Headings

I would like to include a few headings in my sketchbooks, but I'm struggling with big writing and spacing. I like the attempts at the bottom the best, I think. 

Random sketches - Inktober?

A few sketches done on the Luas or from Sktchy whenever I get a chance! I don't do Inktober, but I do draw with ink all the time!

Pilot Ina Ho ink is one of my favourite colours! I added grey marker when I got home.

Pilot Syo Ro ink and some blue added. I am quite random in my ink experiments.

And sometimes, all I have the energy for is to draw a pen!

Cat and dog

It's over a year that I've been sketching in my diário gráfico by Firmo. It's not my only sketchbook, but it's the one I turn to when I know my time is going to be limited. I love how the pen glides on the paper. And it can take some watercolour. An ideal sketchbook for me at the moment, when I'm snatching sketching minutes when I can. And when I'm stuck at home with a cat on one side of the door and a dog on the other, that's what I sketch! The quiet moments. And the crazy ones. When they're constantly moving and impossible to capture! Fountain pen (Sailor Fude, Pilot Kakuno) and Ecoline markers. I tried an alcohol-based brush marker too, but the cat didn't like the smell one bit!

I'm really happy with this one!

Waiting at the dentist

I don't do Inktober. I've tried a few times, but never stuck to it. Maybe because there are so many people around the world who take part, I don't feel a strong sense of community. I much prefer the #OneWeek100People and #DirectWatercolor and #30DaysOfArtWithAine, smaller, more engaged, communities! But I sketch in ink a lot. I do love my fountain pens, mostly my Sailor Fude 55 degrees. I just got some brown ink for it, so I'm exploring how I can use that to best effect. It's definitely softer than black, and warmer than grey. I didn't clean my pen first, so this is probably a grey-brown mix!

So, here is my hand, while waiting at the dentist! I also did a few faces from Sktchy, but I'm not so happy with those, so I'll spare you!

Timber waiting for kitten to make an appearance

After about 10 days of no sketching, no drawing, I finally picked up my pens again and sketched what was in front of me, our dog and our new kitten. Well, the kitten is constantly moving. We might call him box of frogs! Impossible for me to capture him! I always struggled with drawing our previous cat. The dog was patiently waiting to get a glimpse of the kitten. He's finally relaxing more and not obsessing about the cat so much. But we've got a long way to go before we can play happy family!

So I will spare you all the frustrated attempts at sketching the kitten and give you a photo instead!

And you already know what our dog looks like. He's not quite as fat as he looks in this sketch!

Food and café sketching

Sometimes, you just want to stay indoors and not have to face the elements - particularly when you're wearing a dress and a cardigan rather than your usual jeans and tshirt and fleece! I really didn't have a game plan for this sketch. But I had an appetite - and the Fumbally's Tuscan beans dish was delicious! I was not finding an easy view to sketch so I started drawing what was on the table, completely all over the place and even my shadows were wrong, but I was relaxed and enjoying myself, so they don't all have to be structured and interesting!

After that, I decided I needed to draw more people, following the advice Veronica Lawlor gave me at her workshop in Amsterdam: (I paraphrase) "If you don't draw people, you will improve your skills in drawing other things, but your people will be lagging behind and will always look more amateurish". She said it much better than that. So here is my output (actually, I drew three sets of people but the second one was so awful that I abandoned it!):

Something went wrong with proportions there - I should have changed things around - there were actually 4 people at that table and things got out of hand!

And then the weather looked a bit better and I found a nice spot under an awning where I could stand. And then it started to rain, horizontally! Some days are not meant to be!!

Camden Street, buildings and people

Another Sunday afternoon, another Dublin Sketchers outing. The Luas was busy with people going to the match (All-Ireland Gaelic football final - it was a draw, there'll be a replay in two weeks' time) but we were sketching well away from the stadium, so the only busy spots around the area were the pubs, which were all showing the match on their screens.

Here is what I sketched, a pub that still had the banner for the All-Ireland Hurling final!

And a few people sketches to keep on practising! I love my Firmo Diário Gráfico for these quick sketchy moments!Maybe I should add a bit of colour to some of them? Funny the things you notice when you start doing those quick thumbnail sketches. There was a young woman waiting for someone - I sketched her at the bottom of the first page. When I got to the bottom of the second page, she was still there, still patiently waiting. But by the time I had packed my bag and looked again, she was gone. I hope he/she was worth waiting for!

5-minute sketch

Sometimes, all I have is 5 minutes in a day. And that's OK.

Here are a few samples of what I sketch when there is time for nothing else:

From photos:

Or from direct observation:

Street scene

I haven't settled into a rhythm yet since I came home. So I'm jumping from watercolour to line drawings. Jack of all trades, master of none. But it's all part of the journey!

Paella at Drimnagh Castle

Every year, Pat organises a special afternoon for Dublin Sketchers at Drimnagh Castle - this time it was paella for all. I've sketched Drimnagh Castle before. It's a beautiful 12th century structure, with a moat, gardens and also a fabulous room with an open fire. Having been there before, I didn't feel the need to sketch the castle this time.

Instead, I focused on the meal preparation, with the action taking place at the barbecue - I missed the prepping and chopping! I wasn't in the mood for a complex sketch, so I did little thumbnails and a bigger one.

I still had a bit of time before the food was ready, so I went inside the castle, and tried to sketch one of the windows using the skills I had learned at Reham Ali's workshop in Amsterdam - well, it didn't turn out too good - and I got frustrated with it, which didn't help one bit, and I am useless with hatching so I don't even know why I tried. Must try again some time!

Windows

I did a 10-minute sketch while I was on location to get the main shapes. And then I started the tedious process of hatching some evening when I had a bit of time. This is why I'm a watercolour person.

More sunflowers

 I don't think I've ever immortalised flowers so much. Well, I guess generally they fade before I have time to get tired of them! These sunflowers are hardy! They lasted a full week. So be prepared for more sunflowers in the days to come.

Having failed miserably in the direct watercolour approach, I picked up my fountain pen and attacked it from a different angle. I loved how the stems shifted from outside the vase to inside and then again when they hit the water. Proportions are all over the place - my drawing looks like the flowers are standing in a pint glass - actually the vase I have them in is huge. But, hey, I won't worry about proportions at this stage!

Palm trees

Even though we're not having much of a summer, we still have palm trees. Something to do with the Gulf Stream that's keeping our winters mild. Although with climate change, I think the Gulf Stream isn't what it used to be. Hopefully these palm trees will survive, because I really like them. I paint them once a year! I did a better job last year, but this was a quick sketch, and I'm happy how it turned out.

A few more Sktchy people

When there isn't enough time in the day, or energy in me, to paint. 

Notan discovery

I had never heard of Notan until a couple of weeks ago, when Marc Taro Holmes mentioned it in a blog post about his approach to #30x30directwatercolor painting this year.
Basically Notan is a Japanese design concept of light and dark that can be used to help with composition in paintings.

Since managing value contrast is something that I often forget when I paint, this is a new tool for me that will help me ask the right questions. Whether I find the right answers when I paint or not is a different matter, but thinking about composition and value before I put brush to paper is as important as the act of painting itself. You could argue that it's actually more important. And there is actually an app that you can use on the phone to 'notanize' your photos - it basically transforms every photo in a strong pattern of black and white, accentuating the value contrast to an almost abstract extreme. Fascinating! So this is my new new thing!!

More people drawing

Trying different tools for drawing people. Thank you Sketchbook Skool for the inspiration!

Lamy Safari with Pilot ink in Ina-ho

Brushmarker (alcohol-based) 

Fountain pen 

Fountain pen and watercolours 

Brushmarker 

Stage 1 - Brushmarker 

 Stage 2 - watercolours

 Stage 3 - Fountain pen to tie everything together - I'm really happy with this one. 

And then a couple from Sktchy, done in the same way, Ecoline marker, watercolour and pen.

Sketching while waiting

Sketching in a car park. Need more practise. Need more time

Laundry day

Some days, I just don't have time to go out into the world to sketch, so I draw what's in front of me. On this occasion, the laundry.

I have this magic clothes line from Brabantia - It's fixed to the shed's wall and it folds to a neat little package when not in use. The perfect solution for us, as I've been trying to reduce our use of the dryer. Now, that said, we've had such lousy weather that I've had to use the dryer too, but any chance I get, I open the line and I love the smell of fresh clothes, except when our neighbour decides to have a barbecue!

Travel sketches

Recently, I was in Belgium for a few days. I didn't get a chance to sketch in my hometown, which is a shame, as it's really picturesque. But I did sketch a lot at airports. And even on the Aircoach from the airport - traffic in Dublin was so crazy it took me  as long from Dublin Airport to home as it did to fly from Brussels to Dublin! I had brought minimum supplies - one fountain pen (with my current favourite ink - Pilot iroshizuku in ina ho colour) and one multicolour pencil. And my Firmo Diário Gráfico!