OR you could give the gift of a set of Greeting cards from my drawings of feathers, nests or library books and ladders to write in or give in a frame.
Not long now….
This is my ‘recipe’ of how I made my new Christmas Pudding greeting cards The cards are available for purchase on my Etsy online store at www.etsy.com/au/shop/AlissaDuke .
Here is the finished pudding ready to consume (or write on as a Christmas card)
The first step was to decide on the recipe. Once I decided to draw a whole pudding, with cream and holly, I gathered my ingredients together.
There was no real recipe – I added a bit of this colour and a bit of that , constantly adjusting intensity and colour. The left hand colours are in the pudding. Some are obvious, “main ingredients”, such as the browns and oranges. The blue ? – there is just a hint in the darkest shadows.
Christmas puddings are traditionally made months in advance. This sketch was begun in September, to have my cards scanned and printed in October and have for sale in November.
Start with the basics
Add more
Almost finished, but the few final touches make the difference.
Good enough to eat !! or purchase and give at Christmas ! I hope that this whets your appetite !
The sketchers included Lionel King visiting from Sydney and a few newcomers, including Colin, a local, who could give us local knowledge of where to sketch – a big thank you !
It was very surreal to be with Angela Williams, Alf Green and Lionel King, as the last time we were in one place together was in Manchester, UK in July this year for the Urban Sketching Symposium.
looking down a driveway/laneway near Upper Heidelberg Road
War Memorial on Upper Heidelberg Road
Above are my two postcards from the morning.
The sketches were laid out on the tables at Hatch, as we chatted and enjoyed their hospitality of tea, coffee and biscuits !
The finished “Postcards from Banyule” were then put in a display cabinet at the Ivanhoe Train Station (work will be displayed for 2 weeks).It is in the area where people buy their ticket or shelter from the weather, so should get a lot of people looking at them. (Ivanhoe is a suburb in the City Council district of Banyule).
On Saturday Bernard Hornblower (sketcher) and Adam (photographer) went to Sandown Motor Racing for the Victorian Historic Racing Register (VHRR) raceday. It was a full day of sketching from 9am til 4pm in chilly (but not rainy) conditions. VHRR cater for people interested in cars from the early 1920s through to the racing and sports cars of the 1990s. We could walk in amongst the pits and sit close to the cars to sketch and to talk to the owners, support crew (ie their friends and family) and the officials at the track. There were lots of interesting people with great tales to tell. And they are all passionate about their car ! It was exhilarating to hear the noise and see these old cars racing around the track, especially if I had been sketching it previously in the day.
Drawing cars is a challenge.
In general, cars in the street in everyday life are hard enough. You think you know what a car looks like ! but when you sketch you really need to LOOK at it . Look at where the wheels are – how far from the door, how close to the edge of the bonnet…
For me, everyday sketching of a car, building, people, objects or my surroundings comes from practicing and thinking about the following concepts:
A few weekends ago I had the opportunity to sketch at Motorclassica Australian International Concour’s d’Elegance & Classic Motor Show in Melbourne at the Royal Exhibition Building with a few Melbourne Urban Sketchers.
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These are the from that day.
Sports cars are even more of a challenge than everyday cars, as they present unusual shapes: from the large, sweeping and aerodynamic to the small and angular.
My method on the day is to make marks in pencil on the pages to show where the car is going to go on the page. I put in some basic shapes and lines (using the concepts I mentioned above) then I take out the ink pen and just start to draw !
Regular readers may recall the recent workshop I attended at Urban Symposium in Manchester on Drawing Cars in the City. What did I learn and put into practice at these recent events? The concept of the angle of the axels and wheels ! It is small but important. A drawing of the body of a car can be wonderful, but if the wheel and tyres are at the wrong angle it stands out straight away. I try to avoid drawing an entire circle or ellipsis of the wheel and give the impression of it (and then let the viewer’s eye and mind fill on the rest of the detail).
I have my other car drawings together in an album on flickr Here are a few of them
There are TWO new Christmas cards to join the four that I already have . These two Christmas images were drawn in the last two month, specifically for these Christmas cards. They were drawn on A4 watercolour paper . I tried to think of colourful Christmas themes that fit within my drawing style. I love to draw food and smaller objects. These two were great fun.
fungi – drawn from fungi on small branches collected in Toowoomba
Squirrel – Drawn from one of many photographs I took of squirrels in Kensington Gardens in London.
Drawn from old keys that I have collected over the years,
Old Law books on the shelves at work.
I have been working on this project for about two months. Four of the drawings are from my sketchbooks over the last few years. It took a long time to decide which drawings would look good on cards and appeal to other people. Just because a drawing looks good, doesn’t mean that it will make a good card.
The excitement of taking delivery and unpacking my new cards
Once again, my local printers Print Together, have reproduced the subtle colours and lines of watercolour pencils. The cards were delivered last Wednesday and I have spent the last few days, putting envelopes inside them and sealing each one in a cellobag. Yesterday I started to take photographs of the cards to put up on my Etsy online store. It was a lovely sunny day, so I went to the park.
They are now available for purchase from my Etsy online store for $AUD 5.50.
I gave the books a new life by drawing on the pages with my watercolourpencils. The image I choose to draw, reflects the words on the page.
“You Can’t Draw in Books?” is now installed as exhibition again at my local library East Melbourne Library until November 26 2016
One of the books I drew in was Memoirs of a Geisha, a fascinating novel. It was a best seller when it was published, but now you can now find a copy in any charity shop in the book section.
Below are the steps of drawing the geisha on the in the book.
I choose the geisha drawing for my flyers, which I have pinned up in local cafes.
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.
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
Midland Hotel, Manchester, with its red brick and terracotta
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.
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 places to visit like British Museum and Library
London is all that and more……………
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.
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.
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