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 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.

July 27, 2014July 27, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Drawn while waiting

Two e-drawings from the past few weeks.
The first drawn waiting for our friend to arrive at Canberra airport. Part of the drawing includes the sculpture ‘Feather’ by New Zealand artist Virginia King.

King says she was inspired by a lyrebird’s feather.
Some what less inspirational was my wait at the physiotherapist’s. The outlook was out to the rather dour police station and the commercial buildings nearby. My eye was captured by the graphic sign for one of the building’s other occupants.

July 10, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Animals and Cafes

Continuing on with the catch-up, there were opportunities to draw at two of our regular coffee shops last week.

Queueing for coffee, pen and ink,1 July 2014

Queuing for coffee, pen and ink, 1 July 2014

The next day I attempted to draw this dog waiting for it’s owner.

The same dog, several times, pen and ink, 2 July 2014

While I’m OK with the position of the body, getting the dog’s head the way I wanted really eluded me. I suspect that I’ve not looked closely enough at the relationship between the position of the animal’s eyes and ears. No doubt there will be plenty more dogs I can draw in future.

Later in the week we once again took to our bikes to ride around the lake. This time I was ready with all my gear to sketch the swan and or any other nearby waterbirds. But nature isn’t always obliging and we saw nary a swan. The wind was blowing a howling gale so finding a spot to sit without being blown into the water was hard enough. I did manage to draw two Masked Lapwings that briefly landed near where we were having lunch. As I was simultaneously trying to complete a painting of part of the nearby pontoon I decided to dampen my paper to see how it would work. I like the quality of the resulting line quite a bit.

Masked Lapwings, pen and ink on damp paper, 4 July 2014

I ended up having to abandon trying to paint as the wind shifted and we couldn’t bear to be sitting still any longer.

This week I’ve managed one cafe drawing, at a new locale, which I’m sure will offer more drawing possibilities. Unfortunately I was distracted by sitting on an icy metal cafe chair, outside, because the cafe was full, waiting for the fog to lift. Cold winter mornings are not conducive to making detailed drawings! I added the colour after I got home.

Play area and shade sails (definitely not needed this day), pen and ink and acrylic marker pen, 8 July 2014

June 27, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

The Kurrajong

A favourite walk of ours is to the small stand of kurrajong trees (Brachychiton populneus) that grow on the shoulder of Mt Taylor. These trees are often referred to as ‘bottle’ trees, for their swollen trunks, although it is not a strong feature of this particular species of kurrajong. I took only my smallest sketchbook, made by a friend of mine, and my ink pen on this walk. The book is approximately 70 x 100 mms, (or 3×4 inches).

My tiny sketchbook.

I did three sketches. The first of the triple trunk of the main kurrajong tree, which has seeded it’s offspring in the bush around it.

The triple-trunked kurrajong, pen and ink, 16 June 2014.

Next my interest was captured by what I could see behind the tree. This is a series of high voltage power cables that traverse this side of the mountain – they actually hang in much smoother curves than I could draw! It was a challenge to try and capture the light-grey cables against the darker toned eucalypt trees on the higher slope of the mountain.

Power cables against the hillside, pen and ink, 16 June 2014.

Last of all was a small cluster of dead leaves which were highlighted by the late afternoon sun.

Dead leaves, late afternoon, pen and ink 16 June 2013.

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