We have a new shutdown in Melbourne and it looks like we will be staying home for a while to come. I decided to order new colours of nail polish to keep me entertained with my nail colourings over the coming weeks/months. see my previous recent blog post with the first range of purchases.

I ordered them online and a parcel arrived in the mail last week. So I sketched them. I remembered to take some “work in progress” photos along the way. This may give you an insight into my approach. It starts with the final sketch and works backward.

Step Four. I decided to stop there. They have been sitting on my dining table for a few days. This is a sketch and not a still life! Then finally, adding my commentary among the sketches. This is usually what I do. Add the words last.

Step Three. more colour.Defining the light and dark sections of each bottle and reflections. I used a paintbrush to add water to the page to pull/ spread the colour within each bottle. Usually, I use a waterbrush, but as I am at home all the time I use paintbrushes. Depth and texture are created by waiting for the colour to dry and adding another layer in the same colour, or a hard line. I am an impatient person, so it is good to be able to move onto a different colour and bottle while I wait.

Step Two. Refining the colours and lines

Step One. I don’t use a HB pencil , My first marks are with the watercolour pencil that is the colour of the object. Now that I have the entire range of 126 Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils on my dining table, I can experiment with some of their unusual colours.