September 12, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Cafe catch-up

As I’ve been trying out my new sketchbook over the past few weeks, I’d forgotten I also had several cafe drawings in the book I always carry in my bag. Here they are.

A bulldog waiting for its owner, ballpoint pen, 23 August 2014

The construction site opposite the cafe offered an unusual subject by way of a cement mixer.

Cement mixer, pen, ink and acrylic paint marker, 30 August 2014

The Loading Dock Cafe, is exactly that, a cafe in the rear lane of West Row, in the centre of Canberra. Thankfully some very solid concrete bollards separate the cafe-goers from reversing vehicles.

View onto the lane from the Loading Dock Cafe, pen, ink and watercolour, 10 September 2013

September 12, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Bean there!

This morning we decided to head out early-ish to the markets and have breakfast while we were there. We decided to eat at Bean and Grain, (where we have previously only stopped in for coffee and pastry). Good choice. While we were waiting I did a sketch of one of the staff members. I was going to include another person, but they were just moving too fast for me to draw.

Breakfast at Bean and Grain, pen and ink, 12 September 2014

Breakfast was really good. I had French toast brioche, with berries, bacon and passionfruit butter. The passionfruit butter was particularly lovely, creamy and full of flavour. Suffice to say it was such a good breakfast that I didn’t need to eat any lunch.

September 11, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Three Sketches

Three sketches from the past week.

I borrowed my partner’s Rotring Tikky water proof pigment pen, 0.5 nib, to try it out with some watercolour. I like the line so I’ll probably get my own. There are several nib widths, both smaller and larger, so I might end up getting several.

Rotring pigment pen with watercolour, 5 September 2014

I’m continuing to work on drawing people. This one is a combination of pen and ink and acrylic marker.

Portrait, pen and ink and acrylic marker, 6 September 2014

I continue to be captivated by construction. There is building work going on across the way from where we regularly buy coffee. Here is a look at the current state of scaffolding and wire safety fences. The biggest problem is the wire which was lighter in tone that the building behind it. I had trouble working out how to get the different grey tones working while I was on location, so I added some watercolour when I got home. When I scanned my amended version of the drawing I could see that the upper half of the windows weren’t looking like they were part of the whole. So with some additional drawing I came up with the final version.

Three stages of the construction sketch, 9 September, pen, ink and watercolour.

The final version, I’m hoping some impression of the fencing is given, without resorting to adding a white grid over the drawing. Perhaps in another drawing I could focus on a much tighter section of the scene and see what I can do by reserving the paper as part of the sketch.

Construction site with scaffolding and safety fencing, 10 September 2014

September 3, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Testing #2

Back to the new sketchbook, but first I must make a correction. I’ve now realised that the paper in this book is actually 150 gsm, not 110 gsm as I’d previously written, so perhaps the results I’ve been getting are not so unexpected. However the best test of the paper quality is water colour. I have made two basic paintings using subjects close to hand. This is the first work and it has another water colour on the reverse side of the page.

Watercolour on the new sketchbook.

You can see from the painting below that each work stands by itself and there is no bleed through from either side of the page. I used quite a bit of water on each side of the page, but I did allow the page did dry thoroughly between paintings. So I’m quite impressed with how this test has gone – I didn’t expect, even at the heavier weight of paper, that the result would be this good.

Watercolour on the reverse side of the page above.

I’m now working on testing my own skills. I have been trying to integrate the different pen and ink and acrylic paint markers I’ve been working with, into a more style. It’s not as easy as I had hoped. I’ve struggled with not letting the heavier acrylic paint markers dominate the finer pen and ink lines. I’ve also had problems getting carried away and ‘colouring in’ with the paint markers. Because it’s so easy to go over the top I’ve decided to limit my palette to my black markers and one colour only.

Today I think I have made some positive progress with my sketches in mixed media. Any ideas or thoughts from your experience on how to proceed would be welcome.

Path and trees, acrylic paint marker, pen and ink, 3 September 2014.

August 25, 2014September 3, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Testing, testing

I bought a new sketchbook the other day. I’m trialling it for a trip I’ll be taking later in the year. On previous trips I’ve treated myself to Moleskine sketchbooks, but I’m not completely convinced that I’m not just paying for the name. Given the ‘status’ of the Moleskine, it’s not surprising that other art supply companies are making ‘clone-skines’ to tap into the same market but at a much lower price-point.

The clone I’ve bought from my local art shop is slightly wider than the Moleskine sketchbook which I normally buy, not to mention being half the price. The clone does have the elastic strap and pocket at the back of the book. The paper is 150gsm, acid free, so pretty standard. I don’t expect this paper to be good for watercolour. However, when I assessed the types of drawing and painting I did on my last trip I realised that it was sketching, not painting, that dominated my output. So a watercolour friendly paper is, realistically, not my first priority.

So far I’ve tested my acrylic paint markers and have been pleasantly surprised at the result. Not only does the paper take my thick marker quite well, it doesn’t bleed through to the back of the page.

A drawing on the back of a page which also has a thick black acrylic paint marker drawing on it.

Only one slightly disparity has occurred. The paper loves my Posca paint markers, soaking up the black lines to a matt finish, but it doesn’t react so well to my Liquitex paint markers. In the drawing below the black is the Posca and the red is the Liquitex. I couldn’t get any sort of smooth coverage with the red and repeated applications would have ended up tearing the page.

Two brands of paint markers, two different quality of coverage.

Here’s a close-up of the two colours side by side. I have been happy with the coverage of the Liquitex pens on a range of other papers, so all I can conclude is that they don’t like this specific type of paper. This is a bit of a drawback as I have quite a good range of colours in the Liquitex and I’m not desperate to spend more just to buy similar colours in another brand.

Close-up of the coverage of the two brands of markers.

I’ve also taken my Lamy Safari pen for a test drive on the paper and once more I was really pleased with the line and the way the paper took the ink.

Drawing using the Lamy Safari pen in the new sketch book.

I’m planning to try watercolours and a few other things in this book before I make a final decision on whether I go with the clone or not. I’ll keep you posted.

leonieandrews

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