Sketches
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Gatton Wood
I drew this picture a few years ago, and was reminded about it by the snow I saw lying around whilst walking in these same woods today. So this seems like as good a time as any to post a lock-down wintertime scene …
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Tram
I know we now have trams in England again, but to me the sight of a tram on the streets of a continental European city still feels rather satisfyingly foreign. I was pleased therefore to discover there are many trams in Budapest. This particular unit is running along the “Pest” bank of the Danube, where…
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Seashell Weekly
Having discovered that I can use my drawing app to “enhance” existing drawings (see Reigate Priory or Brushes for example) I am now tempted to repeat this trick on a great pile of scribbles and sketches that I have accumulated. However, I am just about wise enough to realise that unless my reworking of these…
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Reigate Priory – History
Reigate Priory was originally an Augustinian priory, founded in the 13th century. Following Henry VIII’s dissolution of religious foundations in the 16th century the building became a private residence. The Priory remained a private home until just after the end of the Second World War, when the buildings became a school. Although the extant structure was (re-)constructed after…
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Kanazawa Castle
Castles in Japan are both quite different and very similar to those I am used to back home (in England). So for example, they have moats, big thick stone walls and slits through which to fire at anyone who is attacking the castle, just as I imagine castles must have almost anywhere in the world.…
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Brushes
This started as a simple pen drawing of a paint brush – the brush on the top left is the original. This sketch is one of many drawn quickly during a lock-down art group Zoom call. Given how quickly the sketch was done I was quite pleased with it, but even so it was rather…
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Candle
Not sure there is much to say about this one really. It’s a candle. It’s alight. I have put a lot of graphite on the paper, but crucially I have managed to avoid putting it where it is not needed. End of story I guess …
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Artists Mannequin
I realise that these things exist primarily to improve drawings of real people. They are supposed to guide an artist to help get the right body proportions and realistic limb positions of any people in a scene. However, when they are set up in an action position (such as this one in a running pose…
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Drawing Room
This scene of calm was the room where we rested after one of our days walking a section of Offa’s Dyke. There is a great contrast between the light and dark areas in this scene, which is always an interesting challenge to achieve with only a black pen. The walk was a challenge too of…
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New Boots
An unexpected side-effect of the pandemic lockdown was that we started walking a lot. Well there wasn’t much else we were allowed to do outdoors and we are lucky enough to live only a few minutes from a range of hills covered in walking paths. Of course, if you start walking a lot there comes…
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A Fresh Face
I always feel that drawing a face presents a type of double jeapody. Not only is there an expectation that the face will look real, there is often an equally strong requirement that the drawing actually looks like the person being drawn! This desire for a convincing likeness makes drawing well know personalities particularly challenging,…
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Rambling Rose
We bought this rose at a local garden fete, with a warning from the stall holder that this plant was “a bit of a thug”! I think it is a “Rambling Rector” – a variety more formally described as having “very vigorous growth” and as being “very thorny”. At the moment I drew this rose…
