RWS Friends Sketching Day - 14th November 2010

Pencil Sketch

St Michael, Cornhill, City of London

It was another cold day for outdoor sketching, one figure temperatures and rain. I spent a good 40 minutes in the district line from Wimbledon to Tower Hill, I had forgotten how slow this line is! On my way to station I picked a bunch of leaves: a Maidenhair tree (Ginkgo biloba) leaf and a very red leaf from another tree which I can't find the name. I tried to do some pencil sketches while I was in the tube, but I've found it a bit difficult to keep my hand steady. Although it was raining we did a tour around Pepys tramping ground and I stopped to sketch in St Michael's Alley. It took me a long time to get the sketch done as I wanted to use a pen & wash technique. Unfortunately, I didn't feel very confident using a pen straight away, so I did a pencil sketch first, then pen on top and some watercolours to finish off.....it took me over 1 hour to do that!!

Watersoluble Chalk Pastels

I went to the local car boot sale this morning and got myself a box of 12 sticks of Pentel watersoluble chalk pastels for just £1. It was a bargain and although I'm not very fond of messy pastels I thought I'd give it a go in the afternoon. I picked one of those huge London Plane leaves on my way back; I draw the leaf contours with a 2B pencilon a sheet of Fabriano Accademia paper and then overlaid the various colours directly on the paper, blending them with a dry brush. I then decided to use a waterbrush on one side of the leaf, but the results was a bit muddy and didn't particularly like it that much. I will definitely try them again, maybe mixing them with watercolour.

Christmas Card

I've almost completed the painting for this year Christmas cards. The big leaf right in front is far too big and the shape isn't quite right, also the berries were not very round at all, but hey it is known that holly is not easy to paint! I'll wait for the go ahead, or most likely the list of adjustments to make, from my teacher tomorrow evening and then off to the printer.