Tuesday 31 May 2011

Scratching the itch.

I had that desperate urge to throw out a painting but no time to dip my brushes in water. I scratched my itch with a very quick sketch using my favourite medium, non-permanent ink and a wet brush. My 'instrument of choice' is an Aquabrush. Since these contain their own water they are perfect for taking out into the field. I find these quick ink sketches to be excellent exercises ... not only do they help practice our drawing skills but they're great at building confidence. When you're sketching with a pen you have to just go for it!!!

Wednesday 25 May 2011

Old Shed

Here's a drawing of an old broken down shed that I've been working on during odd idle moments over the past week or so. I'm estimating it's probably taken me about 5 hours in total. I didn't find the shed itself particularly difficult but it was interesting trying to vary the shading and tones to create a 'weathered' look. But the biggest problem I had with the drawing was the grass/weeds. I didn't know whether to go for the simple sparse, "suggestion of" approach, or whether to attempt a detailed approach. In the end, I attempted detail, got lost, and finished up filling in with generic scribbles. Surprisingly. it's worked quite well but drawing grass is certainly something I'm going to have to look into. Overall I'm very pleased with the result.

Tuesday 10 May 2011

Glencoe

It seems like an age since I last did some drawing or painting, but a few days ago I had the opportunity to tackle a quick picture. Knowing how I get more and more embroiled in detail once I start messing with my pencils, I decided a quick excursion with my brushes would be more in order. I decided to have a go at this view of Glencoe in Scotland.

Discussing the location with my Scottish friend uncovered an interesting issue with the name. I had looked up some things online and found that the village of Glencoe was referred to as Glencoe, but the area of Glencoe was actually referred to as Glen Coe. Well, when I called it Glen Coe I almost got smacked. Thank goodness you can't send 'physical contact' by email. Anyway, I did some more checking and found sites like Wikipedia and organisations like Ordnance Survey using Glen Coe, but others like the Scottish Tourist Board using Glencoe. But as far as I'm concerned, if my friend says it's Glencoe, then it's Glencoe.

The painting is a very long way from being one of my best, or even good, but you know what .... it doesn't matter. I splashed on the paint, and even managed to get some on the paper, and had a thoroughly enjoyable hour or two. Whilst it's always nice to get a good result, the true enjoyment comes from the doing.