Posts by Leonie Andrews

I am an artist of the landscape of common objects. Discarded items and suburban life fuel my art practice.

December 10, 2014December 10, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Urban Sketchers Symposium, Singapore 2015

It’s just been announced that the Urban Sketchers group will be holding their international symposium for 2015 in Singapore. I’ve been quite envious when I have seen the posts of previous symposia in Paraty, Brazil and Barcelona, Spain so having a symposium just a (relatively) short plane ride away from Oz is really exciting.

At present the website has just been set up and you can easily sign up for email updates.

While things are getting underway you might be interested in seeing what the Urban Sketchers Singapore group is getting up to.

I’m working on my planning for 2015. I hope to see you there!

December 8, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Treading the fine line

Using my Copic Multiliner pen, is certainly influencing my drawing style. With such a fine line I’m inclined to spend more time putting in detail, which in this drawing meant that I took far too long capturing the people and spent too much time working on the background. *Message to self – people first and background later.

Friday lunchtime, friends picnicing at Green Square, Kingston ACT, Copic marker, 5 December 2014.

There is another issue that I’ll also have to work on, the almost overwhelming urge to use cross-hatching! Arghhh! In this second drawing my smooth plastic water tank ended up looking like a piece of 1970’s macrame. The hatching also upsets the balance of the drawing.

Old Chairs near the water tank, Copic Multiliner, 12 December 2014

While I still like the composition this piece didn’t turn out like I expected. I was going to say didn’t turn out like I ‘planned’, but I didn’t ‘plan’ anything about this drawing except for where I was going to sit and what I going to make the drawing with.

So there are several things I need to work on here. Given that I’m not likely to get around taking the chairs to the re-cycling centre in the next little while I think I’ll try the drawing the same composition again. I will also vary the media I use and see how how that changes the work. Live and learn.

December 6, 2014December 6, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Inspiration is for amateurs

I seem to be collecting artistic aphorisms lately. The full quote, from the artist Chuck Close is:

“Inspiration is for amateurs. The rest of us just show up and get to work.”

My old cat doesn’t seem to be paying much heed to Chuck. It was a coincidence that I still had my sketch book in my hand, looked up and decided to catch a quick pose from George (actually full name Georgina, but she rarely gets called that). Later the same day I spent rather more time drawing her asleep and butted up against my partner.

George asleep near a paper bag (left), pen and ink and George asleep against my partner (right), Copic marker

December 4, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Cafe Wednesday and sundry others

At last we’ve made it back to our local cafe for Wednesday morning coffee.

What’s on the menu? Chocolate chip cupcake and a flat white coffee. 3 December 2014, pen and ink and Copic marker.

I also have a few other images which fit under the ‘cafe’ theme which I haven’t posted. Going backwards…

The Italian Bakery at Mawson, people and umbrellas, 2 December 2014, Copic marker.

The strange third figure was actually the person, seated on the right, but they sat down too quickly to capture them in the standing position.

This dog wasn’t much more cooperative either. I thought it was asleep but it sat up and changed position several times, hence the multiple heads.

Dog at the Italian Bakery, Mawson, 29 November 2014, pen

And ‘furthest from the front’, this view out the window of where I had lunch two weeks ago, the charmingly alliterative Long Wong Best BBQ Roast Duck cafe.

Not in China anymore, the view from the Long Wong Best BBQ Roast Duck restaurant, Dickson, 24 November 2014, Copic marker and acrylic marker.

November 30, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Drawn in – November

Its been quite a while since I went to one of the National Portrait Gallery’s Drawn In sessions. A friend suggested we go and so we joined lots of other people for an afternoon session of sketching and listening to some beautiful singing.

I managed 3 sketches in various styles and media. First a blind drawing in pencil of a floral arrangement in the area we were drawing.

Blind drawing, floral arrangement, National Portrait Gallery Canberra, 30 November 2014, pencil

A view to the display of portraits by Rick Amor in the gallery entrance.

Rick Amor, Gallery 1, National Portrait Gallery, Canberra, 30 November 2014, pencil, ink and watercolour.

The last was a still life and partial figure of the woman sitting in front of me.

Bags and partial figure, National Portrait Gallery, pen and ink, 30 November 2014

After I’d finished drawing I went over to look more closely at the Rick Amor portraits which vaguely appear in my sketch. I was particularly interested in the preparatory drawings for Amor’s 1994 portrait of Gary Catalano.

Gary Catalano , 1994 by Rick Amor Gary Catalano, 1994 by Rick Amor pencil and watercolour on yellow paper (56.5 x 76.0 cm) Collection of the National Portrait Gallery of Australia

I was impressed by the economy of the drawings with no need for extensive explanatory detail.

Gary Catalano, 1994 by Rick Amor, oil on canvas (57.0 x 57.0 cm) , private collection.

Their adaptation to the final painting doesn’t lose the spareness conveyed by the drawings. There’s quite a lesson in that approach.

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Author / Leonie Andrews