new and old pencils

I have finally finished scanning and uploading my three sketchbooks from my three week UK holiday .

Now I can reflect a little of the practical side of my UK sketching . There are two parts to this post: a few new colours I used in England and the discovery of a new pencil colour.

PART ONE – NEW COLOURS FOR ENGLAND

I was aware about the need potentially alter the colours I use in different country. When I moved from Sydney to Melbourne I had to buy new pencils for the colours of Melbourne buildings and wrote a blog post) . Getting the colour right is important to me. There had been a discussion leading up to the Urban Sketchers Manchester Symposium on their facebook group about watercolours people could use. People discussed the different greens for English trees and also the reds for Manchester buildings. In an example of the generous sharing nature of the group, Linda Toolsema kindly tested a whole range of watercolours and translated them to the equivalent watercolour pencils to assist me. It was invaluable and I was able to choose some extra colours to take with me.

I use FaberCastell Albretch Durer Watercolour pencils

NEW COLOURS USUAL COLOURS

Midland Hotel, Manchester, with its red brick and terracotta

PART TWO – NEW PENCIL COLOURS

I use Payne’s Grey a fair bit. I know that French Ultramarine & Burnt Umber combined make a great shadow, but often for the way I draw, just the one colour is useful – and Payne’s Grey is it !

My Payne’s Grey pencil got smaller and smaller and then I lost my spare. I could not find an art shop in Manchester or York that sold single Faber Castell watercolour pencils. It was not until my final week in London that I could buy one. I used this tiny pencil until the last moment when I bought the new one.

In London at the amazing art shop L Cornelissen & Son (above) I finally found my Paynes Grey and proudly showed the assistants my tiny pencil.

Cornelissen & Son was established in 1855 and has been trading in London as artists’ colourmen since then. Cornelissen is known throughout the world as a specialist niche supplier of art materials from premises that a 19th Century apothecary would recognize.

However, along the way I found a shop that had another lovely FaberCastell watercolour pencil Dark Sepia, which does not replace Payne’s Grey, but I immediately fell in love with. It has a lovely warmth that is great for buildings.

I am not experimental in my everyday art materials and sketchbooks. I enjoy using my watercolour pencils in my Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook. I am still learning about them and enjoying the pleasure of drawing.

Sketching Mum’s favourite London

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I have almost finished scanning and uploading my three UK holiday sketchbooks to my flickr website. Every sketch holds a memory of a time and place and I feel like I want to show you them all. These blogs have been more of a ‘holiday snaps’ than art talk. I did not know where to start and stop sharing my English holiday sketches on my blog.

However, my mother (and travelling companion) has recently mentioned a few places and events that express what London means to her. I have taken her suggestions to form the basis of my blog this week.

Mum & I in Regents Park, London

I have taken Mum’s words and added my sketch

the green spaces, so many lovely squares. We were using our Oyster Card just like all the locals and other tourists – Russell Square, King’s Cross, Jubilee Line, Westminster!!!!

the places to visit like British Museum and Library

then there is beautiful Regents Park, an oasis in the busy streets around Baker Street. Pity we had a little trouble finding our way back to Bloomsbury

London is the red buses, telephone boxes and post boxes

not forgetting that time we sat eating lunch after hearing the ‘Bells of St. Clements’

and looking down the street at the Royal Courts of Justice.

London is all that and more……………

Sketching London

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London. Where do I begin? Ten days in this wonderful city.

We’ve been to London before, the last visit in 2013. I had lived here a long time ago and had a few return visits. There were many places to return to this visit and also a few new places to explore. I now have a whole sketchbook full of memories for myself and to share with anyone who is interested. I am still scanning the pages.

Mum & I arrived after 9 am in Trafalgar Square. There were not too many tourists about and the National Gallery did not open until 10 am. We had agreed that I would sketch ’til then and Mum would explore the area. It works well when we arrange my sketching times. I take advantage of travelling times and queuing/waiting and eating times to sketch. We will choose our seats at lunch for the best sketching view. I also let her know if there is something I NEED to sketch. She is VERY VERY patient.

While I sketched, Mum walked down towards Whitehall and Westminster, viewing those amazing buildings, some of the iconic sights of London. She could also report back that the queues were so long for Westminster Abbey that we did not need to go there .

So what could I draw in just under an hour? I knew that I wanted to draw the Lions. I did last time I was here and now I know that I want to every time I visit. I put some light pencils lines in makes sure the lion would fit on the page and then just launched in with my Lamy Sarfari Joy ink pen. I was really pleased with result, and realised that I wanted to put him in context. The background setting was perfect and then I waited til red buses zoomed past and slowly added their height and windows in relation to the lion.

I was really excited by producing this sketch in just 10 minutes! Just looking at it makes me feel like I am there.

London is visual overload as there is much to take in. Each day there is so much to see and do. I hardly took any photographs when travelling, apart from people. Mum took photos, and wrote her diary so between the two of us we can re-live and piece together our time there.

Already it seems so long ago (it wasn’t) and I want to go back again (I will) .

I will keep adding London sketches everyday to my flickr albums
If there are any questions anyone has about sketching and travelling or watercolour pencils, please ask. Having a travel sketchbook is a wonderful and unique way of capturing a time and place. It doesn’t have to be the slightly obsessive all encompassing way that I do it. Just a little sketch on a page or a scrap paper will be a momento for life.

sketching York Minster – fast and slow

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We stayed in the wonderful city of York for 5 nights. During this time, we walked passed by York Minster everyday and explored the interior twice. This blog is a collection of the sketches of this magnificent cathedral. They range from 10 minute to 2 hour sketches. Some were planned sketching sessions and others were unplanned, taking opportunities as they presented themselves.

a very quick 10 minute sketch with my Lamy Safari Joy ink pen

This was an unplanned 10 minute sketch on the way to our day tour pick up spot. I was unsure of the time I would have and just started at the top and just started getting crazy lines down on paper. I could see the tour group gathering, so finished up. It is not really recognizable as York Minster, but for me, it captures the moment. As I scan the pages and write my blog I am immediately transported back to that time and place

This was sketched on an excellent tour of York Minster. There is so much history and the guides are so very knowledgeable and love to share that knowledge. He thought that I was taking notes.

The arrow is pointing to me (the little black splodge) sketching outside York Minster on our last morning. Our suitcases are next to me.

And this is what was sketching with my watercolour pencils in that time. This was planned as we had checked out of our lovely Palm Court B&B and had time before our booked train to London.

There are some beautifully carved monuments, sculptures and tombs throughout the Minster. Some were on the ground or at eyelevel and there were some magnificent marble medieval tombs. I was tempted to draw them for the purity of line and the wonderful marble folds of dress and gowns. However I decided on the tomb of a significant person in the history of York Minster – the founder of the Minster as it is today. I am glad that I wrote down on the page how long each sketch took, as I would have no idea if you asked me now.

After our first visit and tour of York Minster I knew that I wanted to return. I wanted to draw more, but when we returned I was not sure where to begin. There were so many beautiful architectural features. York Minster is the second largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe The present building was begun in about 1230 and completed in 1472. The stone used for the building is magnesian limestone, a beautiful creamy-white coloured rock. So different after the red brick of Manchester.

I decided to take a deep breath and put some of the techniques I learnt in Stephanie Bowers “Soaring Spaces” Urban Sketching Workshop at Urban Sketching Symposium the week before.

I spent two hours on this sketch and am really pleased with the result. I don’t think that I could have added any more . It was a peaceful time, as the tourists walked around me. No one stopped and talked. I could quietly sketch in the serene surroundings and beautiful inspirational space.

⇐

York – sketching my arrival

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After this weeks reviews of my Manchester Urban Sketching Symposium experiences, I am now returning to my travel holiday sketchbooks. I shall whisk you onward to York today. We spent 6 days in York and I completed 45 pages of sketches. Like all cities/towns, York is very visual , but also has so much visual (and therefore sketchable) history from Roman, Medieval, Georgian and Victorian times.

The first sketch was on a very crowded train from Manchester to York, looking out the window. When we were well into the countryside and when I sketched this there was a consistency of the view. So what I sketched on the page was a compilation of the view in the distance (which remained the same for a while) and a typical view of a changing mid-distance, then some coloured flowers out the window.

Today’s post is setting the scene in York. They are drawings done over time in our hotel room. The urban sketching of the city comes later….

I changed sketchbooks mid-York and wanted to continue the narrative in Sketchbook Two, so I sketched the page above . It was fascinating to find out that “York” is derived (potentially) from yew. I love the yew tree and the myths and history that surround it. It is a very English tree to me.

As I mentioned in my Manchester blog, I usually draw my hotel and this was no exception for Palm Court This lovely eight room family run Victorian townhouse is a B&B and our comfortable home for the week. Palm Court was only 5 minutes walk from York City walls – we walked through the early 14th century Monk Bar each day, and every time I was in awe of the history surrounding me.

Across the road from our B&B was the River Foss and a small park. It was not a particularly pretty park, but it did have a large flock of Canada Geese and a family of swans. I had collected some feathers earlier in the week, but It was not until the last day that I had time to sketch them .

I sketched five of my breakfasts in York – sometimes just the toast. On the final morning I had some of the FULL English breakfast. My special customised watercolour pencil wrap, it sits neatly on the breakfast table. Sometimes the times that you stop for food are opportunities where you have control over the time and space and view. I may appear that I draw food a lot, but this is actually because these are the opportunities that are there. I also talk and sketch at the same time, so can interact with people. Mum and I would plan some of our day over breakfast or be checking the map to see how to get to our first place to start the day.

Next weekend I will blog about sketching in York. I really enjoyed my time there and would return to do it all again tomorrow.

USK Manchester – Four Activities

Recording a Musical City with Caroline Johnson.

Manchester Jazz Festival was on. Our group paid five pounds each to see, listen, enjoy and sketch Alabaster De Plume – spoken word, saxophone, piano, violin, percussion, all with a sense of theatre, full of humour, slight pretention and yet down to earth. Listen here

Making Time for Postcards with Andrea Matthews

Three watercolour postcards and a stamp . We immediately queued for more stamps. I sketched the two darker archways on the day and the more traditional Manchester red arch a few days later. Unfortunately only one has arrived in Australia.

I have always taken those watercolour postcards with me when I travel, but never sketched on them ! At last I gave myself the opportunity!

Lettering, Line & Balance with Pat Southern-Pearce

Based high up in Manchester School of Art’s Benzie building, looking out over the Manchester skyline. This was a structured session with copious informative notes. I learnt a lot about thinking about layout and page formatting. And then about lettering on the page.
My main takeaway was to stop and think and plan the page – not just the sketches, but also the white space and the words (dates, titles and thoughts). After this Activity I immediately began using red pen on each page of my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook to write the name of the place or city that was on that page. This gave structure and consistency to the pages of my travel sketchbook.

Draw if you are Sober Nelson & Vicente

Based at the Peveril of the Peak, the Urbans Sketching Symposium pub, this Activity had us amongst all of the other sketchers, but with set goals. 1) Capturing the pub environment by sketching its objects or furniture 2)Draw people of the pub (locals, not Symposium participants) 3) Draw people and the place as a scene, telling the story.

Great fun to sketch with a purpose!

USK Day 3 Soaring Spaces STEPHANIE BOWER

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Saturday Morning Soaring Spaces STEPHANIE BOWER

Another really exciting event. I had seen Stephanie Bower’s amazing sketches of the interiors of cathedrals and historic buildings and their ‘soaring spaces’ . This is an area where I am totally out of my depth. I walk into a beautiful old building and look up at the columns, vaulted ceilings and large windows and am in awe of the architecture and builders. I am also overwhelmed at where to even begin sketching this on paper. So I have avoided it.

When the opportunity came up to spend a few hours to gain an understanding of some concepts I signed up immediately !

This Workshop was held at Manchester Town Hall (1868-77) one of the most iconic landmarks in the city. Another stunning Neo-Gothic building on the exterior and soaring vaulted ceilings inside (and the rest of the fabulous detail) . The three and a half hour morning Workshop was broken into two halves. We started sketching in the grand entrance to the Great Hall (where we had the USK opening Reception) .

Part One arches

Part One (the first hour) was all about learning the anatomy of the arch and the important ‘spring’ line where columns and the arch begins. This included lots of looking and measuring. I put lot of dots and lines all over the paper before even putting any lines down. (I was using either a 2B or HB pencil in my Moleskine 13 x 19 cm watercolour sketchbook) I was immensely pleased and proud of my arch on the page.

Part Two vaulted ceilings

Unfortunately we were moved from the entrance to the Great Hall as the guests for a wedding reception were arriving. We voted to continuing drawing inside and went downstairs to sketch vaulted archways instead of vaulted ceilings. There was still a lot to learn and I discovered that I could add a little lean to the columns to give the impression of the space. At times this seemed like an M.C.Escher drawing, as I tried to remember which line went with which column.

I finished the morning with my head full of lots of new techniques and concepts to use in the future. However I could have spent another few hours to learn about the soaring spaces and looking up. I still had another two weeks of holidays in England (York and London) and many beautiful buildings to visit and sketch. I attempted quite a few vaulted archways , but only one soaring space. York Minster (below)

MY TAKEAWAYS

comparative measuring at the beginning sets the sketch up on the page
arches are not shaped like horse shoes
block the page into simple shapes
archways – differentiate them by making areas light and dark

USK Day 2 From Macro to Micro NINA JOHANSSON

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From Macro to Micro – a Visual Story of a Building

Friday Morning with Nina Johansson

Confession . I would have signed up for any Symposium event that went to the beautiful and historic John Rylands Library. I am a librarian, I work in a historic (for Australia) 1886 Court Library and have an interest in old books. When the workshop list was released I was so excited to see that Nina Johannson’s Workshop, From Macro to Micro – a Visual Story of a Building was going to be held there. It was just the sort of workshop I wanted to attend – one that assists me to build a narrative on my sketching pages. My daily sketchbook is a visual journal of my life and I want to build on that. Also, I had met Nina at the 2013 Barcelona Urban Sketching Symposium and enjoy her sketching style.

Part One – Macro

First – Nina discussed the importance of composition and planning the pages. We had to think about how we would place images on the page and how much space they would take up, and draw squares and circles on the pages. We were sketching the outside of The John Rylands Library from across the road. Thankfully there was a bus stop we could sit under while it drizzled. The John Rylands Library is a very complex and detailed Neo Gothic building. Knowing how I was going to position it across a two page spread helped me reign in its size, which in turn stopped me getting caught up in detail. We had about an hour for the exterior.

Part Two – Micro

As the rain got heavier, we moved inside and looked the interior architectural details- arches, gargoyles, carvings… Because my page had been planned and I had penciled in squares on the pages, I could ‘fit’ the features onto the page . They were balanced vertically and horizontally.

We gathered together at the end to discuss our sketches and talked about composition, colour and line problems and how we overcame them.

The library, opened to the public in 1900, was founded by Enriqueta Augustina Rylands in memory of her husband, John Rylands. Today it is part of The University of Manchester Library. was designed to resemble a church in a decorated neo-Gothic style with Arts and Crafts details, The special collections, are amongst the largest in the United Kingdom include medieval I illuminated manuscripts and examples of early European printing, including a Gutenberg Bible, the second largest collection of printing by William Caxton and the most extensive collection of the editions of the Aldine Press of Venice.

MY TAKEAWAYS

thinking about and planning can create a balanced and visually pleasing page
planning assists to fit everything on the page
use colour to put focus on important parts of the page

I visited and sketched in this wonderful building three times during my week in Manchester and would have returned again if I had time!

USK Day 1 Hunting and Gathering FRED LYNCH

Hunting & Gathering: Sketching Vignettes and Lists

Thursday afternoon with Fred Lynch . Have a look at this great short video of Fred describing his Workshop.

Day 1 – the afternoon.

As I write this I am recalling how I spent the time between morning and afternoon Workshops – I remember now – finding hot food and trying to get warm. After sitting out in the open in the morning on a carpark floor, I was pleased that Fred Lynch’s Workshop Hunting & Gathering: Sketching Vignettes and Lists was based indoors (although we did go outside at intervals)

I choose this workshop as I hoped it would assist me to capture the essence of a place without having to sketch the whole scene. It did this, but was also the most challenging Workshop I attended as I had think about technique and what I put on the page .

Vignettes

After an introduction to and discussion of vignettes , including examples of what they are, we were given 20 minutes to go out and sketch. We had to sketch a 4 thumbnail sketches of one object, from 4 different views or focus. I chose the facade of a nearby building, zooming in on some features, or stepping back to show more of the building.

vignette longer study

The second sketching session was a longer study of one of our initial thumbnail sketches. This challenged me as it involved the interaction of the white of the page and blocking out silhouetted shapes. In this case the image had to speak, to make a statement, to tell. My usual style is the ‘unfinished’ look where edges fade away,. That is the visual equivalent of the edge of the vignette saying ‘blah blah bl…” instead of telling a whole story . It was very difficult not to fall back into the familiar. I found it difficult to know where to find the hard edge to stop.

Lists

This was great fun. In the ‘classroom’ we discussed things about Manchester that were different from home. Some unusual suggestions were made. We then went out to hunt for something to sketch a visual list. This was easy as I knew it would be a building feature. We do have chimneys in Melbourne (it was 12 degrees yesterday in our Spring) , but there were so many unusual chimneys in the one block that I wanted to draw them. I don’t know why I sketched them so small on the page ! I found these easier to give distinct hard edges to.

MY TAKEAWAYS

lists can reveal more than a whole scene
they are an alternative way of describing a place by and showing your interest and communicating it to people
it is hard to change your normal style in three hours

USK Day 1 Cars in the city LAPIN & GERARD MICHEL

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Cars in the city

Thursday morning with Lapin and Gerard Michel Read more About the instructors

This workshop was originally to be co-taught with Florian Afflerbach (Flaf) , well known as a sketcher of cars who sadly passed away earlier this year. A tribute wall of sketches of cars in fish eye style was at the Benzie Building at Symposium

Part 1 Car Portraits (quck sketch)

Gerard explained the elipse of wheels and axels – going through the axis of the wheels . Of course it all makes sense now !

The first part of the Workshop was to sketch a car from a distance of about a metre or so, maybe a little more. We sat on the sidewalk or near a car and sketched three quarter view. The instructors provided an example of how to work out the shape using simple boxes and we worked from that . I have no idea what I wrote here at the end of the page or what I was trying to make a note of. I think we had about 10 minutes each sketch.

and then the rain got heavier…so we moved

Part 2 (detailed sketch)

We found a nearby carpark and choose the car of our choice . I tried to find something interesting or obscure ( does nobody drive a gogomobile or a P1800S or Old Bentley to work ?) but a nice shiny black AUDI A5 was sporty enough for me. A hour here.

I sat at the far end of the carpark and was adding lines to the page. After a while, Lapin arrived and said no – move closer, move closer to the car. I was really close – but you can see how it changes the view of the car.

We were encouraged to start with the headlight and then draw organically through the reflections in the light (including your self if you were there). I found this very difficult without the context of the rest of the car, so sketched it in pencil. There is an immense amount of comparative measuring involved , as nothing your mind tells you is correct actually is!

I am so proud of this sketch, I cannot believed that I produced something so amazing that is outside my comfort zone. It is a character and almost a monster car. Each time I look at it I amaze myself .

We gathered to discuss what we had learned, but the parking attendant in charge of the car-park turned up and moved us on as it was a private carpark. oops .

Part 3 Cars in the City

We walked around the corner and found a sheltered area outside an office for the final part of the Workshop (and asked permission to use it). It had a row of parked cars and the city skyline (thanks to some building demolition). This final part was about drawing cars in context with the city around them. Gerard explained how to add depth by adding the foreground anchor to help understand the perspective of the scene. Cold and raining . an hour here.

I was more comfortable with this scene. I enjoy drawing cars. But the challenge here was how and what to emphasize. I decided where to add colour right at the end of the session.

MY TAKEAWAYS

The perspective of an object can dramatically change as you get closer to it or you change your angle or height.
Draw what you see and the perspective can figures itself out
Dress warmly as you are going to sit on the ground outside

alissa duke

watercolour pencil artist

new and old pencils

PART ONE – NEW COLOURS FOR ENGLAND

NEW COLOURS USUAL COLOURS

PART TWO – NEW PENCIL COLOURS

Sketching Mum’s favourite London

Sketching London

sketching York Minster – fast and slow

York – sketching my arrival

USK Manchester – Four Activities

Recording a Musical City with Caroline Johnson.

Making Time for Postcards with Andrea Matthews

Lettering, Line & Balance with Pat Southern-Pearce

Draw if you are Sober Nelson & Vicente

USK Day 3 Soaring Spaces STEPHANIE BOWER

Part One arches

Part Two vaulted ceilings

USK Day 2 From Macro to Micro NINA JOHANSSON

From Macro to Micro – a Visual Story of a Building

Part One – Macro

Part Two – Micro

USK Day 1 Hunting and Gathering FRED LYNCH

Hunting & Gathering: Sketching Vignettes and Lists

Vignettes

vignette longer study

Lists

USK Day 1 Cars in the city LAPIN & GERARD MICHEL

Cars in the city

Part 1 Car Portraits (quck sketch)

Part 2 (detailed sketch)

Part 3 Cars in the City

PART ONE – NEW COLOURS FOR ENGLAND

NEW COLOURS USUAL COLOURS

PART TWO – NEW PENCIL COLOURS

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Recording a Musical City with Caroline Johnson.

Making Time for Postcards with Andrea Matthews

Lettering, Line & Balance with Pat Southern-Pearce

Draw if you are Sober Nelson & Vicente

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Part One arches

Part Two vaulted ceilings

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From Macro to Micro – a Visual Story of a Building

Part One – Macro

Part Two – Micro

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Hunting & Gathering: Sketching Vignettes and Lists

Vignettes

vignette longer study

Lists

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Cars in the city

Part 1 Car Portraits (quck sketch)

Part 2 (detailed sketch)

Part 3 Cars in the City

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