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.

Audrey Assad's Concert

I received an email a couple of weeks ago from a guy in the US asking if he could use my picture in a poster to advertise a benefit concert his fiancée was doing in Arizona! I was in total shock!! He sent me a copy of the poster just now...so exciting!!!

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.