Category: Sketching

While baby sleeps

I love it when my baby girl falls asleep in the car and I can’t do anything else but to sketch the surroundings. We went to a softplay place last Monday, called Piglets in Hersham. She had a play date, but the car journey made her fall asleep. So while waiting for her to wake up, I managed to do a quick sketch of the entrance. The watercolours were added later on at home, as she didn’t give me much time to do it there.

From my living room window

 
It is still cold and grey here, and outdoor sketching has been out of question. But my hands were starting to itch, so I sat next to my living room window and started to sketch. The gated area is the Athelstan School car park, which was completely empty being the saturday before Easter. I used a Stabilo point 88 to draw the poles, as I didn’t have a flat surface to rest my arm and it would have been difficult to paint straight and fine lines.
I found the winter poplars a bit difficult to draw/paint. I did some online search before painting them, but didn’t find much. I just added some additional branches with my pencil after painting them, to make them look a bit better. 

Up in the snowy mountains

Aschi Alto – Abruzzo, Italy
We went visiting my in-laws back in February this year. They live in central Italy, up on the mountains and it snows a lot during winter. This sketch was done on location, during one of our afternoon car trips. We pulled the car over the side of the road (we only saw one car driving on the same road that afternoon!). It was cold outside, so I stayed in the car. Shame about the electricity lines, which I love in general; they came out too big, but I didn’t really have a flat surface to keep my sketchbook steady.

30 drawings in 30 days – Last set

#21/30 – Parco archeologico Scolacium, Roccelletta di Borgia, Italy

#22/30 – Pen & Wash exercise, from Cathy Johnson Art Tips  

#23/30 – Golfo di Squillace, Italy

#24/30 – Anthurium

#25/30 – Hosta

#26/30 – Torre Cavallara, Catanzaro Lido, Italy
#27/30 – Sedia di vimini, Catanzaro Lido, Italy

#28/30 – Athelstan Recreation Ground, Kingston upon Thames, UK

#29/30 – Summer Trees

#30/30 – Il porto, Catanzaro Lido, Italy

The last 10 drawings have been a completely different story. Say that the motivation begun to fade away, say that we came back home, say that I went back to work, say that the last 10% of a project takes 90% of the time to complete…I finished the last drawing this month! Shame, I know. I managed to do drawing #29 at the end of October, but really lost any motivation to do drawing #30 until the new year. But I finally did it and along with a new scanner I was able to put an end to this torture (this is what does to me any unfinished project!). Overall I’m glad I did it, even if it took more than 30 days. I will do something similar again, but maybe joining some group projects this time to keep things more interesting.
You can find the previous two sets of drawings here and here.

30 drawings in 30 days – Part 2

#11/30 – La Capanna – Roccelletta di Borgia, Italy

#12/30 – Spiaggia – Roccelletta di Borgia, Italy

#13-14-15/30 – Doodles

#16/30 – La Terrazza – Catanzaro Lido, Italy

#17/30 – Living Room – Catanzaro Lido, Italy

#18/30 – Hibiscus – Catanzaro Lido, Italy
#19/30 – Wet-on-wet excercise

#20/30 – Golfo di Squillace, afternoon mist – Catanzaro Lido, Italy

I was hoping to get a new scanner soon, after my old one broke down a long while ago. But since that hasn’t happen yet, I got my drawing scanned at work. Here is my second set of drawings which were done back in August. I loved the challenge of finding the time everyday to do a little sketch. I must confess we were on holiday back then visiting my parents, and it was not much of a time issue, more like getting the inspiration going…trying to fight the apathy that comes with doing (almost!) nothing all day and a 40degC average temperature! But I stuck to it and I’m glad I did.
These were mostly on the spot sketches, with the exception of #18 which was done from a photo I took in my granddad’s garden and #19 which was an example exercise from one of Cathy Johnsson mini classes. And the doodles of course are pure imagination…