New challenge with Stoke USK

Posted on April 19, 2020April 19, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Cat, Drawing, Local to me, Neighbours, New challenge, Sketch, Sketching, Urban SketchersLeave a comment

_20200419_190902 We all agreed after completing the thirty day challenge that London Urban Sketchers had put together that we would like to continue. We have a new list of about 37 challenges, which may well see us out of the lockdown.

Today’s challenge was ‘local to you’.

I was going to draw all the lovely terraces up the hill behind us. But I failed to realise how much next doors bushes have grown. So this is the cat and the 70’s houses behind us. Then someone walked into the bedroom opposite. It was like a scene from the film ‘rear window’ so I retreated!

I have the list somewhere. I’m setting the daily challenges. A few people have joined in so far.

Liverpool metropolitan cathedral.

Posted on April 18, 2020April 18, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Colour, Curves, Drawing, Lines, Liverpool metropolitan cathedral, Pattern, Sketching, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent, ZoomLeave a comment

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A sketch of the inside of the Liverpool metropolitan cathedral. This is the Catholic one. There is also an Anglican one. This was our Saturday ‘sketch out’ with urban sketchers Stoke-on-Trent.

We did this on Zoom again, although I couldn’t remember how to log on. So although I could see people talking and hear them I could not interact. I decided to sketch it quickly as I was late to the conversation. I tried using blocks of strong colour. The lighting in the cathedral is bright and colourful. This image was taken off Google maps as we are not allowed to visit these places yet.

Day thirty

Posted on April 17, 2020April 17, 2020 Posted in Sketching, UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Blogging, Drawing, Ending, Fun, Humour, Life, Sketching, Thirty day challenge, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent2 Comments

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The urban sketchers challenge (Stoke-on-Trent) has just finished. We had to do quick three minute sketches each hour to show how our day had gone. I didn’t see the days challenge until just after two, because I got up late. Its amazing how fast an hour goes when you have to document it. And my day was more varied than I thought it would be considering I didn’t do any gardening today. I finished at midnight. Tomorrow we are doing a sketch through Zoom, the meeting app, of Liverpool cathedral. I might try and do a drawing of it. If I get up in time!

Angel cat

Posted on April 17, 2020 Posted in Cat, UncategorizedTagged Angel, Art, Cat, Creative writing, Design, Digital drawing, Digital sketch, Short story, Very short storyLeave a comment

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“Remember Felix?” she said.

“Yes, he was a good cat”, he said.

They sat quietly and remembered their adventurous cat.

“Remember that Saturday, when he came through the cat flap with a sirloin steak?” he asked.

“yes” she replied “I had to take it off him!”

“And a week later he came in with half a chicken?” “yes, I think it was from the neighbours?, I couldn’t tell them, and I think they blamed their own cat!”

“I still miss him, he was cheeky”.

They looked at each other.

“I bet he’s in heaven”, he said.

“You don’t believe in that stuff do you?” she said.

“bet he wangled his way in, and there’s a big ginger cat up their sporting a pair of wings?”

“maybe” she smiled.

Adding some flavour

Posted on April 16, 2020April 16, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Cupboard, Design, Drawing, Fun, Packages, Sketches, Urban sketchers Stoke on trentLeave a comment

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That was today’s USK challenge, draw something that adds flavour. Trouble was I’m getting low on tasty stocks, the strongest thing in the cupboard was English Mustard.

There was vinegar, soup, custard powder, a hot drink mix, pilchards, sardines and tuna in there together with the mustard. I think there were probably some lentils in there too.

Funny what you realise you’ve got. It should keep us going for a few more days.

Today’s draw, something old, something new.

Posted on April 15, 2020April 15, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Art, Cherry blossom, Drawing, Garden, Ivy, Old and New, Plants, Sketching, Spring View, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent2 Comments

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Sketch of new cherry blossom and old Ivy. It was black and white, drawn in uni pin 0.1,0.5, and 0.8 fine line black ink pens ( made by mitsubishi). On A4 paper. USK Stoke-on-Trent 30 day challenge. Day 27…. ! Really? Where has that gone?

Once I’d finished I decided to use a couple of green permanent markers to define where the ivy and other vegetation was. This had the effect of making the blossom more visible.

I’m pleased with the result. I hope the blossom all turns into cherries. We get them from the bottom half of the tree, the birds get the top half!

Close-up

Posted on April 14, 2020April 14, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Apple, Art, Cartridge paper, Charcoal, Colours, Crayon, Design, Drawing, Illustration, Ink pen, Permanent markers, Sketch, Sketch book, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent2 Comments

I just thought I would show you a close-up of the apple I drew today, so you can see the effect of layering up pencil crayon and permanent marker, black ink pen, and charcoal pencil. I enjoyed using fine lines to define the shadows. I was going to leave a patch if white paper as a highlight on the apple, but when I looked at it, it was to white. So I used orange, red and pink permanent markers to try and make the apple stand out. Using different colours and textures is really exciting, it makes the image less flat. But I’m not trying to make it 3d either.

Setting up a still life.

Posted on April 14, 2020April 14, 2020 Posted in Fine Art, UncategorizedTagged Art, College, Looking, Melamine?, Metallic plastic, Oil on board, Painting, Setting up, Still life, Tin cansLeave a comment

These are a few pictures I took when I was at college. They are pictures of objects I considered to turn into still lives. I finally did a painting based on the shiny plastic melanin? These pictures were taken almost forty years ago in my studio. The final one is oil paint on board. In one corner if you look closely is the painting of a hill covered in terraced houses that I did a copy of recently.

It’s good finding an old sketchbook with old hotis. It reminds me of what I was doing then. I also found pictures of old friends. I might post a couple of photos of them.

Stay safe and do Art!

An apple a day

Posted on April 14, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged #uskstoke, Apple, Art, Challenge, Drawing, Food, Fruit, Fun, Life, Urban sketchers Stoke on trent, Usk Stoke-on-Trent12 Comments

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USK Stoke day 26 challenge. Eating fruit. So I drew this wrinkly apple, balanced on my easel, then ate it… Not the easel, but the apple.

Drawn with coloured pencil crayons, charcoal stick, black ink pen and permanent marker pens.

I’m now hungry….

Digital galaxy

Posted on April 13, 2020April 13, 2020 Posted in UncategorizedTagged Art, Astronomy, Digital drawing, Drawing, Galaxy, Nebula, Past, Sketch Fu, Space, Spiral galaxy, Stars10 Comments

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Another one of my digital drawings on sketchfu. Probably drawn in 2013 before the site closed down. A lot of this is done by using opacity and transparency. There were about seven sizes of pens on the website and a large colour palette and a colour picker and erasers that I think had a varied transparency.

When you do something like this you have to build up from a basic background, layering details, adding more and smaller detail as I go along.

Observation is important. I can excuse slight mistakes, but I try and be as accurate as possible.

I’m interested in astronomy so being able to draw from beautiful images is a real pleasure. I think this either came from a stock image, or somewhere like NASA or ESA, but it’s so long ago…

Mallaband-Brown

Tag: Art