July 28, 2026July 28, 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.

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:

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 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.

October 27, 2025October 27, 2025 by Leonie Andrews

New starts

[This post was originally written on 15 September, but for some reason I forgot to post it. Oops.]

I recently went to the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Poznan, where I did a workshop with French artist Olivia Markus. She was teaching, amongst other things, an interesting approach to colouring sketches. The point of which, in part, was to reinforce a sense of depth of field in your sketch.

I think the simplified colour choices deliver exciting results. Of course, they also challenge your use of tonal contrast. So far, I’ve mainly used them for scenes with people in them. The limited colour selection imposes a unity, which is often missing from my regular sketches.

Now, I’m taking the next steps of testing out what I learned and then trying to integrate the process into my practice.

I use watercolour as my main medium, so that does yield different results to the inks that Marcus uses. To be fair, I really haven’t tried the process with ink yet.

Demonstration in support of Palestine, London

I’m also experimenting with which colour combinations work most effectively together.

I find the stark black pen a bit strong, and it tends to overwhelm the watercolour’s subtle tones. Lately, I have been using less black, instead choosing to use a more intense pigment.

Friday, queues at the coffee shop, first version

The final version with black and white marker bring added.

I’m still ‘not there’ yet in terms of the outcomes, but as today’s sketch show, there is some progress.

October 6, 2025October 6, 2025 by Leonie Andrews

Progress?

The one thing I’ve noticed with the new sketching technique I’ve been trying out is that it takes a long, long time fir my paint to dry. In turn, this means it takes me way longer than normal to complete a painting. Indeed, it takes me longer than I usually spend having a coffee.

Last weekend, I got this far with my sketch, probably 15-20 minutes longer than my coffee lasted.

As I finished sketching, I realised that there were several sections that really annoyed me. However, I couldn’t be bothered to spend even more time at the cafe than I had already.

So last night I fixed the bits I wasn’t happy with. Extending the umbrella canopy to make more sense of the top left corner and adding the darker section along the bottom. “Don’t be afraid of the darks, [colours that is]”, as a sketching friend often says.

I’m happier with it, but is any artists ever truly happy with what they do?😀

On a more practical note, I also realised that one time saver I could do was to paint a base layer of high-tone colour onto my pages before I went sketching. This should save me 10 to 15 minutes of drying time at least.

September 30, 2025October 1, 2025 by Leonie Andrews

Exploration continues

I’m keeping on with the exploration of tonal sketches started with my class with Olivia Marcus at the Urban Sketchers Symposium in Poznan. The more I explore, the more my own style preferences are entering the equation.

Sketching in the tiny book I carry on my walks.

One thing I have largely changed is not using black as an emphasis. Because I work predominantly in watercolour, I find the contrast between that and the black felt pen Olivia uses, can overwhelm my sketches. I’m exploring whether I can effectively substitute darker tones.

I’m also testing out all different colour combinations. Some are instantly more appealing, but I don’t want to come to conclusions too soon. As I have a whole lot of new paints from our goody bags from Poznan, there’s still a lot to consider.

leonieandrews

Category / cafe sketch