Month / July 2026

by Leonie Andrews

Finding space

I had one of those ‘duh’ moments this week when several observations just clicked into place for me.

I was watching a sketchbook ‘tour’ video by British artis Lis Watkins (link below), admiring, yet again, her excellent use of white space and the restrained use of detail in her work.

Borrowed from Lis Watkins Instagram account ‘lineandwash‘

Later in the evening I was sketching online with friends and was really happy with the outcome of my sketch of this bowl of peeled limes. Of course I’d left lots of space around it and felt no need to include all of the bowl in my drawing.

A bowl of peeled limes

Obviously I was reacting to seeing Lis’ work and when drawing objects this approach seems a pretty natural one for me to use.

On the other hand when I sketch on location,  wearing my ‘Urban Sketchers’ hat I often fall into the convention of ‘filling’ the page. I think if you look back to my previous post ‘Practice, practice‘ you can see what I”m referring to. I took a photo early on in the process and the sketch was pretty much ‘there’. I then kept going and looking back on it now, I  realise I should have stopped much sooner!

So this week I’m consciously trying to save some white on my page, while simultaneously keeping sufficient  ‘location’ information in my sketch*.

My latest ‘urban sketch’ at a local cafe on Monday.

I am liking the look of this sketch. It’s certainly a challenge to balance both space and location. I’m sure I can do this.

*If you’re not familiar with Urban Sketchers, the international sketching organisation, it’s primary goal is to encourage people to sketch on location, and that location needs to be visible (in some form) in the sketch.

Lis’ video of her sketches from recent travels is linked here:

by Leonie Andrews

Practice practice

I’m continuing on with my new approach to sketching with a flat brush, just to change things up a bit.

I also finally found the time to sketch from the upstairs gallery of one of our local shopping malls looking out to the view outside.

Getting set up with obligatory coffee and pistachio biscuit

I didn’t manage to snaffle one of the window tables, but sitting back from the window probably gave me a more expansive view of the structures outside the window.

First strokes, I could have stopped here
Finished sketch including background buildings

That’s all I could fit in before I had to go. Now I want to come back and do more sketching from here.

by Leonie Andrews

Zoom zoom

I’ve mentioned the Zoom get together I have most weeks with art friends. This time I sketched the meeting itself.

I’m testing out some materials I don’t usually work with. I’m using hot press paper – I generally use cold press – and a flat brush, not my regular round brushes.

The Zoom meeting, that’s my partner at the other end of the table. He also works with the same group.

If it’s a less than satisfying result it’s because I’m forgetting that I’m doing this precisely because I need to get some ‘brush miles’ up. Without practice and learning how to use these different techniques,  I can’t expect to get consistent results.