Something has happened to my word press. I want the old version back please?
Category: Sketching
Dog drawing 2014

Woof!
I drew him in 2014. It’s in amongst some drawings of the Boatband that I did in 2014. But this cheered me up, I think he was howling along with the music as dogs sometimes do. We had a great time as usual. I’ve even found a picture of someone playing a double bass, not something that occurs very often.

I can’t imagine anyone wanting to bring this into a crowded pub very often. I think I’ve got the proportions wrong!
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Usk challenge ‘what’s good for you’

Drawn outdoors, we met with an old friend today, properly socially distanced. I was wearing a mask and gloves, and with my glasses on I feel reasonably safe. I ended up drawing my friend and when he went off for a walk I drew the landscape. There were some big trunked willow trees with wrinkly bark in the background, there tiny leaves contrasting with their aged, thick branches and trunks. It has been an overcast day so the colours were not brilliant. After this I took some photos of some interesting views of the area and some of the weedy plants growing along the track. I might post pictures later. When I got home I saw the USK challenge was to draw what’s good for you, and this was it!
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I love the LOTR

A drawing of Aragorn I did about ten years ago at a website called sketchfu. I loved drawing there. I miss it. But it closed. I really want to find a simple drawing application that I can do this kind of thing in again. Any suggestions? Everything these days seems to be on Google play. But that’s not how I want to draw. Yes I’m moaning about this again. I did a couple of months ago I think. I just want something where I can get the freedom to do what I want to do. Even if it is just drawing portraits of my favourite stars!
Moan over.
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Sketching

Draw something fast
Draw something quick
Sharpen a pencil
A conte stick.
Shading and hatching
Playing with angles,
Draw lines and curves
Twisting and turning
You know drawing makes me happy.
Cat washing

Cats are hard to draw when they are washing, they move from one position to another and when you are trying to capture them on a drawing tablet its harder because of changing tools mid drawing. My hubby just chimed in that its harder to draw flying bats! True, I just haven’t seen any recently.
Anyway I will try and do something different next time. I’m just a bit stuck in a rut today, so please excuse my lack of posting today.
Watering can

Todays Urban sketchers Stoke-on-Trent challenge was ‘metallic.
I decided to draw our zinc watering can that hubby has kindly left in the middle of the living room floor after watering the plants infant of our house.
I decided to draw in my Artrage app as I don’t use it often enough. Its the pro version so you have lots of tools, including pastel, pen, brush, a roller, and lots more. It took a while to get used to it. Because it has metallic colours it meant I could get some interesting effects on the can, and there are also settings so i gave the background surface a canvas look.
And back to cats, patterns and photo editing
Sometimes when you ‘tidy things up’ with photo editors, you lose some of the character of your art work. Yes it may look more interesting in one way but you can lose colours or small details that you might have struggled to get into the image in the first place. I guess it’s a matter of choice. The first photo here has been enhanced slightly with filters in Instagram. That’s because the drawing I did originally is about twenty years old and hangs on our stairs. The inks I used to draw it have faded so i had to try and restore it slightly back to how it was. The second is another one that I’ve adjusted in Photodirector.
It’s down to personal opinion if you like them or not?
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Cat in a box

Urban sketchers Stoke-on-Trent challenge today was to draw an animal. It was easy to choose my cat. He loves sitting in his box in the kitchen. He’s got a few boxes around the house he sleeps in. He likes putting his paws out and was after my pen as I started to draw him. He didn’t stay very still, but I’ve got a good idea of what he looks like.
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Going a bit ‘van gogh’

I looked at last night’s sketch and wondered what I could do to maybe tie it more together? I decided to use one of the style options in photodirector. This is a phone app that allows you to edit your photos and drawings and change their appearance.
I was very pleased with this. I definitely think it has a Van Gogh feel to it. Probably having the chair there with my easle on it adds to that feeling.
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