home. I love shopping trips there - there really is nowhere better, it has the best food (it's a myth the French have better food - and anyway, it can be bought in London!), the best art shops, the most choices for books, shoes, clothes and anything else you can think of (Alex discovered the guitar shops in Denmark Street last year!). There is so much to see and do there and I've only done a fraction of it!

5. Colour. It's been a long journey, using colour the way I want to. I used to love combining colours in paint as a child and seeing how they looked next to each other. Somewhere along the line I stopped playing but strangely enough it was going to a colour consultant in my 30's (as a birthday present!) and seeing the colours that suited me that was a major turning point. I really was stunned for days! It was like being given permission to play again!

6.Precision in nature. While others see chaos, I see precision - in the way petals fit together, in the precise shading on feathers, patterning on fish scales or chameleon skin, for instance. One of my first memories is of looking at the petals of a lupin and marvelling at how precisely the changes in size of each one to make the perfect whole (not to mention the prefect gradation in shading from top to bottom). From spinning atoms to spinning planets, I don't think any of it is chaotic.

7. Music. I was a young teenager in the mid 70's which was a really exciting time so music has always been an important backdrop. I thought I'd eventually grow up and start liking classical music but it hasn't happened yet!

And now for something completely different!

2009-02-15T14:32:00.004+01:00

The idea of using pen has been perculating for a while but I've always tended to focus exclusively on one medium at a time. It's only in the last year, perhaps longer, that I feel ready to try out other things at the same time. I guess it comes from getting to a certain level I felt happy with in graphite - I didn't feel I needed to push it any further which freed me to try colour. Now I've been doing colour for a year, I think I need the buzz of doing something completely different again but this time together with the sketching and other things. I don't feel at all confident with my lines when I use pen, so I may not post everything I do, but I have an idea to fill up this little Japanese Moleskine with only lines. I'm just going to see what happens - maybe some colour will go in, maybe it won't! This is the view of my sitting room looking down on it from the stairs. Eventually I want to make my lines more wobbly, less exact and push the perspective a little.

I used a Copic Multi Liner, size 0.05.

Paul and Alex

2009-02-12T20:23:00.002+01:00

Paul and Alex, drawn from two photos. Paul looked better in one and Alex the other and I've been meaning for a while to try putting them together to see if it would work. The main problem was that the two original photos were so small. They were taken in Dubai around 1996/7 and the light was really good coming in the window, I liked how it reflected on their faces.

Face from the cloisonné factory

2009-01-26T17:54:00.003+01:00

The owner of the Chinese dog I nicknamed 'the little emperor', guarding the cloisonné factory just outside Beijing. It was good to get away from the grey faces of the Forbidden City and also to use colours in the clothes that complimented the skin tones! I used the usual combination of colours in the skin- Light Yellow Ochre and Venetian Red for the base layers - but also a lot of Polychromos Burnt Ochre in this man's skin to give it a warmer glow. Then over that I tried to show how weathered and leathery his skin was. although I have to say this is really only 90% finished. Last week was so stressful (mentioned on my other blog) that I really just hadn't the energy to finish it properly. The wrinkles on the forehead need a little softening, the chin made slightly less angular, the neck more shading and the jacket less sketchy. But overall I like it as it looks close to a sort of drawing style I like and not too photo realistic. It's probably the first drawing I've done where I've actually enjoyed doing the wrinkles too!

Face at the Fobidden City

2009-01-17T15:57:00.002+01:00

Finally, it's finished. In my last post I scanned it at the stage I enjoy most - with just the face - because after that it's just decoration and I get impatient to finish up! There are a few things about this that I'm not happy with but I'm keen to do something else now and I want to call it done.

I used a combination of Polychromos Burnt Carmine and Scarlet Red on the cap. It was actually much brighter in the photo but I felt that would overpower the face and the Burnt Carmine went better with the skin tones. I used Black to shade. I didn't have the right blue for the jacket so it's made up of layers of Polychromos Cold Grey and (Faber Castell) Albrecht Durer Dark Indigo. I try to avoid using the Albrecht Durer pencils as they are watersoluble but I didn't have anything close in the Polychromos of Lyras. There is a barely noticable background of Polychromos Sky Blue just because I felt like it - you'd probably never see a blue sky in Beijing! I'm not sure who these men were wearing red caps at the Forbidden City but they looked as if they were there to keep an eye on everyone.

Work in progress

2009-01-15T13:08:00.003+01:00

Work in progress sounds like I'm digging up the road and putting a mains pipe in, don't you think? No, I'm pottering away at this drawing but with one thing and another I'm just snatching minutes occasionally and losing the continuity. It's a bit of a drag doing any scanning now I have the new laptop which doesn't work with the old scanner otherwise I might have posted another step by step. I just wanted to scan it as this is the point I got to yesterday and I've been have some problems shading the neck.

Here, I'm fairly happy with the face and have to finish the ear but I've erased an area under the jaw as it wasn't looking right. It didn't have depth and the colours are not right. Colours used so far : Lyra Rembrandt Cinnamon, Venetian Red, Dark Violet and Warm Slate Grey, Polychromos Light Yellow Ochre, Burnt Ochre, Magenta and Black. Light Yellow Ochre and Venetian Red are the two base layers - I always start with the yellow as it seems to give a glow under the other layers. Dark Violet is a new one for me and I used it on the shadow across his eyes but I haven't yet worked out what colour to use for the neck. So now, tea break over, back to work!

TV sketches

2009-01-07T20:14:00.007+01:00

As this blog hasn't been updated in a while, I thought I'd better show the rest of the TV sketches I've done. Above, on Celebrity Mastermind, Mick Hucknall of Simply Red, and below him, comedian Mel Smith.

A Palestinian face, from the news, and below him, a contestant on Mastermind.

New detective series called Wallander, set in Sweden which I really enjoyed. This is Kenneth Branagh who plays Wallander. I was really impressed with his acting!

Adding some colour to the Sky News sketches but I think it was a mistake! Guest David Kuo, above, financial advisor. He always has some really good advice and given in a way anyone can understand. I can't remember the name of the other man but he looked very stern.

Sky News editor Tim Marshall, above, and below him guest Lord Digby Jones.

Contestants on Mastermind. I like to draw from this show as I have a chance to do it in real time - the camera pans in slowly and they each appear twice.

Top is a TV sketch - I liked her profile and glasses, and below is a lady I sat behind on the tram.

Forbidden City faces - work in progress

2008-12-17T15:47:00.005+01:00

Teresa asked about my technique so I thought I'd scan the drawing I was working on and see if I could explain. I'm still feel fairly new to colour pencils so I don't have a technique as such. Certainly not compared to my graphite pencil work where I can visualise what I want the result to be and know how to get there and how long it will take me. With colour pencils I'm still learning as I go along so with each drawing I'm trying out different colour combinations to get the results I want. There is no set plan so I might try out a colour to see how it looks and if it doesn't work I'll erase it (as much as that's possible).

With this drawing, the face on the right interested me most but I liked the face behind too. The photo was taken from a distance so the man behind looks closer than he really was and I was curious to see if I could make that work in a drawing. In retrospect, perhaps it wasn't a great idea but it was worth a try! So, anyway, at this stage I had started the face on the right with layers of Light Yellow Ochre and Venetian Red to get the base skin tone. I built up the shady areas with Sanguine and Venetian Red then defined with Warm Slate Grey. It looked quite pale still so on the shady part of the cheek I added some Magenta and Burnt Carmine. I don't have a particular order, I'll just overlay what I feel it needs. Some yellow was 'washed' over it all to brighten it up and make it glow and more grey and red to deepen. Black is used lightly to really define thngs like nostrils, eyes, and the darkest shadows. Black was used for his hair and then a little Sepia at the front and some Light Ultramarine in the highlights.

For the man behind, I decided to use Burnt Ochre and Warm Slate Grey to build up the base tones. With graphite I start the eyes first but with colour pencil I leave those so the skin colours are kept clean but also to work out exactly where the eyes are (I have trouble placing eyes!) relative to the rest of the face because I can't erase back to pure white once I've made a mark.

He had a pale grey look about him that I tried to exaggerate but he had a glow around the jaw so I added some Light Yellow Ochre and Sanguine. I should mention that I also use tortillons ocassionally, especially for softening lines, and I use tissues folded around the end of my finger to soften, smudge and deepen colours - it makes a big difference.

I always find with colour pencils that everything looks quite saturated as I work on it but when I look at it the next day it's as if there is a milky film over the top. I'm sure it can't be wax bloom but it does seem odd. Yesterday he looked at if he was behind the man on the right, but today I look at it and he looks ill - like Keith Richards! I tried out a touch of Burnt Carmine on the cheek but I didn't want to put too much colour on it. Sanguine, Cinnamon and Burnt Ochre are added to warm up and define and -one of my favourites - Magenta. His hair is kept simple - just Black - and his clothes are kept very grey and light - a hint of Burnt Carmine in the collar and a hint of Raw Umber for the jumper darkened again with Black.

The finished result. I used a tissue to smudge the black in the clothes and fade it out. It's not quite as good as I'd hoped but as another sketch in my China sketchbook, it's fine. I started putting my China sketches in a large Winsor & Newton sketchbook but there are so many empty pages I thought I should try and put some more drawings in it!

I used mostly Polychromos pencils here but the Warm Slate Grey that I find invaluable is Lyra. I erase with a Jakar battery operated eraser also a Tuff Stuff 'eraser stick'.

What I love about these faces outside the Forbidden City is that all their teeth are bad, the haircuts are terrible, they all wear black or grey and three of the four I've drawn have warts on their faces ! I wish now I had pointed my camera at a few more of them - who knows what treasures I've missed!

Faces at the Forbidden City

2008-12-04T14:15:00.002+01:00

Travel sketches have been very much on my mind for a number of reasons. After meeting and listening to Jean Pierre Montmasson (written about on my other blog, here), seeing his tiny sketchbooks and thinking about his advice that there are 'no rules', I've been focusing on what it is that inspires me and the way I like to express myself. I interpret 'no rules' to mean I'm free to do whatever pleases me, not what is expected of me, not what is in fashion and not what may or may not be 'cool' - which appears to me to carry quite a few (unspoken) rules.

Another very inspiring moment was discovering a video by one of my favourite artists, Reno Marca, talking about his new book and in it he is seen drawing from his computer. I've long suspected that many of my favourite illustrated travel books are done by artists using photos. It's clear, to me, that some are done on location and some from photos although this is never mentioned in the books. I don't see anything wrong with this, on the contrary, I find it very inspiring as it means these artists are not gods, what they do is within my capabilities too! Seeing Reno Marca drawing from his computer was the spark I needed to get me going again, as I felt slightly guilty about drawing from my photos of China. But chatting to Jean-Pierre about his many trips, it's obvious that to draw on location you need plenty of time and you need to go on a trip either specifically for that purpose or to have time scheduled in. On my trip to China, the tour didn't stop moving from the moment the plane landed - I think even seasoned sketchers would have found it nearly impossible most days.

Last but by no means least, I've been inspired by the new sketch blog Urban Sketchers. Inspiring moments come occasionally but with Urban Sketchers it's updated so often its like having inspiration fed intravenously! When it first started I wondered how on earth I was going to keep up with all the posts, but now I find myself checking for the latest installment - it's completely addictive! And very interesting how many sketchers are architects - I wonder why that is? With everyone's style being so different, it's clear there are no rules to sketching in public either. I think seeing these daily sketchers just getting out there and doing it will gradually this will help me get over my own reluctance to draw in public - something I'm constantly working on.

So, back to the sketch and back to what inspires me the most - faces (profiles at the moment!)and specifically the uniqueness of each and the variations in value, colour and texture of skin. I especially love to do areas of skin that have no outlines, necks, cheeks etc. There are plenty of lines in the forehead of the face on the right but what caught my eye was the coldness in the look of the man on the left. What was it that made it so cold, and could I capture that? I had fun playing with the colours and there is a lot of Lyra's Warm Slate Grey' in both faces but I tried to make the warmth of the skin glow underneath it, especially in the face on the left to bring it closer - and perhaps in contrast to that cold stare!

Ben

2008-11-19T08:25:00.002+01:00

The portrait of Ben didn't take a long time but it needed a long break in order for me to see it anew. I couldn't get the hair right but after I put it away for a while I realised it was probably due to the lighting in the photo and particularly the reflected light coming from a canopy above his head. Also, in retrospect I would have given him a pale green tee-shirt as that would have brought his skin tones out a bit better than this blue - but I had copied the reference before I thought of that. The blue in turn gave me problems deciding what background colour to do so a few things were tried and erased before I settled on the green!

Despite all that, I'm happy with the result and of course happy to gain a bit more experience with the colour pencils. I find increasingly that when I'm doing these portraits that I need to keep sketching in between or they can become a little labourious. In the past it was one or the other but I enjoy the TV sketching so much, and I think they are excellent practice for improving observational skills.

This month's magazine

2008-11-08T20:16:00.005+01:00

It's a relatively small readership, but still, it's such a thrill to see your own work in a magazine. Who is reading it, what do they think of it, and does it inspire them to pick up a pencil again or maybe plant a little seed that they too could sketch on holiday, sketch their everyday environment or their loved ones? Who knows, but the great thing about being in print is that the magazines may be seen years later and still be able to plant that little seed in someone's mind and set them on an art journey of their own. I hope so.

The China sketches are for this month's 'travel and adventure' issue and the nude, from last month's issue, is actually one of my life drawings reworked (with colour pencils to enhance the colours) for the 'health' issue.

View from the sofa

2008-11-02T11:24:00.003+01:00

More TV sketches - Obama, top, and Lewis Hamilton below.

I didn't make a note of the names but these faces were on Sky News. Clockwise from top left, a lady talking about the Latino voters, a former Democrat presidential candidate, and the man who 'discovered' Lewis Hamilton as a child racer.

Still trying to do a decent sketch of Adam Boulton of Sky News.

Top, Sky Sports presenter Charlie Thomas and my fave celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver below. The purpose of these is do pare down the portraits to the bare minimum whilst retaining the essential features that makes that person unique. For some faces lines alone are enough, in others the shading is equally important (for instance the shading on Lewis Hamilton's cheeks). I'm finding it very interesting and quite addictive!

People's Choice results

2008-10-31T10:39:00.003+01:00

The People's Choice results were announced for the UKCPS Annual Juried Exhibition for which 'Paul' was entered and it was voted 5th! This is especially encouraging for me because that is why I draw - simply to create something that others enjoy. I don't pretend or aspire to educate, shock, provoke, or anything like that - people have enough intelligence to think for themselves - for me creating art is about providing pleasure and so knowing 10 people liked my drawing enough to vote for it, especially amongst the other fabulous drawings, really is something special. Thank you!

People's Choice results on the UKCPS blog
7th Annual Open International Exhibition 2008

TV sketches

2008-10-19T13:32:00.006+01:00

Above, contestants on the TV quiz 'Mastermind'

Faces on Sky News - clockwise from top left, Tim Marshall of Sky, Michael White of The Guardian and Andrew Wilson of Sky

Guest, Jonathan Breeze of Jet Republic, top, and the Finnish PM below, in a report about a school shooting in Finland.

A Sky News reporter in an oversized coat and Sir Philip Green.

Adam Boulton of Sky News and Tom Rivers of ABC.

Alvin Hall, financial guru and from Sky's entertainment section Nicole Kidman and Madonna.

It's ironic that I don't usually post sketches on the blog I've named Sketches by Fiz! These have all been blogged about on my other blog (click on 'TV sketches' in the labels section) where I prefer to write the wordy posts but I've included them here as they represent another small step along the way, a slightly different way of working for me. Even though I've been drawing portraits for years, I never get tired of looking at the human face and I'm always amazed to learn something new that I didn't know before - there is so much complexity in the human face and head, just when I think I 'know it all', I realise I know nothing! It was while trying to place an ear on a face during a life drawing session that I realised my knowledge of facial anatomy is very poor so I wanted to speed up the learning process by doing lots of different faces quickly (that is 'quickly' by my normal snail's pace standards!) and getting the feel for how the features are placed. Drawing a face slowly, especially from a photo, with no time pressure is quite a different kettle of fish to having to get the placements down quickly. I used to think that using my eyes was good enough but now I feel that a little knowledge of anatomy would make things a bit easier for me.

Life drawings

2008-09-28T17:28:00.004+01:00

The last two life drawings won't go down as my best work but they are, I hope, important steps along the way to improvement. Both drawn with Lyra Rembrandts and both nowhere near finished but I felt they could have improved given more time. I don't work on them once the session is over so I get more of an accurate idea of how my work is changing over time. Right now I'm working on trying to get the colours more saturated and trying to push myself to get more done in the time. The Lyra Rembrandts are good for this, being fairly soft, but I'm finding their properties inconsistant across the range, not to mention slow going, so I'm wondering whether I should try other media instead.

Steve

2008-09-04T11:51:00.004+01:00

Another brother, Steve! With this portrait, I wanted firstly to test out my new Lyra Rembrant pencils, and secondly to see how long it takes (approximately) from start to finish, without making any more effort than usual to hurry it.

The Lyra pencils are very nice to use. The only niggles I had were that the tips broke quite easily when they were sharpened and the limited range of colours - I found the yellow ochres a bit bright and I could have done with more greens and creams. The scan has darkened the portrait a bit, especially in the background, but I used green for the background and overlaid it with grey. Unless I'm building up skin tones, I'm not too keen on layering colours, I prefer to go for the nearest match but the greens I tried out were too dominant and I felt the greyed version was more in keeping as the scarf, hair and jacket are all predominantly grey. I found once I'd finished, or thought I had finished, that the greys didn't work on their own - it looked like a black and white picture with only colour in the skin. So the scarf had yellow ochre added and the hair had dark sepia added and it looked much better. I tried adding blue to the jacket but it wouldn't take any more layers and I found that the black pencils actually handled differently too, to the other colours - more like charcoal and built up in a very blotchy way!

I attempted for the first time to use the flesh tone pencils to build up the skin tones but found them very unsatisfactory. The first layer was Light Flesh but I then used yellow ochres and Venetian Red mainly. Magenta was used for accentuating and this time I found Warm Slate Grey to be the surprise - it added shade without looking dirty as cool greys sometimes do. The overall shade of the face looked too dark until the scarf and jacket were added, and than it looked too light but I think with the layer of Light Flesh, it was very difficult to get any more layers on to it to deepen it further. Overall, I learned quite a bit from this, and would probably do it slightly differently next time, but Steve likes it, and that's the main thing! Oh, and no dreadlocks this time but yes, he does have one green and one brown eye!

Two brothers

2008-08-23T18:48:00.007+01:00

I don't update this blog as often as my other one, I tend to wait until I have a completed drawing to post, or something to say, but it has been quite a while since I posted so an update is in order! Last week I heard that 'Paul' , above, has been juried into the 7th Annual Open Exhibition 2008, of the UK Coloured Pencil Society, to be held at the Royal West of England Academy, Bristol from the 3rd - 28th October. It's the first time I've entered anything so it's quite a thrill for me and particularly as I've only been using coloured pencils since January - it feels like confirmation that I'm on the right track.

Despite the recent China drawings, I've been suffering from a lack of motivation in recent months. Unusually this time, as I have so many drawings I'd like to do but for some reason, the spark wasn't there. But getting 'Paul' accepted was a huge boost, and got me thinking again. There are some portraits that I have in mind to do this year but I haven't been able to find the right reference material and it's been quite frustrating. However, I got out a couple of photos of my other brother, Steve, that I thought would get me started, and now I'm away! This is just a section of the work in progress (left). It's a combination of two photos, one for the pose and one for the lighting and detail. I'm using Lyra Rembrandt pencils as I want to try them out and also I want to avoid using watercolour pencils unless it is for sketching. These pencils feel very good to use but my only gripe is that the Yellow Ochres are not a match for my favourite Ochre Yellow in the Cretacolor Aqua Monoliths. Their Ochre Yellow together with English Red make perfect skin tones. The reds in the Lyra range are a good enough match but I miss that yellow. For some reason I can't find the same shade in another brand to match it. I changed tack with this one and started with a layer of 'Light Flesh' and then built up layers with yellow and red on top of that. The Lyra 'Magenta' is just as good as the Polychromos (that I had fun with for the opera singers) and really works wonderfully for deepening shady areas and emphasising the reds. Anyway, I have a long way to go with this. I'm trying different colour combinations out and doing lots of erasing trying to find something I'm comfortable with but I suspect every portrait will have similar challenges until I get a lot more experience with them.

Brilliant Weblog Award

2008-08-23T18:16:00.000+01:00

Oh, I like this one! The extremely talented Sketchpot nominated my blog for an award - I'm just glad someone is reading it! ;) I should pass this on and play the game but most of those I would nominate have already been awarded so I'll just say thank you very much and if you haven't discovered Sketchpot's blog already, go check it out!

Pencil pot

2008-07-15T11:27:00.004+01:00

Drawn for a magazine article. In it the American writer makes a reference to #2 pencils and wonders what the European equivalent is. This drawing is predominately Polychromos - I think I'm starting to favour these over the Cretacolors as they layer more easily and the colours are more saturated. I've been a bit concerned about using water soluable pencils especially as I don't intend to use water on them. I noticed that Polychromos are said to be 'smudge-proof' but that red (Vermilion) smudged quite a lot - it was difficult to keep the paper looking clean and the colours sharp. After some experimenting with Arches 'satin' HP paper, I've decided to stick with my usual cartridge paper.

Chinese dog (and inspiration)

2008-06-08T14:38:00.001+01:00

I've nicknamed him 'the little emperor' as he looks quite full of his own importance! Initially it was that full mane that I wanted to capture but on closer inspection I discovered a lot of subtle colours in his coat. I would describe the colour of it as taupe - it looks cooler, more of a grey in the scan -and this is difficult to find in a colour pencil but 'Nougat' in the Polychromos was quite close. I'm getting used to the relative softness of the colour pencils (compared to graphite which I'm used to) and have warmed more to the Polychromos and Albrecht Durers now along with the Cretacolors. The main colour used was Albrecht Durer Warm Grey V for the mane. It had no other hint of colour but I added a little Mauve to the shadows to see how it would look. Around the nose and eyes are some lovely, unusual shades of red, brown and dusty pink. There is lots of yellow in the paws and tail and a little on the back so I thought the cool mauve in the mane would make a nice contrast to the warmth in the rest of the body - although I got the feeling it could look like an over-enthusiastic use of PhotoShop if I went too far! He was actually sitting on a red mat and it made him look even more stately but I went for black so as not to overpower the subtle colours. I was aiming for something a little less stylised in the mane but it still ended up looking similar to another dog's coat I've drawn here.

I think I may have pushed the boundaries here of what is expected of a travel sketch as this is obviously a drawing rather than a sketch but I've been very inspired by the work of François Dermaut . I saw Carnets d'une Longue Marche last year (written by Bernard Ollivier, illustrations by Dermaut) brought in by another student during one of my watercolour lessons and was immediately struck by his work. (In Googling I came across a glowing review (of another of his books) by Miles Kingston that makes interesting reading and compares him to artists like Ronald Searle for his ability to use different styles).

Although the illustrations are supposed to be from a two month journey, I can't help but feel that many are drawn from photos, especially the portraits of laughing faces. On this page, in my photo, is a very complex drawing of a temple roof.

That is more of a finished drawing than a travel sketch I would say - so this and other drawings in the book freed my mind of what a travel sketchbook 'should' contain. I was especially aiming for something of that look when I drew the opera singers, above. While I build up skin tones with reds and yellows, I think that more immediate, spontaneous look is a result of using fewer but darker colours - instead of building up values in layers like I do, I think he uses one or two colours with that value. There is a sense of energy in his drawings, and I can see how he gets that effect, but I'm feeling comfortable in my own style now and I enjoy the slower way of building skin tones, so I admire it, am continually inspired by it but I won't be copying it. What I also love about the drawings is how they are realistic but can never be mistaken for a photograph which is something I always aim for with my work too.

Opera singers, Liyuan Theatre, Beijing

2008-05-26T07:25:00.004+01:00

Just outside the auditorium, the opera singers were putting on their make-up for everyone to see and, presumably, take photos. There were crowds around the tables so it was only looking at the photos afterwards that I managed to get a good look at the details. I especially liked the arm of the singer on the right - obviously that of an acrobat with bruises and red knuckles to show there is more to Chinese opera than singing. He is the singer I've drawn twice before. I used mainly Cretacolor Aquamonolith pencils. My two favourites, English Red and Ochre Light are perfect for skin and I used them as a base but tried out other colours like purple, mauve and blue/grey shades for the shadows. The Albrecht Durer 'mauve' and 'magenta' seemed to work especially well.

Beijing Opera

2008-05-21T09:24:00.001+01:00

One of the traditional characters, a male lead known as a 'Sheng', from the Beijing Opera. More details are on my other blog here. I started this drawing with the intention of it being looser, more of a sketch, but increasingly the facial expression and the costume seemed to need more care. I finished the face and part of the costume and left it as I wasn't happy with how it was turning out but returned to it and tried to tidy it up a bit and it seemed to work better. I played around with something new for me - leaving out the lines around the trousers and I shaded the background using only the colour to mark the edges. Hard edges don't offend me so I don't worry about them, but I do like the effect on the trousers, especially on the right side. In contrast I tried to make the edges more noticeable against the blank background for the top half of the body. I used a combination of Cretacolor Aquamonoliths (as I still prefer their hardness to others and they have the two colours, English Red and Ochre Light, that I like most and can't replace), Faber Castell Polychromos (pretty good, still not as hard as I like but I want to get away from watercolour pencils) and Albrecht Durer (OK, a bit soft for my liking but good colours). It would be great to have one brand, one set of pencils that have all the qualities and colours I'm looking for, but I haven't found it yet!

Life drawing

2008-05-10T12:19:00.002+01:00

From a couple of weeks ago. Drawing with coloured pencils is quite different to using pencil and each time I learn something about how much can be achieved in the time. I'd like to do a lot more layering and blending of the colours and by the time the session is up I'm just getting into the swing of things! This is nowhere near finished but I'm quite happy with it as it was going quite well and there were many areas like the ribs and face that I would have enjoyed working on.

Life drawing

2008-04-18T19:12:00.003+01:00

I've never tried doing only a portrait at life class as generally they are too scary to attempt in such a short time but I didn't have much choice this week. I'm pleased with how it turned out so perhaps it's good to be forced out of the comfort zone now and again!

China sketches - entertainers

2008-04-18T19:05:00.001+01:00

A variety of entertainers seen in Beijing. From left to right, a man playing an erhu (a traditional two stringed instrument) at the Temple of Heaven, a male opera singer and a man spinning a diabolo in the hutong district.

Sketching in China

2008-04-05T15:37:00.006+01:00

The trip to China was my first since I got back into drawing and sketching a couple of years ago. I wasn't sure how much I'd be able to do and it turned out to be not very much at all but that was mainly because it was an organised tour and I had no control over the itinerary.

Much of the time was spent waiting at coaches, ticket desks, hotel lobbies etc., but one of the times I could make use of this was waiting in the coach outside the hotel in Beijing - this is a detail from the wall across the street.

Another snatched moment waiting for the rest of the group at the Forbidden City.

The Great Wall was the highlight of the trip for me - a wonderful experience, very peaceful and enough time to do some drawing!

I added this figure later.

Some of the workers - everyone seemed to be employed to do something, even the elderly.

Horses and soldiers of the Terracotta Army in Xi'an.

A very long flight home from Shanghai to Beijing, Paris and Geneva.

Sketches to fill the endless hours.

More details on my other blog.

Feet

2008-03-09T13:20:00.003+01:00

I'm afraid the blog has been very quiet recently as I've been practising (not very successfully) with skin tones. Doing them from photos was relatively straightforward (the few I've done anyway) but I've been struggling with pale skin in cool light and trying to find some sort of system that works for me. It took a while to do this drawing as my feet got so cold every time I tried that eventually it just got to a stage where I'd had enough and it was 'good enough'! I didn't resolve the cool shadow areas to my satisfaction so there is some way to go before I can put my feet up!

Life drawing

2008-02-08T19:04:00.000+01:00

My first life session using colour pencils and it was an useful experience. I've written a bit more on my other blog but I found that my usual combination of Yellow Ochre and English Red doesn't suit all white skin tones! Olive Brown, a greenish brown was a surprisingly good match for the model's olive skin but I still have trouble decided on colours to use in shadow areas.

Hands

2008-02-07T15:05:00.000+01:00

Paul and Alex's hands taken from a photo from around 1997. Skin has always been my favourite thing to draw, so it was fun to do this while I was trying to make up my mind what to draw - I have quite a few things I'd like to try in colour just to see if I can and it's fun to draw familar things in a new medium and not know how it will turn out - suddenly my list of things to draw has become a whole lot longer again!

Cretacolor Aqua Monoliths on W&N cartridge paper.

Paul, London '07

2008-01-29T13:33:00.000+01:00

Not the same Paul as the last drawing, this is my brother. Drawn with Cretacolour Aqua Monoliths on Daler Heavyweight cartridge paper (220gsm) and is quite large for me - 12 ins high.

Paul, Dubai '97

2008-01-19T11:35:00.000+01:00

Trying a slightly larger portrait from a photo. I kept adding to the colour in the face and then felt the tee-shirt would have to have a similar amount of work so it become more finished than I originally intended. I used a combination of Cretacolor Aqua Monoliths, Prismacolors and Supracolour Soft.

New year, new direction

2008-01-16T09:03:00.000+01:00

Over the Christmas period, inspired by the illustrated carnets de voyage I bought myself (such as Madagascar by Claire and Reno Marca and Mali Secret by Stefano Faravelli), I got out my watercolours. News of a possible trip this year had spurred me into action - I'd love to be able to add colour to my sketches, if not this year then sometime in the future. However, the inspiration wasn't enough, it was still a struggle trying to get my brush, paint, water and paper to play nicely together and I felt a bit despondent.

So I went back to basics, back to what I used to do for many years - draw from photos, keep it small and don't practice, do it for real. Doodling, scribbling, making thumbnails, doing little studies, call it what you will, that never works for me and that's what I was doing with the paints. Using my cheaper paper, trying washes, mixing colours - it just wasn't working because I didn't have a real purpose, a 'final destination'.

So I want to do travel sketches, that's the purpose. I learned to draw using photos and I have a whole load of travel photos. I would use those and try to imagine how much time I might have, which situations would inspire me or give me time to draw and give it a go. I tried the watercolours to start with but pretty quickly found that the whole set-up, balancing paper, water and paints was not going to be practical for me even if I could get a decent result (which I couldn't!). So I tried my watercolour pencils and finally, a breakthrough, I felt at home with them! I guess they didn't work for me the times I tried before as I didn't really have a set purpose other than to use colour.

The first two drawings above were done with Caran d'Ache Museum watercolour leads. I like these are they are quite hard. However when I was drawing the quokka above (photo taken on Rottnest Island, Australia and contrary to the info on the Internet, the guides allow them to be fed or given a drink) I found that they go blunt and wear down pretty quickly so for the portrait of Alex I used Cretacolour Aqua Monolith as well. These pencils are even harder and feel like graphite sticks so they keep a sharp point.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T20:12:00.000+01:00

This is not what I was hoping to show for my first post of the year but a virus kept me away from my pencils and I'm just glad it's finally finished! I haven't been feeling sorry for myself since I was so thrilled and surprised to see that one of my drawings, Cream Burmese, was nominated by Robyn on Katherine Tyrrell's Making a Mark blog for the category of 'best overall artwork completed and posted on an art/illustrated blog in 2007'. As if that wasn't enough, it then got through to the final five and was also entered into the category for best animal in an illustrated blog! There are so many beautiful works of art on blogs, I'd never believe mine the best or even near it, but it's an honour to have my work acknowledged and it's a wonderful way to start the new creative year! Thank you Robyn and Katherine and for everyone that took time to vote, I appreciate it very much. I highly recommend that if you haven't seen Katherine's blog, to go and check it out not only for the amazing artwork of the nominated artists but for one of the best art blogs out there!

H - 4B pencil, Winsor & Newton cartridge paper.

'Grateful' challenge

2007-12-07T13:28:00.000+01:00

Another collection of things I'm grateful for but also wish I didn't need!

Life drawing

2007-12-01T18:33:00.000+01:00

I've had quite a long absence from the life class so I felt quite rusty. I'm happy with the legs here but I would have like a little longer to work on the shading of the upper body.

HB and B pencil.

EDM 'wood'challenge 147

2007-11-26T17:33:00.000+01:00

This weeks challenge is to draw something made of wood, although not a tree. I've done a few wood drawings but as my hairbrush broke only this morning, it seemed appropriate to draw this today. The tablets (now discontinued) are included as both of these items would have been drawn as part of my 'things I'm grateful for' series and both are things I have relied on and not managed to successfully replace.

HB and B pencil

Exotic Shorthair

2007-11-03T16:43:00.000+01:00

This cat has a very striking face that I thought would be interesting to explore. Although it looks a little comical, I couldn't help feeling sorry for it. It raises questions for me about what cat breeders are allowed to do and what controls they are subject to.

Robot

2007-10-29T14:09:00.000+01:00

Toys are one of the things I have discovered I like drawing. I've been meaning to draw this one for a while just to see if I could - he has metallic fabric arms and legs which were a bit of a challenge. I'm not the sort to keep teddy bears on my bed but I do have a few quirky little things in my study. Perhaps it's to make up for not having lots of toys in my childhood, I'm not sure!

EDM 139, draw a handle

2007-10-12T08:39:00.000+01:00

Here's two for the price of one! This is called a hachoir - something I didn't know until I bought it - for chopping herbs. HB and B pencil.

Face creams

2007-10-10T08:50:00.000+01:00

Another collection of everyday things, old and new. The 'draw a grouping' and 'draw something you are grateful for' challenges continue to interest me. Packaging, and how it changes over time, is also fascinating so I combined all that into this drawing. I'm grateful for having a nice choice of creams now as compared to the seventies when I was growing up.

The glass pot on the left at the back used to be my favourite cream but that design is now a thing of the past so I wanted to capture it before I finally throw out the empty pot!

The drawing is quite small and I thought I'd make the lettering quite fuzzy but as I progressed it seemed to need defining. Together with all the eclipses, this was actually more difficult than I anticipated! I should have been brave, started larger and made things easier for myself!

HB, B and 4B pencil.

EDM 61

2007-10-01T07:10:00.000+01:00

EDM 61 is to draw ' a grouping of 2 or more similar objects' and this fits quite nicely. I got new glasses last week (on the right) and thought it was interesting how quickly fashions in glasses have changed in such a short time. Starting on the left, this pair seemed quite neat at the time - possibly about 6 years ago - but now look huge. The pair in the middle is a half rimmed pair when these and frameless were 'in'. Now the small rectangular heavy frame or the light frame/heavy sides look is in making everything else look old fashioned! My old pair in the middle are now my distance glasses as - shock horror! - I now need one pair for distance and one for reading. I was told my old ones should be OK for a year or two but I wonder if fashion will dictate I need a new pair sooner than that?!

HB and B pencil

Shoes, bags and other essentials

2007-09-25T10:19:00.000+01:00

Continuing my series of charting my shoes and bags, these are some older ones that I never wear but am loathe to throw out! In Dubai (where I think I may have bought the middle one) and Kuwait (the other two) sandals could be worn all year round so I have very few shoes compared to sandals.

Not my favourite drawing, although it had lots of potential until I overworked it, this is the bag I use most of the time right now. I'm not so adventurous with clothes, being quite short, but I do like to indulge in bags and change them often!

A couple of challenges to tick off the list - the kettle for no. 137 'something you can switch on and off' and for no. 42 , a hand blender as 'something you are grateful for'. A bit unconventional but I'm always grateful to get back from being away to have my familiar gadgets and this one in particular as I do a lot of scrambled eggs. As I liked thinking about this challenge, I've decided to make it a series and focus on the less obvious perhaps overlooked things that make life easier and more enjoyable.

Cream Burmese

2007-08-30T09:24:00.000+01:00

Trying out my Strathmore Bristol paper. I found it OK until I got to the shadow and felt it to be too 'absorbent'. I think this drawing is also better in the flesh than in the scan, it seems to lose something in translation somehow. B and 2B pencil.

Experimenting with colour

2007-08-04T20:14:00.000+01:00

I thought I should put something on this blog as it's been such a long time since the last post! This is the colour version of a sketch I did a while ago. I felt at the time both the drawings lacked colour but now I've added it, it's not as I imagined - in time I'm hoping to make my watercolours look fresher, less controlled than this. I coloured it partly from memory (those leaves had long since died) and partly from a cutting so the result is not too good - I realised too late I had painted light coming from different directions!

Some Sunday sketches. This Honeysuckle is done in watercolour pencils on cartridge paper. I was going to spritz it with water to see what happened but changed my mind, thought it best to leave well enough alone!

I'd never tried this before, adding watercolour to a pencil sketch on light cartridge paper, but it was interesting. The colours look quite dull, almost like an old Victorian illustration, and I was surprised that the paper didn't buckle. I'm in two minds about how it turned out but it was enjoyable to do.

All were drawn outdoors apart from the top drawing and as it was a hot day I found it quite difficult with the heat and the glare on the paper, even though I was sitting in the shade. Although I take lots of photos of plants, there is no substitute for painting from life. That too can be challenging when the petals are either opening or closing for the day as these Whirligigs were!

Line drawings of the different Passiflora leaves.

Finally a doodle in watercolour using the Masquepen. I don't normally post doodles but they seem to be going better than my other efforts at the moment!

Life drawing

2007-06-15T15:49:00.000+01:00

I loved this pose. Mostly the poses seem to be lying down which I have come to realise I don't like but this looked relaxed and natural. The model turned up late and then this pose turned out to be too difficult to keep so all in all it wasn't one of the easiest sessions. The legs were changed slightly to make it more comfortable so the shading and perspective were different and then later she seemed to give up the pose altogether! I gave up on the hands because she kept moving them but all in all I'm happy with the drawing. B pencil on A3 cartridge paper.

Life drawing

2007-06-08T15:48:00.000+01:00

I was hoping to concentrate on hands and feet today but that wasn't easy with this pose! Oh well. I was determined however to do two or more drawings today so at least I achieved that goal. I got a little more caught up in the shading than I wanted to, trying to make that twist in the back work, so I set a time limit and stopped myself.

A quick sketch. I quite enjoyed the first drawing and my concentration went a bit off with this one. Initially I drew the face but it was so strange (from gravity and being squashed) that I rubbed it out again. I didn't have time to improve on this or I would have tried making those feet look better. B pencil.

EDM # 23 Draw your foot

2007-06-01T11:01:00.000+01:00

For each of the challenges, EDM asks that you journal a bit about them and thinking about it I have quite a lot to say about feet but I'll keep it short here! I don't think I've ever had a compliment about mine, plenty of jokes about how big or long or knobbly my toes are but of all the things about myself I would like to change and worry about, surprisingly my feet are not one of them. They are what they are and if I did hate them, what could I do anyway? And besides, they have some great shapes and shadows to draw! If there is any foot I'd like to draw more, it's my brother's - his are like mine but even more exaggerated. So far he has declined but I see that Alex's feet are getting interesting!

HB and B pencil - and a very useful subject for drawing when sat in front of the TV!

Watercolours and EDM # 62

2007-05-28T11:42:00.001+01:00

This blog is very quiet because I'm learning how to use watercolours! There hasn't been much to show since it's mostly practising colour mixing and learning about the water/pigment ratio but this little pear isn't too bad (compared to what I've been doing!). I've called it EDM #62 (draw a challenge you've done before in a new medium) so I can at least put something on the blog! I've tried to keep it fairly loose and have attempted to mix colours on the paper and not the palette but I suspect I have to keep going for a few years more before I can get the sort of control I'd like!

These are my Winsor & Newtons. I have a little set of Schminckes too which are gorgeous but I decided to focus only on these to simplify while I'm still learning. I still have so much to learn about papers and brushes but for the time being I love Arches HP satine (as it's called here, it may be just called smooth elsewhere?). The brushes I keep changing my mind about - one week I use just the mops and now I like using the smaller brushes. I found it quite difficult at first, but as I'm making my subjects smaller, I'm feeling more comfortable. I still don't feel I'm there yet (I like working small when I'm drawing and probably I need to go smaller) but it's all part of the learning curve.

Sunday sketch

2007-05-13T15:27:00.000+01:00

I was expecting a quiet Sunday at home but it didn't quite go to plan, I had to take one of the boys to the doctor's. I realised, on the way home, that as Sunday's are really quiet here (shops all close) it was a good opportunity to draw outside without too many people around. The sketchbook was a little too small and the seat I found a little too close to draw the whole of this plane tree!

Life drawing and sketching

2007-05-11T15:55:00.000+01:00

This week's life drawing is a little different as I concentrated on the model's face.

The model turned up late so we took it in turns to pose for each other - I'm glad she arrived just before it was my turn! These were very quick, unfinished sketches and I only got the cap of the third but I think they capture something of the subjects and they are quite nice to have.

After doing these it felt natural to concentrate on the model's face. I found myself using an HB so I decided to stay with it rather than having some darker areas drawing attention away. Also, after doing the face and some shading on the body and arm it felt finished but I continued anyway to see if it would look any better. It didn't but no matter, I quite like it. There's nothing wrong with the foot, by the way, it just didn't fit on the scanner!

Friday's life class

2007-04-29T09:36:00.000+01:00

In general, I think how well I like the pose is reflected in how well the drawing turns out and I wasn't too keen on this pose. B pencil on A3 cartridge paper.

Life class

2007-04-20T15:26:00.000+01:00

I've had better days, that's all I can say. I'm happy with her head, and the body is OK after much shading trying to rescue what looked like becoming a disaster, but they don't look like they belong together - the head is too small! Still, it turned out much better than I thought. I was sure this was going to be the one that didn't make the blog. The model is very tall so maybe it's not too bad. HB and B pencil.

EDM # 111 Draw a bowl

2007-04-18T09:59:00.000+01:00

This is a Stephen Pearce bowl bought in West Cork probably in 1991 when we visited just after Paul was born. I thought I'd Google the name and see what's new and found out that Stephen Pearce is also a painter and has a few words about his process that I thought were interesting, here and here.

HB, B and 2B pencil.

Happy Easter!

2007-04-09T09:45:00.000+01:00