June 16, 2026June 16, 2026 by Leonie Andrews

Pumpkin

drawing
color pencils, colour pencils, drawing, pumpkins, vegetables
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It’s not possible to ignore the sculptural shapes of the pumpkins we harvested the other day, so of course one has made it into my latest drawing.

I started this drawing off with a smear of Buff Titanium watercolour paint as the base for my shape and to pick up the highlight colour for the subsequent drawing.

The pencils came next. This fruit had such an indeterminate colour, leaning towards green, but with undeniable elements of grey and blue. I was concerned about overdoing the colours.

Using the breadboard as the base for the pumpkin allowed me to flip between the two parts of the drawing while thinking through which colours I would use next.

I could have pushed the colour a bit more, but I’m also happy that I stopped where I did.

May 18, 2026May 18, 2026 by Leonie Andrews

And the vegetables keep coming!

Two more sketches today from my catalogue of garden vegetables.

Firstly, what will probably be the last tomato from our garden this season. It’s what we think is an Italian Long Orange Sweet tomato – sadly the person who gave us the seed got the names mixed up, so we’ve had to make an educated guess about it’s real name.

My latest sketch is of this red onion. I forgot to tell my partner I was saving it for sketching, so he bought it inside and tore off the leaves that I had deliberately left on to make a contrast to the colour of the onion’s skin. Nobody’s fault but my own.

I think I’ll have another go at the onion. I found it hard to get the shape as accurate as I wanted and I also struggled to capture the paper-iness of the skin.

March 9, 2026March 9, 2026 by Leonie Andrews

All the vegetables

It started last year and now I’ve done two more sketches of the vegetables we grow in our garden.

The ‘Turk’s Turban pumpkin was a ‘no brainer’, so visually appealing it just begged to be drawn. Sadly, by the time we decided to eat it, it had rotted on the inside. I did manage to save some seeds so hopefully I’ll have more subjects next year.

Next up was this ‘Grosse Lisse’ tomato, which weighed in at 554 grams (or 1 pound 2 ounces). It was picked still a bit green, but has subsequently ripened fully.

Last but not least are a small bunch of zucchinis (courgettes), some of the 150+ fruits that we have harvested so far this year.

All the sketches are made using Caran d’Ache Luminance, light fast, colour pencils. My sketchbook is a Leuchtturm 1917 sketchbook, the combination of the smooth paper with the creamy pencils works particularly well.

February 19, 2026February 19, 2026 by Leonie Andrews

Away with the tides

Last week we had a lovely, if not long enough break at the seaside. What is particularly special about this place is that there is virtually no internet signal.

We always pack our sketchbooks and spend out time roaming around the tide line, checking out whatever we can find and making lots of art.

This Rose-petal Bubble shell was a first for me. It’s about 6cms long. The remnant shell is underneath this fleshy part.

I enjoyed sitting on the verandah of our cabin making quick sketches of my fellow campers as they moved around the campground.

Even better was sketching the ‘roos! They spent a long time most days, literally lounging around on the campground lawns. Contrary to what you might think I found them to be very ‘angular’ animals to draw. Not at all the soft curvilinear shapes we’ve come to expect from the stylised versions we see on logos around us.

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.

leonieandrews

Category / drawing