sketching every day things


Lyra skintones set of coloured pencils - swatches

I really like this set of Lyra skintones coloured pencils - if doing a portrait I'd want to add at least a deep dark blue to help with the cool darks and probably other colours - but they are lovely for sketching with in a mono/limited palette way.



This was a quick demo sketch of a jar containing erasers and a pencil sharpener from the art cupboard at college. It's good practice to do observational sketches of every day objects and shows students that almost anything is worth drawing :)



and this was my cup of tea that went cold while I sketched :)

I'm hoping to get on with painting this weekend.


.

Comments

Shirley Anne Sherris said…
Hi
As you have illustrated - everything makes a picture if studied closely. I used to do this with the children I taught - using just pencil and shading. They were always amazed and thrilled at how good their drawings were when they had finished them.
The pencils you have used are lovely - so many fabulous materials out there - it's hard to resist them. My wish list gets longer and longer.
Look forward to the next stage of the seascapes.
Cheers
Shirley
1:43 am
vivien said…
Mmm I know what you mean - my wish list is horrendously long!

the volume of stuff I already have is equally horrendous - as is the need to tidy and organise it better!
1:25 pm
Becky Mairi Farrell said…
Those pencils make a lovely pallette. Drawing everyday objects is one of my favourite things to do, and haven't had much time for recently. Thank you for the nudge, some time for drawing is just what I need.
3:12 pm
vivien said…
Hi Becky

I like the palette too :) I only discovered them through one of the colleges I teach at - I've not seen them in an art shop but did find them online.

(Lyra Skintones for anyone interested)

I had a look at your blog and there's some lovely work - your lizard etching is great
7:39 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Eye, Urban/Rural exhibition

Image
Vivien Blackburn's work in the Urban/Rural show We've just hung a group show at the The Eye Project, Urban/Rural show.  If you want to come and see it it's on for a month - well worth seeing, 11 lovely artists and some fabulous work. Those large canvasses are 40 inches square. There are rural landscapes, flowerscapes, intriguing textile work including a large knitted building, abstracts .... something for everyone. It's in the gallery below the cafe in the Adult Education Centre at the top of Wellington street, Leicester, opposite Fenwicks.  Meet the Arttists day is Saturday 1st April 10-2.  Come and have a chat with us?
Read more

paint or sketch trees: challenge

Image
Close up of tree bark, Marqueyssac, France. photo: Vivien Blackburn Another challenge Rather than another update on the seascapes I've decided to run another challenge in response to feedback from the trees post. Feedback from people said they got a lot out of the skies challenge and I'm sure you will out of this one :>) click the image on the left to link to the original post on trees and you can check all posts with the tag 'trees' here The challenge is to produce sketches of trees done from life. These can be: close ups, extreme close ups, whole tree, part of tree, distant views - whatever you want. Style: anything goes - photorealism to impressionism but with underlying observation Medium: your choice, anything goes :>) oil paints, acrylics, watercolours, mixed media, charcoal, graphite, coloured pencils, pen, oil pastels, pastels, pastel pencils ....... etc etc etc Timescale: we'll finish at the end of July and I'll post links to your blogs t
Read more

playing with watercolours and coloured pencils

Image
This is a page of watercolour studies of pansies, not intended to be 'a painting', I did a while ago that I came across. It's a grey rainy day and the light isn't good to get on with the canvasses so I decided to try to pull it together as a composition. I used a bit more watercolour and coloured pencils and cropped it and added the soft blue green background to cool it down a little - the colours felt too hot. The deep dark pansies were really velvety and intense and maybe not the colour scheme I would have set out to use with the orange and pale yellows - but the background helps to knit them together. Bringing the soft mauves into the darker flowers also helped. I also took another look at a mixed media woodland that was unfinished and worked a little more on that. It has a little oil pastel in the early stages, watercolour and then coloured pencils.
Read more