Just Thinking Out Loud

Last Saturday's Sketch Crawl drawing pulled into a square, then run through Photoshop's Watercolour Filter to cut down on the linear effect of the coloured pencils.

Sketch Crawl # 12 : National Glass Centre, Sunderland

On the Wear (Coloured pencils in A5 sketchbook)

Looking at a Facebook Memory for this day eight years ago, I find I was "feeling ... disconnected." Without drawing any inferences (because there are none), I note that I was feeling something similar yesterday. Maybe it was the weather; after all it's the middle of August in England, so naturally it would turn wet and windy for our latest Sketch Crawl.

On the Metro going to Sunderland, I met up with Richard and we chatted about things while the sun shone on the landscape outside. By the time we got to St Peter's Metro Station, however, it was greying over.  Richard was keen to show us some of the techniques he'd learned at the International Sketching Symposium in Manchester recently, so we gathered round a table in the Glass Centre and listened with interest. Then off to try out the techniques.

Or not. I realised very quickly that doing thumbnails in the sketchbook  (the suggested technique) is what I do already, but I do it in my head. This is partly why I always take so long to get to started - I'm working out the best composition and deciding what the focus will be.

As a result, in the 45 minutes allocated to the thumbnail exercise, I found that although I'd started a thumbnail in the smaller of my two sketchbooks, it quickly moved into a full pencil drawing. And then it started to rain.

Back in the Glass Centre, we compared notes and thumbnails for a while then set about finding something to draw that didn't involve going out in the rain. I discovered that by creeping along the front of the building I could find an area, complete with pigeons splashing about in a big puddle, where I could at least make out the boat I'd drawn as it slowly raised with the tide further upriver. Digging out my little box of Rowney coloured pencils bought years ago, I made my best effort o colour the drawing. There are areas where I feel it became a bit overworked, but it's acceptable, even if, for some reason, Photoshop refuses to represent the greens accurately. 

Unusually, I think I may have drawn something that will eventually become a painting.

[Next Sketch Crawl: Durham Market Place, 10 September, 1pm]

Sketchbook Circle : My Seconds Out

Time to reveal the additions and responses I made in my sketchbook sent this month to my Sketchbook Circle Partner, A. The first set of three are pages I prepared last time; A chose not to work on these (there are no rules), so I've added something of my own to them.

The next three are pages started by A and added to by me. 

[Later: At her request, I've removed them]

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This third set shows a response by me (the matchbox) to a page by A (the matches), followed by some additions by me to her pages.

[Later -  here I've again deleted all of A's images, with the exception of the spent matches, which I feel are important to my own contribution]

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Finally, we have three new pages by me. I don't regard most of these as being complete in any way, so if A does nothing to them (she can, of course, simply respond with images of her own), I'll be working on them again when the book returns at the end of the month.

Technical note: in working on these, I used black and coloured markers, watercolour, gouache, acrylic paint and coloured pencils, as well as collage, of course.

Treasure Trove

I spent the afternoon clearing out some drawers in the studio, ready for a future move. What a treasure trove of oil bars, pastels, oil pastels, watercolour tubes and sets, and a huge selection of coloured pencils! All bought over the years and more or less neglected as I pursued my dedication to oils.

I think I see a new period of experimentation coming up, once I'm sorted.

Sketchbook No.2 (#3)

Funchal, 7 August 1992 (Coloured pencil in A4 sketchbook)

I sat on a bench in one of the municipal gardens of Funchal,the capital of Madeira, and drew this. I wanted to see how I might tackle the subject with coloured pencil and the end result seems to owe just a little to Pointillism. 

Not entirely a success, but not a waste of time either.

Silver Hills

Silver Hills (Fountain pen, coloured pencils, A5 sketchbook)

At a bit of a loose end following the intense period of making the Edinburgh paintings, I found myself looking out of the study window today. For the first time in the twenty years I've lived in this house, I decided to draw the view across the Team Valley to the Silver Hills.

Brand New Moly

(Markers, fibretips and coloured pencils in Japanese accordion-fold Moleskine)

As I've indicated previously, progress on Moly_x_63, the Totem Pole Moly, has been slow, so I recently signed up for another Moleskine exchange. This is my first contribution to Moly_x_25, just beginning its second round after a successful first one.

I find it really relaxing to sit in front of the tv and draw things like this. There's no theme to this one, so I decided to start with a cornucopia and let it disgorge its contents, surprising me in the process.

Moly Once More

(Markers, fibretips and coloured pencils in Japanese accordion-fold Moleskine)
[Illustration Friday - "Burning"]

It's been well over a year since I was able to add to any of the moleskines in the Totem Pole Moly exchange, Moly_x_63. Unfortunately, this seems to be the nature of the beast. Things are on the move again, however, and this is my latest addition.

Hickery Dickery Dare

Fibretip and coloured pencil in A6 accordion fold Moleskine.

Hickery, dickery, dare,
The pig flew up in the air,
But Patrick Brown
Soon brought him down,
Hickery, dickery, dare.

Sometimes a change really is as good as a rest. I recently agreed to help out Michael Nightmare with his Piggy Moly which he'd retrieved from a moribund group of Moly Xers. When it arrived from Lynne Lamb a few days ago, I found the chance to do something that didn't involve painting very attractive, so tonight I set to and finished my contribution.

The nursery rhyme I found in Cole's Funny Picture Book, a treasure from my childhood. and I decided to make my pig a superhero. The evil Patrick Brown, his arch-nemesis, is yet to appear on the scene.

Rock Study

Rock Study (Coloured pencil in A5 sketchbook)

In an effort to stave off that expected flat spot, I thought I'd explore a possible addition to the Rock & Tree paintings I'm working on at the Club. This is based on a photograph taken of the same rocky outcrop in the Lakes as the paintings are based on. I think it has great potential, but I need to decide on the size of canvas before I make any start on it.

Molys Keep on Rolling

Michael's Moly

Jenn's Moly

Caught up at last! These two being completed means I can post all three to Pepparmynta in Stockholm. It's been fun making things up and finding colours amongst my collection of pencils and markers.

Moly Time Again

In March I announced my involvement with the Moly Totem Pole project. For various reasons, I haven't been able to carry on with it. Until now. Here's my addition to Lauren's Moly, done in a combination of coloured pencils and markers: