More sketchbooking

I’ve had a bit of a run on the sketchbook, there were no other requests pending so it has been a good time to experiment and do some drawings for myself.

In the last Sketchbooking post I showed the tulip and bee, and the peony. One stippling, one hatching. This time there are another two completely different ideas.

First I tried an architectural scroll, sometimes likened to acanthus leaves, from classical designs. I stippled the background shading, but wanted to try hatching lines for the contours. I wasn’t sure if the two techniques would work together, but I was pleased with the overall effect. What do you think?

The second is a rose. This time I thought the subject needed a softer look, so it was back to stippling all the way. The paper of the sketchbook is not the best quality and consequently the stippling was not as sharp as it could be, so I outlined the rose for better definition.

As the rose was quite life-like I added leaves in as natural looking way as I could. This was an interesting exercise as I was working from memory. Again, I am satisfied with the finished piece – but want to try a similar picture with hatching lines.

I will put away the sketchbook for a while as I have to attend to other projects, but I have enjoyed the experience and found it useful. So these won’t be the last sketches, watch this space.

Sketchbooking

I’ve been doing ‘stuff’ in my sketchbook! I never really bothered with sketchbooks, I thought of them as a bit of a waste of time, but actually, it has been useful.

I go to a group meeting, the Tuesday Craft Collective, a bunch of arty villagers getting together for tea, biscuits, chat – and someting arty-crafty. All very pleasant and simple. As I usually draw or paint I needed something easy to transport – the sketchbook and a handful of pens and pencils. Ideal!

I started by stippling a tulip, which I coloured with pencils, then I added a bee, just for fun.

Next up, I wanted to try hatching/crosshatching. It is a fascinating technique with a long history, but no longer popular. I drew a peony, and I am pleased with the result.

Using the sketchbook is a way of practising techniques without the pressure of completing a finished piece.

More to come …

Hatching still life

I’ve started a large still life with acrylic on canvas, it consists a metronome, a bottle of pastis, an overturned glass over a blue draped cloth. Trouble is that, like with many projects I get sidetracked with other ideas. This time I wanted to try the picture in pen and use hatching, so I put aside the brushes and paints and got out the pens.

This is the result of the experiment. I didn’t know where the end product would go. I tried to match the hatching with each area in real life. I don’t think it’s too bad considering I usually use stippling for shade.

Things I would do differently include:

The shading on the dark side of the metronome. Next time I would hatch in a direction that would suggest the vertical.
Shading/brightness on the glass need better effect. Must work on that.
Background needs work.

Let me know what you think.