New paintings and regular art updates.
90s drawing of a sequoia bald eagle. I think we were on holiday in the lake district and called in at a bird sanctuary. It’s in a sketchbook that I just found while trying to declutter. We used to take the train up to Manchester and then cycle to Rochdale, then catch a train up to the south Lake District and then tour and cycle camp or stay at Youth Hostels. I must have been fit!
Cats seem to be a theme in my sketchbook at the moment.
I love cats
Their eyes
Their whiskers
The shapes they make
The fun they create
Bouncing and pouncing
Bounding and jumping
Faces all furry
Twisting and whirling
They cheer my soul!
Instead of an easle I prop a stand up in a chair. But sometimes it becomes a bit of a dumping ground. Empty mug, started to colour a canvas, pallette, brushes and tissues and a mug for water. Sketchbook with a zebra Dragon idea. I need to start painting but I have no get up and go. Tidy up and start, or worry and prevaricate. I don’t know. I need to do something soon. Maybe it’s these dark days that are getting to me? I need my mojo back….
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.
Today I got together, virtually, with a bunch of friends from Urban sketchers Stoke-on-Trent.
We had agreed to meet up and draw a local landmark. So we went ‘out’ on Google Street View, and using Zoom, we each drew the view of a photo of the opera House.
The perspective was interesting, a bit fish eye lens ish, and there was a red bus in the foreground which I think has been truncated because of the method Google uses to take images.
The drawings today are not part if the thirty day #uskstoke challenge, but instead is one for our fortnightly expeditions. However I think we are doing this weekly.
My drawing is in my A4, Windsor and Newton sketchpad. I drew it in the landscape position and it’d dark grey felt pen (nibb ® permanent markers). I used the point to draw the lines, then tipped it so that I coukd use its edge to do some softer shading.
I’ve also used Zoom for the first time. I gradually learnt how to use it, with lots of help from the people in the group and a helper that Zoom technicians had given us for the meeting.
It was good to hear people’s voices, and see them when I’d sussed out the video bit.
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Urban Sketchers Stoke-on-Trent is doing a thirty day challenge. Today is day three and the challenge is ‘household chore’ this is my sweeping brush as my hoover is bust.
Pencil in a Daler Rowney ‘simply’ sketchbook.
In other thoughts I’m trying to think of things to do. So far I’ve got as far as spending half the day looking at social media. I think a lot of people will be suffering from vitamin D deficiency and will look like they have recently been in prison!
Anyway, back to my chores…
Mallaband-Brown