Day 26 usk challenge

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Quick sketch in biro, looking out of our back living room window into the yard. You might be able to see a dream catcher in the window. There’s a lot of brambles out there growing through from next door. But in the summer it’s full of colourful flowers. I usually cut the brambles so only bits with flower buds re left, then I pick the crop when the fruit is ripe sometimes a squirrel comes along and harvests them before I get there!

I had already ordered hanging baskets that generally arrive in June. I hope they still come. Its something to look forward to.

Waiting for it to warm up a bit, then I’ll go outside and do a bit more.

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Drawing our Easter Garden

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Day 25, urban sketchers challenge. Suddenly the blossom has burst in the garden, where there were buds a couple of days ago, now tiny pinky white flowers are sprouting out of the branches and twigs. I’ve seen and heard a very loud bumble bee, and also worker bees and hover flies. Hopefully they will do their job of pollinating the blossom and we will have cherries and pears and plums as the summer progresses.

The garden was hard to draw because of all the details. I can get the branches approximately right, then adding leaves and blossom complicates things. Distinguishing between leaf shapes and colours for instance.

I used two thicknesses of black unipin pens, fine line water and fade proof pigment ink (0.5 and 0.8). I also used a Faber-Castell Pitt artist pen black 199*** S size. Then I shaded in with a 3B graphite pencil and a charcoal pencil. I would have liked to add some dabs of colour, but I think the overall effect is quite good. I’ve taken a picture and used a black and white filter because I took the photo under electric light and one corner, a bit turned up, was reflecting back quite a bright yellow.

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Playing games

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Oh, the things you find under the cupboard, covered in years of dust. I put it away ages ago because one of my old cats used to squirm under there and get stuck.

My chess set is glass. I hope to play a few games whilst things are locked down here. I’m not good at it, I can’t tell you how far ahead check mate is, and I’m never sure how or when to ‘Castle’.

I drew this because today’s sketching challenge from USK Stoke was playing games and I don’t know where my scrabble set has gone….. Day 24 of thirty. Drawn in pencil crayons and permanent markers.

I enjoyed using these colours, they may not be an exact match for the reality, but red and green are complementary colours, as are orange and blue. I thought they gave it some pizazz…!

 

Buxton Opera House

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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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Comfy challenge

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A sketch of my very old, but very comfy, pink slippers. Used metallic acrylic paint over the sketch, then added more details in pen over the top.

This was today’s challenge with #uskstoke today. It’s not my best sketch or painting, it’s a bit dark, and you can’t really see the metallic paint. But it was fun to do, and after all, why not?

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Wardrobe

IMG_20200408_121700_416Welcome to my messy house.

Drawing coats hung up on our wardrobe which is in the living room because it’s too big to get up the stairs.

The coats are mainly black jackets. I’m thinking of selling the wardrobe, but it’s full of ‘stuff’ so I will have to empty it. Train sets, a patio umbrella, badminton rackets, a hockey stick…. Things, you know, life!

Anyway this is our 21st days drawing challenge with USK Stoke-on-Trent. Every day is different.

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Today it’s a selfie drawing.

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Wow, I look quite sad in this drawing, but I’m not. It is just my face falls into a slight frown whan I’m concentrating.

Faults with this, my eyes are probably a bit to far apart? Looking at my phone to do this. It’s not the same as looking in a mirror. The image is quite small and the screen kept switching off. The background is a more than thirty year old painting I did at our previous house.

This was today’s challenge for the urban sketchers group in Stoke-on-Trent. Day twenty. Hanging in there.

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Today in the garden

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I drew this today, sitting in the garden, looking at a jumble of narcissi and other plants ( I’m not sure of their names).

Another of the USK Stoke thirty day challenge. I’m really enjoying this series of sketches. Every day a different way of stretching our practice. So many different sketches by different artists. I hope you like this.

Day 18,urban sketchers challenge

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This one is ‘hanging on the wall’ as you can see I’ve got a lot of stuff on the mantelpiece and on the wall. I haven’t drawn the dust! I don’t move stuff around much. I think it would all fall off if I did. I’ve also missed out the crack in the chimney breast.

I’m really enjoying this 30day challenge and hope we continue to do more once this month if work is over. It’s interesting having prompts. I might not like some if them, but it gives me ideas for things to sketch. And also the opportunity to translate them into what fits in around my life.

I’ve reconnected with drawing more over the last couple of weeks than I had done for years. My only sadness is that my eyes are not as acute as they were. I have presbyopia, which means the lens in your eyes doesn’t change shape as well, so it’s harder to focus in on close stuff. I have reading glasses, but when I want to look close, then at distance it’s a bit annoying. Anyway I just peer over the top of my glasses. Plus my lines are wobbly.. But you can’t have everything. It’s just a sketch xxx