Some life drawing and a bird sketch

Hello again!

First off, a sketch from a photo ref, a jackdaw in the back garden.

Faber Castell Pitt Artists marker pens, A4 sketchbook. These marker pens were a little treat I bought myself, and I'm loving using them. Thoroughly enjoyed drawing this one!

Next, the life drawing class that I attend has started up again; here's the pick of what I managed at the last session...

Faber Castell Pitt Artists marker pen, A2, 15 min. Didn't quite get the twist of the torso, and the head looks a bit small, but it was a great pose and I enjoyed using the marker pen.

Pencil, A2, 35 min.

Thanks for looking :-)

Out and about again

Had a very lovely afternoon the other day with a friend; we chatted and sketched, then patronised one of the tea rooms in town and enjoyed a delicious slice of carrot cake. Only got slightly rained on...

Both subjects I've done before.

And from a short visit to my family, a couple of sketches of some of my nephew's toys... couldn't resist the colours!

Water birds in watercolour

Hello again!

One of the artists that I most admire (and there are many) is Jean Haines. I find her watercolour paintings just fascinating. I've been reading her first book, How to paint colour and light in watercolour, and decided I'd have a go based on sketches of some of my own ref photos.

 Grey heron, quarter sheet

Little egret, quarter sheet.

And the sketches I based them on:

One of my bad habits in watercolour is impatience, so I decided to paint these two at the same time - one could be drying while I was painting the other, and I switched between them to let the washes dry. Cunning plan, I'll do that again I think! And both were painted with no preliminary drawing - something I never imagined I'd be doing...

I think I'll be buying Jean's new book too...

A quick edit - I've just noticed that this is my 200th post! Fabulous!

More out and not so about

Hello all

Well, has summer finally arrived here in the UK? I hope so. Today was lovely, so I got all my work done early so that I could sit in the garden with my sketching stuff and a G&T... So out, but nor very far afield!

Both done with a black (permanent) kuretake sketching pen, with colour added with my staedtler fineliner markers, which are water soluble, letting you push the colour around with the addition of a drop of water... Good fun!

Out and about

Hello!

Well, today was warm and sunny (at last!), so I managed to find some time for a walk and a bit of sketching in the village where I live.

 This first one is the end of the bridleway which goes down into the next village.

And here's one of the houses - this part that I sketched is thatched, the other part has a tiled roof. Very pretty!

Both A4, ink with watercolour wash.

Sue

Here's another birthday portrait - this time my victim is my auntie Sue.

There are bits I like and bits I don't like, as per usual, but it was looking a whole lot worse than this at one point - I nearly gave up on it as I just couldn't see where it was going wrong. Taking a break and coming back to it helped, and of course acrylic is a great medium for painting out your mistakes!

Acrylic on canvas, 8" by 8"

More out and about sketching

Hello! Well, the rain has finally stopped, for the moment anyway, and the sun has come out and warmed things up a bit, so I took the opportunity to nip out for a walk with my sketchbook.

This first one is the view from the cricket field towards the church. The rapeseed (canola) is in full flower, so there are lots of bright yellow fields around and about.

This one is the gate onto the cricket field. I drew it while sitting on the step of the cricket pavilion.

Both are ink and watercolour. Looking forward to some more dry (and hopefully sunny) days!