Category Archives: pencils

UK holiday – nature sketches

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During my recent one month holiday in the UK we visited five cities. I was sketching all the time, filling two and half sketchbooks with my watercolour pencil and Lamy Safari ink pen sketches. All of these are gradually being added to my Flickr album online. 

However, just because we were in cities, does not mean that all the sketches were of  man-made objects. Today’s blog shows the nature sketches 

some we happened upon in parks 

in Nature Reserves 

These deer sat right next to the fence and posed for us in the Deer Grove at Magdelene College, Oxford.  I sketched them for a long time and there are three pages of sketches in my book. 

or collected along the way 

 

These were drawn in the hotel over a few nights, so I could spend time on the detail.

 

A special visit to Tiggywinkles Hospital

and sadly, one found dead on the Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol

 

 

These all added to the richness and memories of the holiday. 

 

 

back home after my UK holiday

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I have returned from my one month holiday in England and Scotland. I had a wonderful holiday  and filled two and half Moleskine watercolour sketchbooks (13 x 19cm).

Squirrel meet watercolour pencil, watercolour pencil meet squirrel.

(Thanks to Mum & Jules for your patience while I waited to line up this photo)

I took my usual sketching equipment and put pencil to paper as many times a day as I could. I have so many tales to tell. However, I have not even started scanning my sketchbook pages and this will be done over the next few weeks.   While on holiday I instagrammed (alissaduke1) a sketch daily if you would like to have a glimpse of some of them. 

This week’s blog is just a little taste of things to come. 

 

I felt that GREEN was the colour of my holiday (although when I look through my sketchbooks, it does not feature heavily).  Specifically Grass Green (Faber Castell) ! I used this pencil so often in the UK – the grass was SO green and the trees are a different shade.

My other main green colour was Pine Green . The colours that I use in Australia, but did not use as much in the UK were Earth Green, Olive Green and also Light Yellow Ochre.

 

We walked through quite a few parks and looked out many train windows onto the green countryside.  Although the UK was going into autumn, the trees had only just began to change and only some leaves had fallen. 

More to come…

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

drawing lunch step by step

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Another step by step drawing. 

 

My lunch. Drawn as a work in progress, knowing that I would probably eat it cold as I stopped to take photos along the way.

I draw all the main shapes and colours in their watercolour pencil colours. I do this so that when I add water to those lines, they become the object, rather than leaving an outside line.

I decided to add some of plate . I had considered just the food and chopsticks – you don’t need draw the plate to show the food is   on a plate. The viewers mind/imagination fills in this information.


I gradually build up the colours, adding dark. I decided not add dark around all  of the plate.

These are the watercolour pencils I used . I have about 26 in my pencil wrap and rarely use any outside of these (I have many other colours in the range in a box).

By this stage the page was getting murky and I was getting hungry. Time to stop and eat !

stocking up for travel sketching

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I have I started thinking about my art gear for my upcoming three week holiday in the UK, and have purchased and ordered some supplies. Some had to be ordered online and I bought extras to stock up for home as well.

gear

I am going to attend the Urban Sketching Symposium in Manchester for three days, and will I be continuously sketching for the entire time.  I sketch daily now and will have even more to draw when I am away.

I’ll be taking my current pencil wrap (same old one as my new one did not get made), filled with  new Faber Castell LONG pencils. I’ve bought new watercolours pencil and will take doubles of a few that I am prone to use/loose.  Payne Grey, Ivory, Light Yellow Ochre.

I also bought some new watercolour pencil colours that I have been advised for UK trees, buildings  – Sap Green, Hookers Green, Alizarin Crimson.

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I am taking three Moleskine 13 x 19 cm Watercolour Sketchbooks. I have already started the first one by holiday sketching- drawing my new suitcase, some British pounds. I’ll sketch my clothes before I go. Then at the airport, on the plane ….

eraser

My eraser is specific – it fits in my pencilwrap in a pencil space. TOMBOW Mono Zero 2.5 x 5 mm

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I’ll take two waterbrushes – one in use and one spare. I use ZIG Brush H20 Medium Tip. It has a filter that slows the flow of water. This suits my drawing style, as I don’t flood the page with water and colour and I like to work in small areas on the page.

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And a spare sharpener.  Blunt pencils make for a bad drawing – so much of my drawing of objects relies on the hint of detail,  which a sharp, fine line provides.

Of course, this is just my usual sketching gear. I am enrolled in four workshops and four activities at Manchester Urban Sketching Symposium. They will all challenge me and build my techniques and skills but are all suited to my drawing based approach. I will buy some extra art gear in Manchester when I get there. I am sure to get ideas from the other 500 sketchers there !

The Blues

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not THE blues , but colourful blues with strange names.

In my watercolour pencil wrap that I carry with me everyday I have 26 colours, three are blue .

(Read more about my watercolour pencil wrap here)

blues everyday

Over the last few weeks in the evenings I have been creating an entry for a local art show and have been using every blue pencil I own. These are pencils that I have been given, or acquired.

blue

Almost all are watercolor pencils (except Bluish  Turquoise, which is a coloured pencil).

I have added water to a paintbrush and dragged it across the page to show the changes in colour that occur when water is added to the pigment. For this particular project it did not matter, but usually for my drawings I am trying to get the colour right . Over the last eight years that I have been using watercolour pencils I have become familiar with the colours and how they can be mixed and the effects. This is how I have chosen the three (above) for my everyday use .

Just to throw in something extra to the mix., the project is on brown card not white watercolour paper. The brown card changes the way the blue appears and it also soaks up the colour, leaving a dull surface, and making it difficult to draw fine, hard lines.

Airmail Parcel hint 2

Here is a hint. More will be revealed on Opening night in September

 

 

My first solo art exhibition

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My first solo art exhibition. It is small but it is all mine.L1100034

My local East Melbourne Library provides display cabinets for residents to book for a month at a time for exhibitions. With the encouragement of friends, I booked a space for August. Then, with the incredible guidance and assistance of my good friend Louise, (curator and exhibition designer) we planned and then set up my display.

THE PLANNING

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This took many hours and the time that we spent planning paid off.   I learnt that there is a lot involved in finding a theme, keeping focus and using the space of the  glass cubes that make up the cabinets. I cut 12 squares of 30 x 30 cm paper (the number and size of each shelf) and spread them out over the floor at home . I then decided what should be placed in each shelf. We took it all down to the library last Saturday, making slight alterations on the day .

All along, I had visualised how I wanted my feather and nests sketches to be exhibited, and the final display exceeded all of my expectations.

The theme of the exhibition was based around the drawings I have had printed as Greeting Cards and envelopes (which are available for sale on my Etsy site). They include feathers, nests, library books and ladders and snails.

BOOKS

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There is one display cabinet featuring library books and ladders.

I tried to add as many relevant sketchbooks as possible to the display as well as the finished drawings  on loose sheets of A4 paper as I am really a sketchbook artist.


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FEATHERS, NESTS AND SNAILS

I also wanted to include some of the original objects that the drawings were inspired by.

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I have already received some lovely feedback from the library staff.

I hope that you have enjoyed strolling through my first solo exhibition with me today. It is very big event for me and I very proud of my exhibition.

Drawing on envelopes – 4 weeks to go (and other travel sketches)

It is only four weeks until we leave for London on holidays. And here is this weeks envelope to my interstate travelling companion.
Royal  Albert Hall .This is just around the corner from where we are staying in London, so we may see it often – Very exciting ! This is drawn in watercolour pencil on a heavy cream envelope. You can see the texture of the paper in the scan
And my travel drawing this week .
A little bit of tweaking to the perfect sketching shoulder bag . I bought my Hedgren bag just over a month ago and wrote about it and sketched it  
I have been wearing and using my bag daily, and kept getting confused as to which of the front two pockets held my pencil roll and which holds my Moleskine sketchbook. As there are only two pocket on the outside, you would think it would be hard to get that confused !- and I need both for the sketch anyway .  But I often want to grab my sketchkit quickly as I see an opportunity to sketch , and want the sketchbook and only one pencil.
Any way all problems solved today – I attached a very used pencil to the zip pull of the pocket that holds the pencils .
I got this idea from my pencil brooches. I have been using watercolour pencils for about 6 years and have not thrown any of the used stubs away. They have been on so many adventures with me! In the last year I have been making brooches and magnets  from my used pencils. At the moment they are just for me to wear (which Is why I am not turning them into any other sort of jewelry) But I am getting together a bit a collection now and may sell them one day …..I wear the brooches to any sketching event or when I am out on weekends. The brooches are a great talking point too. People are fascinated that they are the real thing and were actually used to draw.