paintings prints and stuff

error corrected - that doorway, gouache and tinted charcoal pencil Looking at that doorway again, I realised that with talking, teaching and not paying proper attention, I'd got the proportions of that downpipe way out!  I'd been reading it as a dark piece of wall (working from a photo in the warmth  in class on this one and I doubt if I'd have been so silly if I'd been working from life, bad print on typing paper too). So .... it was a case of washing out the offending area to narrow the pipe and then adding the sliver of bricks  and matching the suggestion of the steel shutters.  Thank goodness it's easy to lift paint from the S&B paper because of its brilliant sizing.  So today's class had a demo of washing out mistakes!

Lone figure, city night sketch, December, inktense, coloured pencil and white gouache on black paper, A5 ish I've been meaning to try doing some sketches of the city at night for a long time.  I'm constantly looking at the lights vs the pools of darkness, mysterious shapes and often a feeling of loneliness and emptiness out there, as I drive. This is a first attempt.  It's not a subject I've tackled before - but it's about the same thing that normally interests me - light, lost edges, a sense of place.   It's in a Derwent black sketch pad - another item they kindly sent me :>)  Coloured pencil sinks and loses intensity on black paper - but that's just what I needed to catch the sheen of light on the road, paths and buildings. the black paper flickering through the colour, helping to create the feel of light reflections over a dark surface.  The reflected light on these surfaces is made up of multiple layers of scribbled marks in different colours of p...

Waiting outside the surgery, Pentel Brush Pen, A4 quick sketch Waiting for my mother to have her blood test done - a regular trip - I sketched the view from the car again.   Music on and a sketchpad and I don't mind the wait :>) This one was done with a Pentel Brush Pen - unforgiving but lovely to use.   I decided to use the brush pen as I knew it would be fast - last visit I only got this far and she back out and ready for home ........ sketch done in biro A4 From a different parking space, obviously. It isn't easy to keep lines straight when leaning on the steering wheel is it?

 Biro (ballpen) urban sketches in A4 sketchbook I've had a few sessions of waiting for family while they attend appointments.   Rather than be bored I've taken to sketching from the car while I wait - good practice for perspective even if not an exciting drawing in itself.   I think I'm going to keep this A4 wirebound sketchbook in the car for these times of boredom. and one I showed earlier, part of this series ...... more to follow.

Fosse Road in April, biro sketch Rather than wait for my mother in the dentists waiting room, when I dropped her off for a check up, I sat out in the car sketching. A cheap biro was handy so I used that, which meant no erasing. I prefer my Parker biro' for sketching, it flows much better. On the left there is a terrace of 3 storey Victorian houses, on the right behind the railings are allotments full of greenery, rows of vegetables, old sheds, trees and bushes a breath of fresh air in the city. The road dips under the pedestrian bridge - it used to be a railway but is now a walkway/cycle track that crosses the city and links to the canal towpath as it crosses nearer the city centre. The road is part of a Roman road that went from Exeter to Lincoln in an almost straight line.