Sketches and sketching - The Big Draw

It's still the period of the Big Draw so I thought I would show some sketches done in different ways and in different places.

 

Brittany 'Pardon' - pen and ink and watercolour wash.  This was drawn over a longish period (30mins-1hr, I can't remember exactly!). I waited until the crowd were fairly static and the procession had started and drew in the cross and people standing around it.  When the clergy gathered at the front I then drew them and the tree and added some splashes of colour.   The procession then walked down to the sea and there was a blessing of the sea/fish/fishermen.  I used a Pilot waterproof black pen and Schminke watercolour pans and travel sable brush.  The moleskin watercolour sketchbook was about postcard size.

 

 

 

 

 Goldfinches on teasels - pencil and watercolour.  I have drawn parts of these birds many times as they frequently come to my garden.  This is a composite of a number of my sketches.  They feed on teasel heads and also on sunflower hearts and niger seed.   Since letting more teasels grow and putting out this variety of seeds, I have increased the number that come to the garden from two to ten birds at a time.  They feed on seeds right outside my studio window or on the feeders and teasels a little further away.  I seldom complete a drawing of a whole bird, with colour, but they are much easier to draw than blue tits that stay for a fraction of a second!

 Pokers - pen, ink and watercolour.
I drew and painted these in the garden this summer in one fairly short sitting (up to an hour).  I love the range of orange and pinks and find them more interesting than the red ones.  I was using Pitt Castell, black waterproof pens.

Moroccan pots - pen, ink and watercolour

I drew this on site with a Pilot permanent ink pen in the Majorelle Gardens in Marakesh a few years ago. Then later, back at the riad where I was staying, added watercolour washes.

On the beach - pen, ink, watercolour.  I drew this on the beach and added the colour to the people on the spot.  I put a wash of colour onto the sea and sand areas later.