As promised, here is another timelapse video of me sketching with my watercolour pencils.

This one worked out better in theory and in the practice session than when I filmed it but it lets me explain some approaches I use.

It begins with what I use- a Pacific Black Duck feather, two small paintbrushes, Dark Sepia Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencil, Black FaberCastell Polychromos (coloured ) pencil, Staedler sharpener.

I will walk you through what I do. HINT – you can change the speed of viewing by clicking on the three dots. Change Playback speed from Normal to .025

1. For feather drawing only, I start with a Black coloured pencil. This is the only time I use a coloured pencil and not a watercolour pencil. I draw in the spine (rachis) of a feather. Once I have mark this on the page, I don’t want it to move, which is why I use the coloured pencil. Other watercolour pencil pigment is added and I will move the pigment around on the page, sometimes over this mark.
2. I block out the shape, notches and major area of the feather in the colour I am drawing in (ie not HB pencil ), which in this case is Dark Sepia. I just used one colour in this example in the hope it shows the basics. Blocking out the shape also makes sure it fits on the page.
3. I add more colour (ie more pigment) to the darker parts of the feather.
4. I use this pigment to sweep the colour across the feather. It will get lighter and paler.I use this to get a light colour close to that spine.
5. Colour and detail are built up on top of the colour that is on the page. It involves waiting for the page to dry before more can be added,
6. The fun bit is the plume at the end of the feather. You can go a bit wild here,
7. Usually, the final marks are to define individual fine barbs of the feather, the darkening of the darkest colour areas and the hard line of an edge.
8. I sharpen my pencil a lot when drawing feathers – lots of fine details.
9. You will notice I also take colour off the tip of the pencil. This is a way of picking up pigment to add to the page. The pencil tip will get soft this way, so allow time for it to harden and then sharpen again.
10. Controlling the amount of water on the page controls the spread of colour, All learnt through practice.

In this link have “work in progress” photos of drawing a feather from 2010.

I have a series of feather and nest drawings available on my ETSY website.

happy sketching. Let me know how you go.

After a busy week with an art commission, organising my upcoming Travel Sketching with Watercolour Pencil classes, and working full time, I had a long weekend away. It was a whole weekend of sketching with no distractions. After over three years I returned to the lovely Port Fairy. My original connection was through the annual Blarney Books and Art Biblio Art Prize, which I now enter each year. I visited a few times with Angela, a Melbourne sketcher with local connections, and have had an exhibition there.

Port Fairy is four hours by train/bus from Melbourne, so it is more than a weekend visit, which is great because I have to have a long weekend!

I visited Port Fairy to sketch and it kickstarted an idea that Jo at Blarney had been mulling on. And so with three days’ notice, the Port Fairy Sketch Club began and nine people turned up to sketch with me on Saturday. Hopefully the start of regular sketching sessions for locals. It is such a creative community. It was a great opportunity to put sketching in the diary, talk art and just relax. I will join in when I visit, maybe a few times a year.

We only walked one block before finding a suitable subject. Our group spread out over the four corners of the street and the traffic island. Port Fairy is very historic and very sketchable.

I also spent much of my time sketching on and wandering along the different beaches of Port Fairy. Below are some of my on-location sketches. I also collected and drew (on the spot) things found on the beach. I have about six pages of these studies, which are probably a blog of their own.

I have to sketch the lighthouse when I visit.

After a long morning in the sun walking and sketching out to the lighthouse, I spent the afternoon inside Blarney Books and Art. I sat on a comfy couch and sketch the shelves., listening to the bookshop murmuring and saying hello to friendly dogs This is still a work in progress as I add more colour to the books.

My next visit will be in the second half of the year, as there is a lot coming up on the calendar.

I am so happy to announce that my Watercolour Pencil Sketching classes are back after three years. In person in Melbourne!

Book here on Eventbrite

That is my news for this week. It is a big step forward for me. I am looking forward to sharing my passion and knowledge of travel sketching and watercolour pencils.

Some of my blog posts are practical and some are about specific projects. Others, like this one, are just my sketches of the week. Each one tells a story of a time and place. I can look back in my sketchbook and recall them.

The furniture polish was purchased at an antique barn. I had a catch-up and a whole day there with friends, It was not the time or place to bring out my sketchbook. But I now have a memory of the day.

Bananas – too ripe for me and ready to go out. I can smell them and feel their squishyness just by looking at this page. I had plenty of suggestions for banana bread and freezing when I posted this on Instagram.

My local cormorant in the park. I sketch it often.

Purchase of a BIG stack of second-hand books for an art project. I always need to sketch stacks of books in pencil first and make many changes. I have great problems with the perspective, but I am happy with this, for a sketch. I will leave it that. More to come on the art project soon.

Last week I met Patricia, a Brisbane Urban Sketcher who was visiting Melbourne. We met up over two lunch hours at the safe cafe and sketched the view, continuing on the second day.

and that was my week.

Happy sketching.