Sunday 5 June 2016

May 2016 Sketches

The Natural Way to Draw
19 Mary 2016
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3cm x 14.0cm (8.0" x 5.5")

May has been a productive month for sketching. I've been following Liz Steel’s on-line sketching class - SketchingNow.

I completed lessons 3, 4 and 5 and started lesson 6:

  • Lesson three is all about abstracting the world into shapes
  • Lesson four is about seeing the volume of things
  • Lesson five is about starting the sketch by accurately estimating the relative sizes and alignments in the subject
  • Lesson six is about starting with a less precise set-up or no set-up whatsoever

Ready for Dinner
10 May 2016
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3cm x 14.0cm (8.0" x 5.5")

The gravy boat and the pears are both a result of lesson three. In both cases I was thinking about shapes rather than the individual objects.

Pears
11 May 2016
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3cm x 14.0cm (8.0" x 5.5")

The books at the top of this post were drawn as part of lesson four - they are The Natural Way to Draw and Keys to Drawing.

Buy Me
28 May 2016
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 20.3cm (5.5" x 8.0")

Both doorways are accuracy exercises from lesson five.

St. Peter's
28 May 2016
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 20.3cm (5.5" x 8.0")

Who would have guessed that doors are so complicated? These accuracy exercises emphasised how much more practice I need.

A Special Dog Walking Bag
30 May 2016
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
20.3cm x 14.0cm (8.0" x 5.5")

The bag is Elaine’s dog walking bag. It's appeared on this blog before (see January 2015 Sketches). This is the first exercise from lesson six.  I drew a really quick preparatory drawing in watercolour pencil without checking the accuracy of the relative sizes and angles and then drew over this in ink before painting it. I really enjoyed the recklessness of the quick gestural set-up and then going for it in ink.