A Drawing a Day (post 2)

I went to the Powerhouse Museum on Saturday with the Sydney Sketch Club and really enjoyed sketching some of the costumes from 'Strictly Ballroom' the film. Watercolour pencil and watercolour has always seemed the perfect way to sketch costumes and I had a lovely time giving it a go. My favourite are the Faber Castell Albrecht Dürer watercolour pencils. They have a huge colour range but what I love is that the colours are realistic, don't change dramatically when you add water, are generally lightfast and are nice and soft so rewet well.

Strictly Ballroom costume sketches in Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

I then went to the Tea Cosy in the Rocks, Sydney, and met up with a lovely bunch of sketchers for a tea party with my friend and fellow sketcher Liz Steel. So my next artist's style to tackle is Liz. Not easy as she works very quickly and I don't. However I started by drawing a teacup - one of her favourite subjects - complete with tea.  The initial drawing was done in a grey water-soluble pencil. I used a lovely fountain pen with a flexible nib to do the black details, filled with De Atramentis Document Black ink which is waterproof. Then added the watercolour washes.

I tried to draw another subject in a much faster way than I usually would so I did a quick sketch in water soluble pencil, added line-work in fountain pen - my Lamy Joy with an EF nib this time - added a wash of watercolour and left it alone. I was using Sailor Nano ink in the pen, which is not completely waterproof in this pen so it blurred just a little. Probably a good thing as it stopped me from fiddling :-)

A quick study, watercolour pencil, pen and watercolour.

I'll try that Chinese bronze again with water-soluble pencil and watercolour without the ink in a more realistic style another day...

A Drawing a Day.

Starting this month, I am trying to do a drawing a day. There are many people who have started this sort of challenge. Some have lots of rules. All pen. No pencil. All from life. Only black or blue. For a year. For 75 days......Whatever.

I just plan to do a sketch/study/drawing/painting in a sketchbook every day. If I miss a day, I'll do two the next day. Some will be started in pencil, some in pen, some with a wash. No rules :-) In the meantime, I also plan to 'try on' a couple of different drawing styles by other artists. First up - ball point pen, in the style of Andrea Joseph, famous for very detailed drawings that fill a page with ball-point pen studies. There is a great video of her drawing in ball-point pens here

This double page spread was done over a few days during the first week of August. I added another item each day, or a bunch of buttons.  I am amazed at the sensitivity of drawing with a ball-point pen! Now I need to find a good brown one....apparently Fisher make a sepia...

Right side of the page in progress - Buttons, drawn with brown pens of various sorts and pencils - in a Moleskine Watercolour A4 sketchbook.

Left side of double spread in progress - Red things. Drawn with red and black ballpoint pens, with the centre section in blue pens.

This study of keys was started with a brown Pilot pen then black ball-point added over the top. I started to draw the pens in. It takes a very long time...like the one above, this is rather a work in progress. I love the Pilot for writing with but it is more like a felt tip pen for drawing. The ballpoint is wonderful for drawing but not comfortable to hold for a long time and I have never liked them for writing.

A tiny study of a piece of Pumpkin Crunch in ballpoint with some coloured pencil added. Drawn in Bic cristal black pen.

Cufflinks, made from bits of Swiss watches - really testing the limits of my medium Bic cristal pen. I had to add watercolour using a fine brush to get the finest details.