drawing

Snow, Rain and Life

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[Stuart arrives at Life Class]
[Outside it’s raining, snowing, and sleeting]
Richard: Hi Stuart, the tutor called, he’ll be late, but the model’s already here.
Stuart: No heaters? No Life equipment?
Model (teeth chattering): I need those heaters, I’m soaking, need to get out of these clothes.
Stuart: Well, bad luck, get on that stage now … 10 minutes ok for you?

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[Tutor arrives]
Tutor: Ok, hi folks, let’s do a pose and then I’ve got an idea for you.
[Heaters are set up]

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Tutor: Hey, the next half an hour, we’re drawing blind.

Stuart: Yeeees, this is what I’m talking about. What a great experience! The result isn’t important, but the act of looking at the model becomes so intense.
Tutor: Now see if you can use anything you learnt in the past half an hour.

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Stuart: Well, I’m not complaining, that was really fun. Used my Lamy Safari “F” nib, Blue/Black ink, in a rough surface, 110gsm, A4 sketch book. The paper really soaks up that ink.

“Charging in” in Class

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Giving my Lamy Safari and the watercolours another chance tonight at my weekly, evening class.

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The “charging in” is a watercolour technique which means you continue an “activated”, washed area with a new colour.
E.g. you mix 3 washes on your palette (me, I mixed a green, a yellow/orange/ocker, and a greyish blue). You start washing an area and then switch the colours and let the new load of wash touch and mingle with the still active area.

Figure Drawing again

Stuart3 Comments

20150804_figure_class_1Wow, … no easel today, no charcoal, no newsprint, just a 4B pencil and smooth drawing paper. Inbetween a stint at watercolours, which actually doesn’t look too bad for a noob like me.

Tutor wasn’t there tonight, so I took over the role of setting the timer, I also sat all night at a desk, which was probably quite hilarious for the other students.20150804_figure_class_2

We begin with three 5 minute poses, then <coffee break>,  then two 10 minute poses, then <small chat (break)> and a 15 minute pose, then <walk around and inspect “competition” break>, 20150804_figure_class_3then 20 minutes for the watercolour (started with 3B sketching, then an obviously non-water-resitant Japan-nib 0.5mm Derwent fineliner and finally the watercolours, that’s where the fineliner ink starts to show its non-water-resistance), then <yawn, stretch and take a break>,20150804_figure_class_4 in the End a 13 minute sketch for me (3B) … and clear up and go home to a glass of Prosecco.

New Model

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DSC03966A very interesting evening with a new model. And this evening I arrived with the idea to do some watercolouring. DSC03967As I am not very experienced with watercolours, I need to do more and more and make mistakes for the first year or so.

DSC03967_2So here goes, after a phase of warming up with charcoal on newsprint, DSC03968one watercolour was achieved during a 3 x 5 minutes spree and a 5 minute break.

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Urban Sketching in Lithuania

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Just back from a 10 day holiday in good old Lithuania.

Visiting relatives, taking in the sites and even a short trip to the Baltic seaside.

Here are the few sketches I managed to get done while there.

(CLICK FOR LARGER IMAGES)

1: from out of a Lithuanian Kepyklele (a bakery)
2: in a small restaurant in the “Republic of Uzupis”
3: an exhibition case in Medininkai
4: view from our hotel room in Vilnius
5: at the Beer Library (Alaus Biblioteka)
6: from the veranda of our hotel in Palanga

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