Free Lines

Funny how, after even a short while, the things that we learn in an exciting workshop start to fade away. So we just have to keep practising. And accepting when it doesn't all work out, when some elements are too heavy, or simply wonky. But still enjoy the bits that work! 

Random - mark making

 Random mark on a page that was used to test pens. I quite like the energy, even if it's dispersed..

And this one was done by pushing a coin around the page with a two fountain pens, inspired by Sketching Playlab. And then added colours that were sitting in my palette. One is Cascade Green. Another is Green Gold I think. I'm not sure what the orange is, and the blue is probably a phthalo. Sometimes it's good to be random.

The same colours again, with Green Gold pushing the other colours around. And a bit of lifting with an eradicator brush.

More paint on top of water-soluble ink. Then black ink applied with a Kakimori brass nib. I do love a strong black!

Cats

There's no stopping me now. I'm trying all the things that I think I can't draw well. Ink bottles, mugs, and now, cats!

I started with Willow from a photo.

Here are a few of Sumi from life. He was in the middle of his ablutions.

And two of Sumi from photo

Experimental mugs

Another thing I find hard to draw is mugs. So I applied the Free-your-pen method from Sketching Playlab and had a great time. Both drawings are the same mug and little measuring bowl. It was experimental, as I said. I kinda ran out of room for the mug on the right, but then I started playing with coloured pencils and I applied that to the drawing on the left and it was very enjoyable and pretty.

No idea what the colours in my palette are. I was using up colours that have been in a secondary palette for a few months. They're nice colours. I must check what they might be. 

 

Some call it loosey goosey

I don't know if it's a term that's widely used in the English language, but Brendan calls it loosey goosey. In my head, I see Lucy and a goose, so I'm not sure exactly how I feel about the expression. But I know for sure that in terms of drawing something that I normally find hard to do, ink bottles, this approach from Sketching Playlab was extremely helpful. Scribbling in and around the object rather than drawing the object's outline helped me draw better. Wonderful for someone like me who doesn't think of herself as very good at drawing. It was like the shapes appeared out of the jumble of lines and scribbles, in pencil, brushpen and watercolour. I must try this with fountain pens!

Sketching Playlab - the best meditation

Drawing as a form of therapy! Sketching Playlab with Suhita Shirodkar and Paul Wang. Look at how much fun it was!! I'm not going to share how we got there. You'll just have to look out for more Sketching Playlabs by contacting Suhita and Paul.