January 26, 2026January 26, 2026 by Leonie Andrews

Two more portraits

I’m really enjoying drawing portraits of my friends and my partner. I missed posting last week, so now I have two portraits to post.

Last week I did a second portrait of my partner, given that I wasn’t completely happy about the first one I made.

It’s hard to judge this portrait. It is more realistic in someway, but not the best likeness. I suppose the lesson I need to keep reinforcing is practice and keep doing it.

My second portrait of our friend has quite a few points of resemblance. She looks rather dour, but in reality it’s the downside of sketching people during a zoom meeting. Everyone is fairly intent on their screen which lends a seriousness to their face, which doesn’t necessarily reflect their personality.

I particularly enjoy using multiple colours of pencil to develop the darker tones. As we made our own selection of these pencils, we don’t have all the standard colours. This is way more interesting I think.

January 13, 2026January 13, 2026 by Leonie Andrews

Another Sunday night sketch

Our Sunday ritual of catching up with art friends in the UK and Scotland continues. As we had been out and got back just 10 minutes before our meeting time I decided to simply grab my book and colour pencils and sketch my partner sitting at the other end of the table.

I really enjoyed the marks I used, but when I sat looking at it the following morning I realised that his head isn’t in proportion with his body. I’m happy with the drawing of both, but they are not quite the right size for each other. Oh well.

My sketches outside Old Parliament House

Earlier that day we’d been out with our local chapter of Urban Sketchers at Old Parliament House. As I have sketched here many times I decided to try and find some different angles to capture.

Top left is the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, which has been occupying the land across from the front of the Old Parliament since Australia Day 1972. So that means that by the end of this month it will have been there for 54 years.

Bottom left is a view from the building from the Senate Rose gardens. Originally that fence kept the prying eyes of the public out, so the Senators could enjoy some fresh air in privacy.

The right hand page shows the first women to be elected to parliament. Senator (Dame) Dorothy Tangney on the left and (Dame) Enid Lyons, house of Representatives on the right.

These were done with watercolour and in the case of the Tent Embassy, I used pencil.

January 5, 2026January 5, 2026 by Leonie Andrews

Starting to draw in January

As Yoda once said “do or do not”. So some days I do and some days I do not!

One thing I do want to do this year is work on reducing the ridiculous amount of art materials sitting unused in my back room, in cupboards and all sorts of other places around the house. Now I have materials I prefer to use, the rest just sit there.

Drawing with colour pencils, trying to change the direction of my marks each time I put the pencil on the page. Also, trying not to be too ‘precious’ with my drawings.

I’m trying some tactics to use things like markers, in particular. I have seen several artists use them to make this ‘window pane’ background to sketch over.

Marker pen window pane background, ready to use

I did a similar preparation using other hot pink markers (forgot to take a reference photo) and this is what it looks like as a base with a finished drawing over the top.

Marker background colour pencil over the top. Still life from our table top.

The fact that I’m using this lovely sketchbook from Leuchtturm 1917 helps. It was part of the ‘goody bag’ I received when I taught at the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Poznan last year. This isn’t the type of paper I would usually work with, but it’s very good for all these dry media.

One of my favourite ‘goody bag’ items from Symposium 2025.

January 1, 2026January 1, 2026 by Leonie Andrews

Last sketch of 2025

This is my last sketch of 2025 made on New Year’s eve while going for our ‘long’ walk around a nearby mountain.

I was using my regular tiny book I carry when walking and trying out an exercise from an artist I recently discovered called Orla Stevens *. The idea is to sketch for no more than 10 minutes changing the direction of your marks for each item you draw.

Now I know I haven’t nailed this yet, but I was really excited by her very loose approach to sketching. As this is one of our ‘regular’ walks I have drawn from this spot quite a few times already this year.