Pencil shades....& relaxation technique

Came back from the exam this afternoon quite tired and still feeling a bit as I had been pushed under a lorry! I think it went well, but will have to wait until the end of November to know the results :)

G asked me to help him out with some pencil effects for some work is doing at the moment, so I drew some squares on scrap pieces of watercolour paper and started to pencil them in. I had so forgotten how relaxing it is when your mind get lost in doing something so repetitive and, if you think about it, a bit boring! I sat on the couch for at least half an hour just thinking about nothing else but filling the blank squares...soooo relaxing!

Will have to remember to do some more in the future if I need to take my mind off things; I could actually make some art work using this technique, maybe using coloured pencils......will put it down in my 'to do list ideas'!

Summer sketches - Part 2

Here is another batch of sketches done in Pescina (L'Aquila). It has been very hot during the past week, and was almost impossible to stay outside during the day because of the heat....got sunburnt one morning at 10am while sketching under the sun! Best time was in the evening around 8pm when the sun was setting behing the mountains, the colours were magnificent...not very well captured in the sketches above :(

Summer sketches - Part 1

We are finally off to Italy for a well deserved summer break! First stop is Pescina, up on the mountains of Abruzzo, in central Italy, to visit my partner's family.

The town is in the middle of what used to be a lake, il Fucino, drained in 1875. Nowadays it's a patchwork of cultivated land surrounded by the Sirente-Velino and Vallelonga mountains.

Pyracantha coccinea - Sted by step

The Pyracantha coccinea is ashrub which produces masses of white flowers in May that turn into red berries in late autumn. There is plenty of those where I live; I picked a small branch on my way home from work about a month ago. First thing I did was to draw the branch on tracing paper; I then marked the outline with a Staedler fineliner.

I transferred the picture on Fabriano Accademia watercolour paper and masked the whole of the drawing.

I used a bright orange for the background to match the orange theme in my living room. Did two washes as the first one was too pale after drying.

I then removed the masking fluid and re-applied it only on the flowers and stems in front of the leaves.

I painted the leaves with three different shades of green, then removed the masking and painted the stems. The outline of the drawing was however not very precise as the tool used for applying the masking fluid had a large tip. So I decided to outline the edges with a black pen, and this is the final result.

Sycamore Maple Study

It has been a while since I have done a botanical study of some sort. The acer pseudoplatanus, also known as sycamore maple, is very common in my area; it grows everywhere and there is continuous supply of buds, leaves and branches. Spring buds are the best, with their velvety texture and pink/brownish colours. The leaves are more difficult to paint, first because I find it extremely difficult, second because of the texture...so many wrinkles! It was a good exercise, although my observation skills are not as good as I'd like. However, I enjoyed the entire process, the overall idea of creating pages like this in my pad, with a mixture of notes, pencil drawing and watercolour painting.

RWS Friends Sketching Day - 20th March 2011

Wonderful day along the river today! We visited the RWS Spring Exhibition first, with one of the Friends giving us a guided tour through so many inspiring paintings (some others not so much!). Then we headed off towards the Tate Modern. One of the Friends and I found a nice spot on the steps just below the Millennium Bridge and, although it was crowded as usual, the view was not interrupted. I liked the overall view with the modern and sinuous silhouette of the bridge and the very classic St Paul's Cathedral at the end. I did underestimate, however, the very complex shape and perspective of the bridge! I also realised, after so many years sketching in London, that the colour palette that I use the most is always the same: cobalt blue, yellow ochre and ivory black.....not very exciting! I think I'm going try a different approach next time, I'll take out these three colours from my sketching kit and let's see what happens.

St Raphaels Church from Kingston Riverside

What a sunny day! It was warm and calm; we went for a nice walk along the Thames and sat relaxing in the sunshine. The colours of the riverside walk are slowly changing, yellows are starting to show and beds of early spring flowers are announcing the coming season.

Hedera Helix or Hibernica?

I finally finished this painting which I started back in November last year. I had to wait for few months until the berries were ripe, and that led to early February. I then decided to add a pencil drawing at the back. The decision was purely made to cover a mistake with the stalk, it was to stiff and I wanted to add an extra leaf, but didn't work out very well. So here it is, early March and it's finally done. I'm still not sure what type of ivy this is, both species look the same to me!

Faber-Castell PITT artist pens

I bought these sketching pens in sanguine colour about two years ago, but never managed to use them properly. They have quite a bright reddish colour when still wet, but then the colour changes to a more a matt brownish red when dry which I didn't like that much. Also, I didn't quite find use for the different sizes of the tips; 4 in total, from a small tip to a brush one. They caught my eyes this weekend, while I was tidying up my desk, so I decided to give them another go. I used a small sketchbook which I made out of an old diary using Fabriano Accademia watercolour paper; it hasn't come out very well, so I normally use it for testing colours and tools....this way I don't feel the pressure of ruining a nice sketchbook if things don't come up very well! I drew directly in pen, my very first attempt after reading the interview of Bryn Hughes on the winter issue of UK Handmade. Did 4 sketches using each pen, I should have probably used the same subject for all, but hey! However, I'm still not convinced....I like the lines of the fine tip (S). The brush tip (B) is also fine but probably for a different type of subject, I don't think this colour is suited for these lines. The two in the middle (F and M), nothing special I would say! I might try again in the future, maybe adding some watercolour.....

Pencil sketches

I started this pencil sketch back in November and still I didn't manage to finish it. I picked the branch and the seed pods from my neighbour's huge Goldenrain Tree (Koelreuteria paniculata), which grows right in front of my bedroom window. It looses all its leaves during winter, but still holds the seed pods, regardless of all the snow we had this year. I'm hoping to get this finishide before spring when the tree gets covered in tiny yellow flowers in spring.

Interconnecting flight

It's always good to bring a pocket size sketching kit......you never know how long your travel journey might take! After escaping the snow blizzard at Heathrow airport back in December, I landed in Rome with an almost clear sky (no signs of the snow that had paralysed the city the day before!) and 2 hours delay. Having to wait for another 4 hours for my connecting flight, I found a quite and sunny spot right behind the gate perfect for a quick sketch. I only had a tiny watercolour palette, just enough to highlight the main features.