Author Archives: alissa

drawing on envelopes

There are many sorts of “mail art” projects out there in the artworld.

Mine are my drawings that I do on the front of envelopes. Most of them are for posting letters to my mother who lives interstate.

We are going to London and Barcelona in 11 weeks time. Here is the first of the “countdown envelopes” , posted this week. I am lucky to have few more weeks to go to will do this to keep up the excitement (as if that is needed!) .Maybe I will draw a red telephone box next week (do they still have them in London??)

I draw directly onto the envelope , using watercolour pencil or ink or both, the same as I use everyday in my sketchbook. The “heavier paper ” of the more expensive envelopes takes the watercolour better. When I use the everyday cheaper envelopes, I just make sure that I don’t add too much water so the envelope paper doesn’t buckle. And amazingly enough , they have all survived the journey though the Australia Post system without the colour running .

They are a joy for me to draw, mostly because of the surprise that the person who receives them will get when they take it from their mailbox!

Of course, drawing on an envelope means that I will have also had the joy of writing a letter. I have a lovely fountain pen that I use. Unfortunately, my handwriting does not live up to the beauty of the pen. However, it is the intention behind the letter that is important.

Before I post them in the mail, I scan them and put then on flickr (with the address blanked out) but have to wait until after the person has received it, otherwise the surprise is ruined.

Sometimes my drawings have a theme . For example

In the lead up to a fun run that we were going on

To friends visiting Sydney

And sometimes the drawing has no reason at all..

gumleaves

beans from the markets

a magpie

to my nephew – he had only just discovered how the postal system worked and was fascinated to get a letter just for him. He then posted me a letter (with Nana’s help)

And finally my special project – SNAIL MAIL– to be printed and sold one day.

see all of my drawings on flickr

Urban Sketchers Australia – Newtown

On a damp day in Sydney, nineteen sketchers met in the inner city suburb of Newtown for an Urban Sketchers Australia, Sydney event. We immediately headed a block away from busy King Street and scattered in the backstreets, sketching together and in small groups from 10 to 12.30.

Newtown is an inner Sydney suburb that went through (and still is going through) a transformation from a working class to a trendy cosmopolitan one. It is eclectic, individual, and unusual. It has a wide variety of 19th century commercial street architecture and includes a vast array of styles from high Victorian gothic, Queen Anne revival and Italianate. There are restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels, retail stores, book shops, fashion designers and food shops.

In the area we were sketching in there we got to see the back of buildings with their pipes, chimneys, garages back stairs and doors. The buildings are higgledy piggeldy, and the rooftops are so interesting to see. It was difficult to know where to begin.

On the day, the weather chose my scenes for me.

The first ink drawing was a quick one, just to set the scene for the place and day. This is how I like to approach a day sketching outside. I would like to show where I am first before throwing myself into the detail. I am trying to give context on my page by doing this. It is something that I discovered when doing my Sketchbook Project last year “Travelogue: Paris 2007”. I made a sketchbook of my 2007 holiday to Paris, as if I was actually there, but from photographs and diaries. In 2007 I was not drawing as much as I do now, so I wanted to think about what I would have done, and prepare for future travelling. I noted down my thoughts in the sketchbook along the way.

I will get to try this in July when I go to London and Barcelona !

I was able to sketch the above scene sitting down on a paper bag (wet ground), with a umbrella propped up over me, held under one arm. It rained lightly for about half of this first drawing. Not enough rain to wet the paper, but enough to make it damp. I could still draw in ink on in. Then I added watercolour pencil from the brush (as if the paper needed more water on it!). Then the rain stopped, I put my umbrella away and finished it.

I walked a few meters to sketch the pink building in the photo below , but was so overwhelmed by it, that I turned around and saw drew this park bench. It is obviously someone’s home, with its collection of flattened cardboard boxes. I think that we were all very aware of it all morning. I had been drawing the backs of houses previously and this was someone’s entire house. Very sobering.

It was then suddenly 12.30 . We all met up to show and discuss our sketches and to go to lunch. See the other people’s results from the day as they go online over the next week at Urban Sketchers Australia.

Our sketchbooks – all shapes, sizes and styles

Urban Sketchers in Sydney in front of a building that many people sketched on the day

I sketched my lunch and also did some more sketches on the train on the way there and back

Urban Sketching Symposium in July

The 4th Urban Sketchers Symposium is being held 11 to 13 July in the city of Barcelona this year.

And I am going !!

The Urban Sketching Symposium (USK) is a three-day workshop at which artists from around the world meet to draw and learn together in the host city. It includes field sketching sessions, lectures, panels, exhibits and artists demo

The event is organized by Urban Sketchers, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising the artistic, educational and storytelling value of on-location drawing, promoting its practice and helping sketchers around the world connect with each other.

Three months to go …

For me, (I work as a Researcher in my day job) the preparation for a holiday is an exciting and important part of the adventure. Yesterday, I borrowed some travel books from the local library. I am only in Barcelona for a short time and I imagine that I will be swept away by the workshops and meeting so many people .However I wanted to look at books and maps of where we will be out and about sketching and staying and read up the city.

The planning begins

I don’t actually look the drawing I have made of my new look. No one would recognise me from this, but the haircuts look like that – you get the idea

However, the majority of my holiday is in London, so I also borrowed lovely books on London to read. I have been there a few times and love it, but it is so exciting to borrow the books and to start reading them. It feels like the holiday has already begun. I already have a bit of idea of what I want to do in London and I hope to even meet up with some UK sketchers. Of course, I will be sketching my entire holiday continuously in my sketchbook journal.

I am reading Danny Gregory’s “Illustrated Journal” for further inspiration (as if that was needed!!) and looking back at my recent Sketchbook Project “Paris 2007” as well.

Last Monday three sketching friends & I stayed up til midnight Australian time to register in the USK workshops in Barcelona. We then spent half n hour on the phone to each other on a high of excitement

The workshops were full in two hours and registration closed. I am sorry that people missed out. It is obviously becoming a more well-known and sought after event each year. For those that will be there – I am really looking forward to meetng you.

Attending this Urban Sketchers Symposium has special meaning for me as I had booked and planned to go the 2^nd Urban Sketching Symposium in Lisbon in 2011.
I then got very sick and had to cancel (see my hospital stay drawings in the tab above or the full set on flickr) .However, I was honoured and overwhelmed when on her return from Lisbon, Liz Steel presented me with a mini Moleskine she had organised . It was filled with sketches made on location by many of the participants and instructors – these people I want to meet and thank. You can look through the whole sketchbook and the lovely flickr comments I received. I get teary when I look at it.

But looking forward to this year, already we have had a few discussions , with hints and tips from Liz (as a seasoned Symposium attendee and instructor) to Chris & I about how approach the days and make the most of our time there. And we have been asking her plenty of questions. The most difficult part of the Urban Sketching Symposium will be now to meet so many people in just the short space of time!

Illustration Friday – EGG

Illustration Friday(IF) is a weekly illustration challenge. A topic is posted every Friday and then participants have all week to come up with their own interpretation. If you go to the IF website, you can see how people interpret the theme and all the different styles and mediums they use.

This week’s theme is EGG ! A great one for Easter, but I could think of lots of there ways to illustrate it. I did not have ay Easter eggs at home, but as soon as I was given this egg by Trish & John I knew that I had to draw it. And then I thought of other eggs. If I had more time I would have drawn a whole nest full of them

Have a look at a sample of my previous Illustration Friday in the tab above. ALL of my previous responses to challenges are on flickr

I tend to use IF challenges to draw from photographs. Usually I draw objects from life or use my sketchbook journal to capture people and places and events in my day.

watercolour pencils in Moleskine watercolour sketchbook

FABER CASTELL

Ivory

Walnut Brown

Burnt Umber

Cool Grey VI

my urban sketching weekend

My urban sketching weekend

Over this four day Easter holiday I had the opportunity to catch up with some sketching friends who I had not seen in a while. We originally met as part of Sydney Sketch Club and now have our own social get togethers as well, where we catchup on life, families, travel. And of course, we ALWAYS have our sketchbooks with us. On Saturday Kaz, Meegan, Lisa & I spent the day in the Sydney city, sitting in a well-lit area of a shopping centre food court, with views out to the park. We each brought along a sketching project we were working on and ate, sketched, and talked from 10 am to 3 pm. It is great motivation and inspiration and fun.

My project that day was to do some Urban sketching. In the past week I have been doing a few more “studied drawings”, and wanted to use the time on Saturday to capture my day and my city in my sketchbook.

(If you look at my flickr site you will notice that I have a few different styles of art, and it all depends on where I am , how I feel, how much time I have, as to whether I do a quick sketch or a slow drawing or combination of the two. Sometimes it just evolves! I enjoy both)

in the food court Westfield, Sydney CBD

On Sunday I met another sketcher, Kathy, for brunch. We are a very social lot!

I know that I am very fortunate to have people to sketch with. I tend to take this for granted sometimes and when I get a comment on my flickr site from people who live in smaller towns or do not know other sketchers, it reminds me how lucky I am.

Hot cross buns

my hot cross bun as promised…

Happy Easter !

and here it is as a work in progress … drawn over an evening . I never time how long a drawing takes me, as I do not have a “start” and “finish time”. I have the tv on in the background, check my emails, and get up and down to do other things around the house while I am drawing.

Here is a list of the watercolour pencils I used for this in my Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook

DERWENT

Burnt Yellow Ochre
Raw Umber
Orange Chrome

FABER CASTELL

Ivory
Burnt Ochre
Burnt Umber
Walnut Brown
Light Yellow Ochre

Happy Easter

Happy Easter to all.

Each year I draw an Easter card for my mother and also somehow find another treat to draw in my sketchbook. This year is no different .

This is a china rabbit that I have .He comes out and sits on a shelf at Easter. My grandmother remembers that it belonged to her mother and it was there about the time she was married – so maybe in the 1940s.

I also have a hot cross bun that will be drawn and eaten and added to this page over the next day or two….check back. I will see how long it lasts , sitting there temptingly on the kitchen bench in its brown paper packet.
I have four days of relaxation, socialising, and drawing ahead of me . Wonderful

This is the same rabbit when I drew him last year

Watercolour pencil on Fabbriano paper.
03Apr12 Easter bunny, a photo by alissa duke on Flickr.

and other previous years Easter drawings

05Apr12 hot cross buns !, a photo by alissa duke on Flickr.

06Apr12 hot cross bun - one bite by alissa duke

06Apr12 hot cross bun – one bite, a photo by alissa duke on Flickr.

04Apr10 Easter rabbit - oops by alissa duke

01Apr10 Easter rabbit, a photo by alissa duke on Flickr.
04Apr10 Easter rabbit – oops, a photo by alissa duke on Flickr.

12Apr09 Easter Day, a photo by alissa duke on Flickr.

About me and my watercolour pencils

Welcome to my new blog!

My blog is starting subtly and quietly. I am still adjusting and added to it , but, I have begun!

I live in Sydney and love to sketch and draw. I have been drawing since high school, but became more serious about it in the last few years. It is now a part of me and my life. I will do a five minute sketch at a bus stop, for a half hour or two hours while having coffee or complete a drawing over a few nights at home.

I carry my sketchbook, pencils and pen with me everywhere. There is always something to draw! I try and make the most of every opportunity.

Please click on the About Me tab above for more information.

Over the past four years I have been scanning all of my drawings to flickr to share, so please drop by and browse through them all . http://www.flickr.com/photos/alissaduke/

I have started this blog to allow me to explore and explain my sketching and drawing a bit further.

What do I use?

My sketchkit includes:

Watercolour pencils

I use watercolor pencils (both Derwent and Faber Castell). Watercolour pencils are coloured pencils that are made of a soluble pigment, so, if and when you add water to the page or the pencil tip, the pencil the pigment dissolves and becomes like paint. I add water with my waterbrush (which has a reservoir of water) when I am out and about, or with paintbrushes art home.

This past Saturday at Erin Hill’s sketch class . Over lunch, I did a demonstration of how I use my pencils, by drawing a teapot! I was overwhelmed with how interested the students were in this technique. I also really had to stop and think about what I do, step by step. That has prompted me starting the blog with this post!

How I use watercolour pencils

Sometimes I lightly mark out where I am going to place the object or scene on the page in a HB or 2B pencil, just to make sure it will fit on the page and I also think where I am going to add my written notes on the page.

I then lightly and roughly sketch in lines and areas in the colour that am going to use in that area – there is usually one or two main colours. For this teapot it was Faber Castell Cool Grey III. I blocked out main areas in that colour and then lightly and loosely brushed on water. For example, I added a heavy area of colour on the left hand side of the teapot and then used the watercolour brush to pull some of the colour acoss the page, getting lighter as it moved away from the edge. The plate is Faber Castell Burnt Sienna . I also used Cool Grey VI in the shadows

I add more pencil colour in specific areas, and water, building up the colour over the page.

To get finer detail or more intense colour I take pigment off the tip of the pencil with the water brush. I also add finer details and any crisp clean areas to the page directly, with a finely sharpened pencil.

I use a combination of all of the above – making it up as I go along . That is why I love to use watercolour pencils – they can be blended, layered, provide rough texture or fine detail.

Pen

I also use a Lamy Safari Joy ink pen (with a cartridge of Noodlers waterproof ink). Sometimes I don’t add any colour and other times I put in a light wash or heavy colour.

Sketchbook

I use a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook 21 x 13 cm . I only use one sketchbook at a time starting at the first page and work through to the end. I have completed 30 sketchbooks since I began using them in December 2009. It suits me perfectly at the moment. I love the way they look sitting lined up on the shelf (can you tell that I am a librarian?) . However, I have also have been known to sketch in spiral bound notebooks with biro in meetings, and on serviettes in cafés, programs in theatres. Not having my sketch kit is no excuse not to draw! And lately I have been experimenting on drawing on larger sheets of paper.

Sketch Kit

25Aug12 Part two: making my pencil roll by alissa duke

see 25Aug12 Part two: making my pencil roll,

I hope that this has been an interesting start to my blogging world. I look forward to my flickr , facebook and new blogger friends exploring small and large parts of my world through my pencils.

I am in the exciting process of setting up my new blog. I have setup the domain name, formatted the pages, added some images to the pages in the tabs along the top of the page. Tonight (14 March 2103 ) I have chosen few pencil themed drawings that I have previously created to have on the first page of my blog.

(I just have to figure out how to place them on the page !)