New paintings and regular art updates.
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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Back yard colours. The Usk Stoke-on-Trent challenge today was ‘hanging’ so I got my new permanent markers out. I tried not to do any black outlines to make the colours jump more!
The picture includes our hanging baskets and a dream catcher that hangs in our back living room window. There is a little glass angel hanging in the dream catcher. When I asked my hubby what he thought he said it was a bit amateurish!
The only problem with permanent markers is that they dry up quickly. You can be half way through shading something and they run out. More in a couple of days.
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Today’s challenge was to draw plastic, so I drew a garden lamp and our plastic waste bin that is covered in glitter. Urban sketches are supposed to be drawn in context so the background is penned in too. Quick sketch about fifteen minutes.
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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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Today’s challenge was media coverage. I didn’t have a paper and we haven’t seen the news so I decided to draw my phone with the news on it. But I couldn’t hold the phone and the sketch book so I balanced it on my arm. Then I drew the chair in the background. As I had the page of my sketchbook in my image I decided to duplicate the view again and then again. The parrot was on my tee shirt. You don’t realise how much you are moving around when you draw something like this, so my hand was in a differentvosition the second time I drew it, (and the third). I know it’s sketchy but I enjoyed the freedom and looseness of it
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Visiting my friend today who’s a fine art student. Because we were inside her house we both wore masks. This is the final Stoke Urban Sketchers challenge for this run but I don’t think it will be the last. This was so good, to be able to visit someone. I feel like crying, I felt nervous, I felt touched that someone would let me in their house after all this time. I may dream about it! It was an honour to be allowed to draw her. I hope she does well in her fine art degree.
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Out and about. A local street I have not walked down since March. Got to it by going up our very steep hill. It was only a couple of miles but I’m shattered. Black and white sketch taken from a photo. I wish I had drawn it in situ, but I didn’t have my sketchbook with me.
The plant really was growing out like a triffidcacross the pavement. I really liked it. Very interesting.
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Well I made another trifle. Sugar free jelly (raspberry flavour), with added cherries off the tree. Then vanilla blancmange because I didn’t have any others. I poured a punnet of blueberries in the mix as I boiled the milk for it. Now it’s a nice pink colour. It’s setting in the fridge and I will add whipped cream when it’s ready. Yummy.
Enough of the recipe. But the challenge did give me the excuse to make it. Now there are only about three more of this set of challenges left. We will have to come up with some new ideas.
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Today we had a virtual sketch tour of the Catello Argonese with urban sketchers Stoke-on-Trent.
I didn’t wake up in time to do the mornings sketching, so I took a screenshot and worked from that.
It’s just a 6B pencil sketch. On cartridge paper in an A4 sketchbook. I enjoyed mooching round, trying to fit the shapes together. It’s a bit like a jigsaw puzzle.
Anyway I’m pleased with the result.
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Today’s Urban sketchers challenge Stoke-on-Trent was ’round the corner’ so I drew the yard looking out of the back door.
The yard is full of hanging baskets and pots as you will have seen on a previous post. I guess I could have gone out and drawn the main road round the corner from my street. But this is a more pleasant view. Hard to draw all the leaves and flowers. You find yourself losing the detail as you draw more of them. I have to bring my mind back and fight against going into autopilot mode. Controlling where the pen moves instead of just scribbling.
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Mallaband-Brown