Delighted to get out of the studio this week for some open air sketching. I’d just managed to finish the last of my big Christmas commissions and I had some new materials to play with!
What’s in the Travel Bag?
I’ve got some lovely portable art materials – for capturing those drawings on the go, with lots of UK City trips planned to add to my #PaintedCities series. It was great to start playing with watercolour again, but I think my big new favourites are these Derwent sketching pencils. I’ve been using lots of mechanical type pencils in the studio for laying out compositions (more controlled and less smudging), but these have a wonderful round feel in the hands and are much more expressive. Can’t wait to roll out the really dark and soft leads for some atmospheric sketches. Here’s the new additions to the wandering artist’s satchel:
I enjoyed working on the Artist magazine article earlier this year and i’m getting a few more questions about it all… so i’m going to start sharing a bit more of my process and the materials i’m using.
Out Here in the Field
It’s been a few months since i’ve done any drawing outside and I seemed to have picked the coldest day of the year so far to get back into it! fortunately the double layered glove technique did the trick and I was able to get some sketches in around Winchester Cathedral. The Christmas market is always bustling at this time of year and the atmosphere is very festive. I’ve painted the view below, of the front facade between the trees, plenty of times and it’s becoming a bit of a tradition 🙂
I also managed to capture a few compositional scenes in the market around the Cathedral Close before it became too busy. Here’s one of those sketches which I also managed to get some colour into, with the market stalls nestled between the buttresses.
I’ll work a couple more of my sketches up in the studio next week… either into little canvases or maybe even create some cut paper scenes from the sketches themselves.
Proper Art Supply Shops
All these portable art Materials are from the London Graphic Centre in Covent Garden, somewhere i’ve wandered into a few times during my walkabouts in the city. I don’t think there are any creatives out there who don’t enjoy spending (too much?) time stroking art materials in proper art supply shops… and this one is excellent.
