Friday night. I was meeting friends at The Westin Hotel foyer for drinks. I arrived 1/2 hour early and had time to order a glass of bubbly and sketch my surroundings.

My initial sketch was of the ornate champagne chiller, bottles of wine and glasses.

 

I then decided to place the drinks in context, so I added the people in the background and walls. This now moves it into an urban sketch as I am documenting a time and place. I then added the staff member as a focal point. My friends had arrived so I stopped this sketch (although I did two others while we chatted) .

I wanted to add colour to the page and realised that I had number of options. At home, I took photocopies of my finished sketch and experimented adding colour. I highlighted different areas of the sketch with watercolour pencil, making them points of interest.

Option ONE – adding colour to the people in the background

OPTION TWO – adding colour to the champagne, wine and glasses

OPTION THREE – adding colour to the wait staff

Which do you think is most effective?