Sketching

I’ve spent most of my day today outlining what will be my very first attempt at completing a fiction novel. The intent is to pick up where my nonfiction book, which I am currently in the process of trying to publish, leaves off. The locations in my novel are identical to those in my military [...]

The Friends' Room 11" x 16", pen and ink and coloured pencil copyright Katherine Tyrrell Another sketch from inside the Friends Room at the Royal Academy of Arts. This one is slightly larger than the others as we had our mandatory pot of tea after working our way through two exhibitions in October 2007! This is the view from very near the counter looking down the full length of the room -

This is the second of my sketches of people in the Friends Room at the RA. This one was done late afternoon in August 2007, after I saw the exhibition "Impressionists by the Sea". Tea in the Friends' Room, Royal Academy of Arts 8" x 10", pen and sepia ink in Moleskine sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell I particularly like the composition of this one and the value pattern, with a bit of

I noticed this field late last week, when the flowers looked stunning but at the time it was overcast. Due to the heavy rain and very strong winds over the weekend some of the flowers have been flattened but not enough to destroy this colourful display of nature.The pictures above and below (although from slightly different angles) show how the light changed in the few hours I was there - one at t

This week I'm going to post a series of sketches done in Burlington House, home of the Royal Academy of Arts (the RA) in Piccadilly. Drinking tea and drawing people 8" x 10" pencil in Moleskine sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell I'm one of the 85,000 Friends of the RA. I'm a Friend primarily because it means I don't have to pay for exhibitions, don't have to queue for tickets, get to go to

River Thames series:Bankside Shore #2 pencil and coloured pencils in sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell Every time I go to the Bankside Gallery I look to see if the tide is out - and if it is, out comes the sketchbook. I've got a fixation about the view towards Blackfriars Bridge and the 'beach' at Bankside just in front of the Bankside Gallery. You can see another recent sketch in The

Sketching in Hardware 08 a summit on the design and use of physical computing toolkits Attendance by invitation only July 25-27, 2008 Rhode Island School of Design Providence, Rhode Island Sketching in hardware is the process through which we understand the capabilities of emerging hardware technologies. As digital technology moved into everyday consumer products, the economics of mass

Hello everyone. As we’ve almost finish to overview drawing human face, next thing I wanna share with you is drawing human body. Generally I prefer to break everything into parts instead of trying to ’swallow entirely everything’. But this time I’ve decided to make an a little experiment and explain you how to draw [...]

I scanned the plein air sketch on the right below into the computer and then desaturated it and manipulated it a little (above) - and now I'm working on a large charcoal sketch based on it. It was quite windy and the tall grasses were bending and I want to get the feel of this into the bigger drawing. I do like charcoal :>) so I'm looking forward to working on this.I sketched again near where I di

May in England, yellow fields and cow parsley. Sketch. 18x26cm approx Watercolour/mixed media. Vivien BlackburnA watercolour and mixed media sketch of the rapeseed just before it loses it's bright yellow flowers, with the cow parsley billowing in the verges, done from near where the pastel sketch was done.Watercolour, a little work with coloured pencils, white gouache and tippex went into this -an

Below are three examples of sketches I do when out in the field when gathering reference material. My style/technique hasn't changed much since my days at college with either quick sketches or longer more detailed drawings being produced.Above is a 10-15 sketch of an old stone bridge across a small stream in the Cotswold's village of Naunton on an overcast day. Some notes added, in this case, refe

A sketch of the Leicestershire landscape, fields of rapeseed glowing with their bright yellow flowers against the hazy blue distant hedgerows and woods in the evening light and clouds of cow parsley in the fields edge. Pastel sketch in my new hand made concertina sketchbook. Vivien BlackburnI managed this sketch of the local landscape between classes yesterday. It was early evening and the distant

Feathers. Sketches in pastel, pencil, brush pen and coloured pencils. Vivien BlackburnI'm back at work and feeling distinctly convalescent! not up to tackling a large canvas - but twitching to do something.so I sketched thisfeather, which was a present from this little tiger - who has eyes for the pigeons but isn't capable of catching one - so she brings any feathers she finds into the house to play with. Hence its rather raggedy state.I simply had a play with various materials, looking at the feather again and again in pastel pencil, 2B pencil, Pitt brush pen and coloured pencil.With the brush pens and coloured pencil I just decided on an equivalent tonal value of pen for the various greys and blacks of the original and substituted a warm amber/honey for the lightest parts and deeper umb

Here are links to the blogs of those who responded to the paintbrush challenge and the 'my day' challenge - some nice stuff to look at :>)-brush-sorry.html Mr Zip's sketch of a well loved and lived brush some beautiful dogs feature strongly in Robyn's :>) Not 2 Weeks in Another Town by DinahI'll update this as people add to it.

Reading in the Sunk Garden 11" x 8", pencil and coloured pencils in Daler Rowney sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell We visited Great Dixter yesterday - above is the sketch I did which includes a rare sighting of 'he who must not be bored while I sketch'. You can find out about the visit, see more of Great Dixter in Great Dixter in the Spring and hear about the books I'm reading at the

This is a challenge for those who would like to take it up - with a prize for the work I like best.Your task grasshopper, should you wish to take it, is to sketch your paintbrushes. They can be simply laid out in a row - look at Jim Dine's beautiful etching . He also did a fantastic etching of a row of cans with large paintbrushes standing in them that I'd love to own. (any rich sugar daddies out there take note ;>) )I often get the total beginners in my classes to sketch paintbrushes - they can be put right next the drawing area so it's easier to do the hand-eye coordination bit and build observational skills. Gaining confidence in achieving the shape and texture of the brushes - making the hair look like hair and the metal look shiny and reflective etc is excellent practice. I fi

Chokushi-Mon coloured pencils in Daler Rowney sketchbook (8.5" x 11.5") copyright Katherine Tyrrell This is the second of two blogs posts about a visit this week to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. The other post is on my other blog - Japanese Art - drawing the Chokushi Mon in Kew Gardens #1. It about how I designed my sketch in relation to specific aspects of Japanese art and the things I

An old tree stump, A4 size sketch in coloured pencil. Vivien BlackburnAnother sketch done in between teaching - students are finishing off work and there are lulls where they need to feedback so I fetched this tree stump out of the art cupboard - it's about 12 inches high with multiple cut off branches and knobbly bits and a straight side where the saw cut through the major stem. Stem? trunk?? whatever!I actually got the PIF's posted yesterday Karen, Lyndsay and Jeanette - I either got asked to work extra and couldn't get to the post office before closing time - or when I could I forgot! the attention span of a gnat I'm afraid :>( sorry it's been so long.The book can't progress yet due to work and a trip to London to some good exhibitions this coming weekend. I'll report back o

..is my stress reliever. I haven't drawn anything in such a long time, and although I just copied these, I still have a sense of accomplishment. Not to mention that I feel relaxed now..- Calvin and Hobbes, one of my favorite comic strips...Everything on this page, unless mentioned, are copyright of sweetfuzzyteddy (c) 2008.

This post is for anybody who is warming to the idea of sketching plein air this summer - or who'd like to be a bit more comfortable when they do so. I've no idea why it has taken me well over two years to get round to writing a post in praise of my wonderful sketching chairs! ;) Me (in 1992) sat on my first Phillips Folding Chair, sketching the temples on Lake Bratan, in the Bedugul area of

a sketch of a goat (?) skull from the art room cupboard, coloured pencils on rough pale grey paper. Vivien BlackburnStill teaching long hours at the moment and between that and family visits it's tough to find time to paint :>( Last night I'd been invited to talk to a sketchclub about using sketchbooks - after the recent posts here and by others that was easy! They are a nice group, I've talked to them before several times.This is a sketch I did of a goat skull (I think it must be a goat) from the art cupboard at work, done in between helping students. Not one of my 'best' but good practice anyway.

Clovelly Harbour, Devon, charcoal and coloured pencil on beige paper. Vivien BlackburnI've said that I only occasionally work from photos - this is one time that I did.The reason is that I would like to do some paintings of Clovelly and I hate painting directly from photographs. Sketching, simplifying and making colour decisions and then working from the sketch, changing things again, is how I tackle the problem. I'm not a photo realist so I don't want to reproduce the painting. The scanner hasn't picked up all the colours very well, there are blues in the stones of the wall at the front, reflecting the colours of the sea and cool misty blue of the sky.The village is built of rocks from the seafront - huge rocks in the harbour walls and smaller rocks for the walls of the houses and gardens

I've been working horribly long hours again so the canvasses are on hold :>( - but I'm mulling over ideas on where to go next with them.So, I thought I'd carry on talking about sketchbooks, this time about using them simply to record interesting things, practice hand eye coordination and mark making, trying out new materials and mixes of media - the equivalent of practising scales on the piano and improvising in jazz all jumbled up together :>DThis first one is just doodling but even so is practice at getting soft colour changes.I've shown these before, the sketches were done during teaching - the gourd is in the still life store, the jar we keep the erasers and sharpener in. Not objects of beauty - but they were in front of me on the desk and posed interesting problems with ellipses and r

sketches of birch tree bark, done plein air. Vivien BlackburnHow do I use sketchbooks?Using sketchbooks to work out ideas and sketching plein air are very important to me. The plein air sketches are done simply to study scenes or weather or texture or light ....... whatever has grabbed my interest. They aren't intended to be finished pieces for framing, though sometimes they do become finished and are framed. In that case I scan them and keep a print in the sketchbook, part of a series of linked sketches and ideas. The time spent looking intently and studying colour, form, line and light fixes the subject in your memory.These sketches were of the bark on some birch trees that fascinated me with the multiple 'eyes' in the bark pattern. I had no thoughts at all as to what I would do with the

I've been sketching instead of painting this week. Here is one of the sketches that I'm working on for the Glory of Horses Project companion piece. Dan today took a very nice photo of my black colt and I. We are starting to work together now and it's a lot of fun. Not as scary anymore.

Perrot - the first sketch on the Sunday morning pen and sepia ink across a double page spread of my A4 Daler Rowney sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell I've reviewed and updated the page on my website, Pastels and Pencils, which provides Advice about Sketching. Sketching: Information about Tips, Techniques and Toolkits The page provides information for all of you who would like to try to

There’s nothing better than sitting around the Christmas tree with your family laughing your ass off. My sisters and I are usually up chatting late at night which means we’re often up and watching Saturday Night Live together. Over the years SNL has had some great holiday sketches. I wish they were all available online [...]

I sketched at the Annual Open exhibition of the New English Art Club yesterday. What follows are some very quick sketches plus one longer sketch of the panel for the drawing discussions interspersed by various quotable quotes. I invite you to picture me, during the guided tour with past president Ken Howard with my Daler Rowney hardback sketchbook in hand, writing down comments in pen at the

The Tao of Sketching by Qu Lei Lei The complete guide to Chinese Sketching Techniques The Tao of Sketching starts from a different place to other 'how to' instruction books about sketching and sketchbooks. The Introductory chapter provides quotations from various revered Chinese figures and explains about Chinese philosophy - hence the title. Man is ruled by the Earth, and earth is ruled by

David Prentice a watercolour of the Malvern HillsYesterday I had a wonderful day in the Cotswolds at the opening of the new John Davies gallery in Moreton in Marsh. I travelled down 60+ miles from the midlands and Katherine http://makingamark.blogspot.com/ travelled 80 miles up from London and we met for a coffee and a day of galleries, lunch and art-talk :>Dhttp://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.exactlywhatiwant.co.uk/uploads/1153740462.bmp&imgrefurl=http://www.exactlywhatiwant.co.uk/galleries-info.php%3Fid%3D657&h=334&w=495&sz=486&hl=en&start=20&tbnid=QUz9-jcnH-WVdM:&tbnh=88&tbnw=130&prev= the first image is from the Cowleigh Gallery in Malvern, where DP lives. It's a lovely friendly little gallery with some great work if anyone is in the area with a knowledgeable, friendly owner.David Prentice English Air - Black Cap Pastelhttp://www.johndaviesgallery.com/gallery-details.asp?catalogID=5&subCategoryID=&page=2a link to the galle

Eton Mess at the National Dining Rooms 11" x 8", pencil and coloured pencil in Daler Rowney sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell On Wednesday last week, after my Diversity of Drawing Lecture by Prof. Petherbridge at the National Gallery, I took the lift upstairs and had lunch at the National Dining Rooms. This was purely in the interests of seeing what the vantage point was like for sketching

I've been working exhaustingly long hours lately, covering for colleagues on holiday and taking on more classes that I should - so not much time for painting :( . I'm working on the Cornish paintings as much as I can.This sketch was done whilst covering a colleagues class yesterday - the class all had work to get on with and didn't need much input from me so I fished this brittle, dried gourd, with a hole in, out of the art cupboard and sat sketching it with a 4B pencil.The warty strange surface wasn't the easiest but it was fascinating to draw - maybe not a beautiful thing but it was good practice at observation :).

Sunday morning in Mirepoix - without the people! coloured pencil on Canson Mi Teintes copyright Katherine Tyrrell This is a summary of posts on my other blog "Making A Mark" that comment on and contain useful materials for sketching. I mainly use coloured pencils (artist quality and watercolour) and pen and ink. Media A portable sketching kit - watercolour pencils and waterbrushRuss

Before heading out to do our traditional fall apple picking Sunday, I thought I'd share with you what painting tools I take with me on my trips. So here is my tool kit (Top left to bottom right):Super Deluxe Aquabee Sketchbooks (2). I love these sketch books. They come in different sizes and have 60 pages of paper that can handle watercolour sketching very well. Forget the molskins and the other expensive sketchbooks. You don't want to be counting the papers in your sketch book when you are out there and just want to sketch and play. These are head and shoulders above all others. I have even used a shelf-edging as a tight grip for these. I use a 4"x6", a 6"x9" and (not shown a 9"x9")Our local art store also sells their own brand of watercolour blocks and pads. I use these all the time when sketching especially if I know I need a heavy wet-in-wet effect. (5"x7")My trusted glasses (I can't see anymore).My W&N souped-up metal box with 27 1/2 pans.Next are my brushes, pens and penci

copyright Vivien BlackburnAcross the beach, Mawgan Porth 14 inches square, oil on canvas paperA sketch in oil paint done from our window in Cornwall, looking across the beach as the tide was coming in.Done using Griffin Alkyd oil paints - I really like these for plein air sketching as they dry faster. It was done in a Cryla sketch pad - Cryla pads have a canvas like texture and are designed for acrylics but are just as good for oil paints.At the moment I'm working long hours so painting time is really limited :( I need some of Maggie Stiefvaters organisational and time management skills. I'm sadly lacking in both :(.

The Big Draw - Drawing Together in the "Big Picture Frame" with Zandra Rhodes and Andrew Logan 16" x 11", pen and ink and coloured pencils in sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell The Big Draw 2007, organised by the Campaign for Drawing, was launched yesterday with The Big Draw East involving 45 different drawing events in the East End of London. I went to just a few of these and have

copyright Vivien Blackburnpencil in moleskine sketchbookOk I did overemphasise the eyes a little - but only a little. This is my eldest daughter and her eyes are her best feature :). I also overemphasised her nose - ooops! - she has a much daintier nose!That's one of the nice things about sketches - these little idiosyncracies sneak in, slight caricatures, overemphasis or distortion - it's what so often makes a drawing more interesting, to me anyway, than a photograph.It's been a very hectic weekend with a family get together with Sam as the star so no time for anything else and no painting. Katherine http://makingamark.blogspot.com/2007/09/9th-september-2007-whos-made-mark-this.html found a fun quiz on blogthings to discover what colour crayon you are :) I'm a blue one - which is great as I love blues. Our bedroom is blue, the living room is creams with vivid turquoise curtains and cushions and I am inclined to hang my bluest paintings in there - oh dear paintings to match the so

Studies of the view from Fanjeaux in Languedoc Top row: Rough sketch and colour study done on site Bottom row: Drawing and final artwork done in studio copyright Katherine Tyrrell I am curious about how you work. After you do the drawing and decided to do a painting, do you re sketch it on the new paper? Or do you transfer the outline to other paper? Most of the time if I am going to add

The Order Beds 10" x 14" on Arches Hot Press copyright Katherine Tyrrell This is a sketch which I started a couple of weeks ago at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew - or Kew Gardens as they popularly known and finished the next day. It's a view of the Order Beds (in the north eastern section of the garden or no 28 on the map) from the centre of that bit of the garden - looking towards the Temple

quick sketch of moving figures in watercolour, pencil, biro and coloured pencil copyright Vivien BlackburnYesterday I went to the coast to deliver the work to the Neptune gallery. My husband went with me and I decided to sketch - not a good idea! It's not the same as going with friends who also paint - I was conscious of having to hurry up so he wouldn't be bored, the beach was busy with bank holiday visitors, who constantly walked in front of me, moved, put up windbreaks or tents or took them down just as I was going to sketch them ..... not ideal !So I only got this quick sketch done ... not good, a very bad composition as I just sketched people when they held a position long enough and they are both looking out to the left. I didn't have time to consider properly and even though I had my back to the seawall, people came to look, which is distracting. (excuses excuses!) I thought I'd post it just to prove that I did manage to get a bit of sketching done. :) I've added the photo

sketches copyright Vivien Blackburnpastel pencils on sugar paperI picked this feather up in the garden and sketched it in different media, experimenting with the different feel of each medium. I like the pastel pencil version best as I could look at the subtle hints of colour in a monochrome subject.carbon pencilWith the carbon pencil it was harder to get the soft greys and the image is less subtle.2B pencilWith pencil it was possible to get the subtler greys but it hasn't scanned as well :(Now, shall I carry on and do some more in water soluble graphite and watercolour ? charcoal? mmm maybe when I have the time I will.

This post is going to link to all the posts I've previously written about assembling a tool kit for sketching plein air. First off, everybody's idea of what they need is different - there is no one right answer. You need to experiment to find out what works for you. Different circumstances also require different kits - you need to think about where and how long you will have to carry yout kit

I spent the week in Vancouver on business, but my evenings were free except for catching up on business emails. The walk along the sea wall is breath taking there and the northern part of Vancouver with the mountains as its back-drop were just asking to be sketched. I did these two very quickly (sorry no masterpieces here). These were simple impressions of what I saw nothing more.You will notice that the first one has a better composition and overall feel. That is because the second one was done after a 1hr walk and I was so tired and longing for a shower and some sushi! Never go to Vancouver without checking the sushi places. Most are very very good.

Dining at Tate Britain11.5" x 17" pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Daler Rowney A4 sketchbookcopyright Katherine TyrrellAs a treat for Shirley's last visit to London, and following our morning visit to the Turner Watercolours exhibition we had lunch in the Rex Whistler restaurant at Tate Britain. I was able to make the reservation on-line and also made a request to have a place in the restaurant where we could sketch. They did us proud and we sat next to one another on one of the banquette seats at the side and were able to have a good view of the room, its amazing mural around all the walls and the diners. The specially commissioned mural which envelopes the restaurant is titled The Expedition in Pursuit of Rare Meats and was finished by Rex Whistler in 1927. In the mural Whistler presents an imaginary world in which Classical, Renaissance and Georgian architecture sit next to ancient chariots, modern bicycles, and landscapes ranging from the far east, jungles and the pasto

Munstead Wood - Summer Garden8" x 10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbookcopyright Katherine TyrrellGertrude Jekyll (1843-1932) is a very famous English gardener and garden designer who lived at Munstead Wood in Godalming in Surrey. She originally studied botanical drawing at the Kensington Scool of Art and subsequently developed strongly held views on design, form and the use of colour in the garden and was an advocate for the Arts and Crafts Movement. When her eyesight failed, she switched to painting in colour in her flower beds instead and became a much revered and very successful garden plantswomand and garden designer as a result.Her house was designed by a young Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944) and completed in 1896 (see inscription left) while she designed the garden. The University of California at Berkeley holds digitalised drawings for a number of her gardens - including Munstead Wood in its Environmental Design Archives.Lutyens was known as the gre

Oriental Delight 11" x 16", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencil in Daler Rowney A4 sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell I spent yesterday with Julie Oakley of "One Mile from Home" and "Julie's Pictures". Julie has a new blog "A Family Portrait" devoted to doing portraits of her family - aiming for one per day - in the last year that all her childen are still living at home. I'd been

Oriental Delight11" x 16", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencil in Daler Rowney A4 sketchbookcopyright Katherine TyrrellI spent yesterday with Julie Oakley of "One Mile from Home" and "Julie's Pictures". Julie has a new blog "A Family Portrait" devoted to doing portraits of her family - aiming for one per day - in the last year that all her childen are still living at home.I'd been hoping to meet up with Julie for some time and the Private View (yesterday) of the BP Portrait Award 2007 (exhibition opens today - 14th June) provided a great excuse! So we agreed to go but also to meet up for a mini sketchcrawl in Chinatown in Soho first and then have lunch. At 10.00 o'clock we set off from the National Portrait Gallery and walked round the back of the gallery, through Leicester Square and up into Soho so we could sketch Chinatown.An Irish Perspective on Gerrard Street11" x 16", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencil in Daler Rowney A4 sketchbookcopyright Katherine Tyrrell We set up

Sunday Afternoon in the Park 8" x 10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook copyright Katherine Tyrrell I've updated my website www.pastelsandpencils.com to include files (in Word) of the class on Sketching which I taught online in May 2006. I now have a page on the website called "Advice on Sketching" where you can find an article on Starting to Sketch with coloured

I was planning to go out sketching today, but the weather wasn't really good enough, so I contented myself with some sketching in the garden. We have a number of acers in the garden, my DW particularly likes them. I'm not sure what the other one is (I'm not the gardener in our family!), but I like the blue colour. I've also included a rock from the garden, which is this week's EDM challenge! technorati tags: watercolour, pen+and+ink, acer, garden

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One thing I learned today is that I prefer to sketch things that don’t move! My friend Kay and I went to sketch at the Bronx Zoo. We brought just our sketchbooks, ink pens, and small pan sets of watercolors. It seemed that every single animal started moving as soon as the pen touched my paper. I thought one minute gestures in the figure drawing studio were fast, but suddenly those seemed like long poses compared with what we faced today! They were also farther away than the models—sometimes so far away that seeing them clearly was a challenge. Aha! Finally I got to sketch something close that didn’t move—the rhino statue in front of the Zoo Center! *grin* I could do more of these. Camels are a really hard to sketch and don’t stay still at all, and even the bison turned away from us as we started to draw. Next time, I think I’ll focus on the architecture. hehehe…. It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful time enjoying the animals, the

Bluebells sketchcoloured pencils on Canson Mi Teintes paper in Charmian Edgerton sketchbookcopyright Katherine TyrrellYesterday we made our annual trip to visit the bluebell slopes at Emmetts Garden in Kent. They weren't as far advanced as I had hoped - but they were on their way. "He who must not get bored while I sketch" brought his book (Roy Hattersley's "The Edwardians") and even took some photos of me sketching!We sat, looking out at the slopes of bluebells, on a log seat that they've made out of the trunk of one of the trees which came down in the Great Storm of 1987 which caused a lot of very mature trees to be felled. You can see a picture of the devastating damage to the garden on this website - photos were taken from Bob Ogley's book "In the wake of the Hurricane". I've included a couple of photos of me sketching. One of me with short stubby coloured pencils gripped tightly in left hand and one of the view I was looking at. The sketch had some little tweaks when I got ho

#423 Hidden Larger Image. I have been reluctant to post these, scary. I began the abstract sketches in the next bunch while exploring settings in Corel Painter X, so they come somewhat unbidden, yet I am more interested in what comes than the techniques I am using. I do learn, and will soon have a few more favourite “brushes” and “papers” and “media”. I want to honour what simply emerges. Digital art can have such high production values, focussed on technique and rendering and illustration, especially of scifi & fantasy that the format has a look that Kate called stilted, that was the word I was looking for but found it hard to find as technique and skill are often high, and admirable. I’ll post up some explorations of digital art by others that I like, that’d be good! For now here are my scratchy sketches. Sketches are a slight, light step to something else, their life is seen in the context of their journey. ~ Technorati

The photo in this entry is Splendid Rosy. Photographed and edited by me, Lynda Walldez.While exploring my options in sketching projects, I have a few ideas formed about what I want to do. Most recently I have been doing sketches of places more than anything, just when I have the opportunity to focus on my surroundings. I've read a book about drawing flowers in pencil as well, but I need to get the tools of the trade to achieve certain effects.I finally finished sharpening all 132 colored pencils in my Prismacolor Premier set. I even went ahead and organized them by color group. Using them is another story. I'm thinking of ways to use them. Perhaps I can use them for coloring books to practice my blending, or apply them to the drawing techniques from the flower drawing book.I have a few pages filled of my sketchbook, some color sketches, others are just pencil sketches I've done with a mechanical pencil. My brother told me that mechanical pencils are the best for sketching. I tried

I am still sketching! But slowly. Right now working on Otahuna Horse Riding website. Pleased to have got it up & running and now there is more content to get on. Last weekend spent some time with the horses & riders and have sketches coming!

Cats really are extremely uncooperative models - and all that chicken I feed her - you'd think she'd be more grateful. She doesn't like cat food except for the dry cat biscuits and insists on chicken.These first 2 are of the little madame indulging in her favourite hobby - ornithology, it's accompanied by a lot of little yattering noises and twitching whiskers :>)These are very very fast sketches of a moving model who wouldn't keep still at all. The glare on the top left of the second page of images is her telling me to stop staring at her and leave her to wash in peace - not that she'll necessarily return the compliment. It's a lousy drawing because she of course ... moved.This is the dictatorial little madame that the sweet, if sharp fanged kitten. of a few posts back, grew up to be.She's a tortoiseshell tabby and beautifully marked (well I thinks so :>) ) with a beautiful cream and apricot tummy, deep beige socks and dark tabby stripes on her back and rosettes on her sides.

St Pauls and the Silver Birches - a studypencil in Moleskinecopyright Katherine TyrrellHave you ever tried drawing at night? I've done it a couple of times recently when down at Bankside as there are great views (and lights) and, of course, the shapes and values all change from the daytime.The interesting thing about sketching at night is that you can't see much detail whereas the big shapes are so much more obvious. It's becomes more a question of how to crop big shapes than trying to find something with interesting design potential within the context of a very busy skyline with lots of detail.The only drawback at this time of year is it's so cold! I want to know where I can buy a pair of trousers with a thick thermal layer in the bottom bit so anything I sit down on doesn't feel quite so cold! As it is although my top half was snug my rear gets frozen in about 10 minutes flat so my strategy is to sketch very fast - absolutely no more than 10 minutes and ideally only five.So

5x7", double matted to 8x10", Ink and watercolor on Fabriano Artistico hot press rag paper$30 including ivory/gold double mat as shown below, and shipping within the US, via PaypalEmail me if interestedToday was overcast and although the sun was barely peeking through, I couldn't resist an evening stroll at the Rockefeller State Park Preserve. I sat by Swan Lake and sketched for awhile with watercolors and ink, enjoying the pastoral view and beginnings of spring.This sketch is double matted with an ivory outer mat and beautiful gold inner mat, ready to pop into any standard 8x10 frame.

I spent much of today doodling in medical offices. Thank goodness I had my Moleskine sketchbook with me. I sketched in ink while waiting, then added a light watercolor wash later. Here you see my left hand holding the sketchbook as I was sketching with the right, and the basket affixed to the wall for patient forms. Chauffering my daughter later in the day prevented me from painting when I finally got home, but there's always hope for tomorrow!

The View at Breakfast 13th and 14th September 8ampen and black ink and coloured pencilscopyright Katherine Tyrrell I really like sketching when I'm sat at a table waiting to order or for the food to arrive or when I'm inbetween courses - or even while I'm actually eating! However, the latter is reserved for when I'm on my own - such as at breakfast at the place where I was staying in Chatham. It had beautiful gardens which could be seen from the window of where I sat for breakfast. I did the pen and ink drawing the Wednesday morning and then used the coloured pencils on the Thursday morning. I really messed around with this one and used lots of different colours to try and get the effect of the foliage which was looking post summer if not quite autumn. Dinner at Squires, Chatham 12.09.06. 9.30pm On the Tuesday evening, Sally did a slideshow presentation for the workshop people and members of the Cape Cod Pastel Society - which was very well received - but it did me

On Friday, Louise and Kathy were in a workshop all day - with Cecile Baird, Gordon was on airport duty and I was determined to get some time for "proper sketching" in the way I normally do - which essentially means on a much larger piece of paper than my Moleskine. However, I'm in a slight quandary with this post - the reason being that the sketches in question are still sitting in California. I left my Saunders Waterford HP pad behind along with some pastel support - and that's being posted to New England rather than coming back to the UK and then back out there again. Unfortunately I 'd done my sketches on the Saunders Waterford and had left the sketches in the pad! So what we have instead are photos (click for larger version) of: the view (rather limited by lack of car and how far I can walk carrying a chair and kit - this is the car park next to the shopping centre near the convention hotel) the set-up - you see I really do take all that kit out with me when I go

On the pastel workshop weekend, we set off early and then ate breakfast both mornings at Tommy's Family Restaurant at 1409 S. El Camino Real, San Clemente CA 92672 (link to directions below - it's just off the exit from Interstate 5). Louise told me that they're known for their great breakfasts - and she wasn't wrong. Enormous also ought to be in that sentence somewhere! Service is also friendly, fast and efficient. The restaurant is decked out with movie star photos and posters from old films, and iconic images such as Betty Boop - who has a starring role in the centre of the above sketch. And that's a Blues Brother's hand stopping the traffic on the right!On both mornings, I eat my breakfast and sketched in pen and ink in my large Moleskine sketchbook at the same time. The post at the top of the page is the better of the two sketches I did. Louise took photos of me sketching on Sunday - so this is me sketching! Louise is not one to let you linger over breakfast when there'

It's raining here in southern California on the last day of my trip so I thought I might try and do something really sensible(!) and pull together a list of the blog posts that I need to start creating when I get home to London (end of this week) and back to my computer/scanner/software/etc. As has been correctly surmised already, trying to post on the road has proved to be well nigh impossible. On the couple of days I've actually had access to a computer I've also had lots of other practical trip related matters to sort out. So - by way of a tempter - here's a summary of my trip to the south western states of the USA. I'll insert all the blog post links to this summary as I post the entry for each day. [1 October 2006: This blog entry has now been updated to include the final titles and posts relating to this trip and associated hyperlinks.] The preliminary indications of some blog post titles are given below - along with some brief descriptions of the journey and some indicat

The Artwork From Life Forum over at WetCanvas is hosting a sketching scavenger hunt! They have posted a list of 26 items, the first person to sketch them from life (no photo references) wins. These are my first 7 entries, the pitcher is done with a Derwent terracotta pencil, the hat with Aquamonolith pencils and some H2O, the broccoli, the vacuum cleaner, the geranium with Faber-Castell Pitt brush pens, the dog a 2H pencil, the boy at the computer a sepia Chinese brush pen. If you'd like to participate, it's not too late just get over to WetCanvas and sign up. If you'd just like to take a peek at what everyone is doing here's the thread. sketching drawing art

Last year, I visited Venice for the second time as part of a group of artists on a painting holiday. It's difficult to settle to art the first time you visit Venice - there's just so much to see and do. However, last year I visited Venice with the serious intention of making sure I was equipped to do as much work as I could. I even prepared in advance by endeavouring to work out how Monet had tackled painting in Venice - you can see the results in the Venice Gallery on my website. When I got home I wanted to make a record of the trip. In the end I decided to create a thread called "Venice Blog" on Wet Canvas. I described it at the time as the equivalent of one of those boring evenings with the neighbours when they get out all their holiday snaps and tell you all about their recent holiday. But it did help to stimulate my interest in blogging! The great thing about a blog is that if you're not interested you don't have to be here :) so the reality is that people who sketch

This is my first entry in Wally's self-portrait marathon which I guess will be added to the 97 other entries (as of this morning) in the self-portrait marathon gallery.This is a sketch of a reflection of me! I was travelling to Kew in the middle of last month and sketched the reflection in the carriage window opposite where I was sitting on the tube. I was a bit short of models on what is a longish journey and had to resort to drawing myself at times!Drawing on the tube is not easy. Drawing a reflection also makes life just that bit more difficult. However, if you ever feel too precious about getting a line 'just so' go and draw on the tube - you soon learn that really useful skill of 'pencil dancing on the page'. Lines don't tend to go where you want them to so you end up focusing on trying to make the spiders web make some sort of sense - and working very fast when the tube is in a station and isn't lurching from side to side! The lines in the image in the window we

Two very quick sketches of people during the last couple of days:Wednesday: during another visit to the Pastel Society exhibition at the Mall Galleries, I drew two ladies having tea while I also had a cup of tea and some event for that evening was erected around me!Thursday: trying for the first time to sketch owners exhibiting their dogs at Crufts, I decided that this was maybe getting a little too ambitious since I don't draw dogs very often! This sketch lasted about 2 minutes!art , drawing , drawing people , pencil , sketching , sketchbooks