June 1, 2026June 1, 2026 by Leonie Andrews

More onions

There’s something satisfying about making a series of drawings, or any form of art really.

Over the past three weeks I’ve drawn this onion three times. All have been drawn using colour pencils and some with watercolour pencil.

My first one I felt was rather too solid. It looked like it had a hard shell, not papery skin.

I tried again the following week with a different angle and a better outcome. I also thought that the placement of the saucer was stronger.

No. 2 a bit more like the onion
skin I wanted to capture

The latest version I drew using both watercolour and standard coloured pencils. I feel that the watercolour pencil gave more translucency to the skin than I achieved previously.

The 3rd version with more watercolour pencils

It has recently been mentioned to me that the onion now needs to be returned to the pantry for eating.

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.

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.

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 / coloured pencil