May 6, 2014May 6, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Tokyo sketches

I realised I hadn’t done any sketches recently, so today I managed several quick drawings. All were done on my ‘phablet’. I have also been drawing in my travel diary but I have no easy way of posting those images yet.
First up a view out of the window of the popular clothing shop Uniqlo, in Ginza, looking down to a construction site next door.

Past the clothing display down to the construction site

The next was a man sitting across from us when we were having lunch. And as a random piece of trivia, Muhammed Ali ate at this same tiny restaurant in 1972.

On the way back to our accommodation, something we see everyday, people asleep on the train.

I will upload more of my holiday sketches when I get back home and can scan them properly.

March 15, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

I see red

These drawings contain evidence of my even newer, newest art ‘toy’, paint markers. I am testing a Liquitex Paint Marker, which is a water-based acrylic paint in a marker-style tube. I have the smaller nib version 2-4 mm, but a larger 8-15mm is also available.

It started like this. I dropped by the art supply shop, just before lunchtime on Friday and as I was the only customer there I took the opportunity to ask the staff to give me their views on the range of marker pens that have become so popular lately, particularly for cartooning and graphic art. I haven’t used a felt pen since primary school and at a general starting price of about $10 per pen it’s not the sort of thing I’m going to buy to try ‘on spec’ (‘speculation’ for the non-Aussies out there). I was pleased that I struck two knowledgeable people who could walk me through what was on offer. One of them suggested that apart from the Copic type of marker I should also consider paint markers. Even better, the supplier had given them a whole stack of these pens to test. So they sent me home with my own cadmium red paint marker to play with.

En route I dropped in to the local mall, where I spotted just the right type of sign – red!

In the Mall, ink and paint marker, 14 March 2014.

I did also manage to get in a practice sketch of a some people, without even using the marker pen.

People studies, ink, 14 March 2014.

Today I had another chance to use it. Our favourite bakery cafe has been re-decorated, as has the wall on the other side of the road.

Graffiti outside the cafe, ink, pencil and paint marker, 15 March 2014.

The paint marker has a chisel point so it can make quite fine lines as well as thicker marks. It will also give good flat coverage, should you want to do that as well. There are 50 colours available and packets of replacement nibs can also be purchased. My thinking is that I would like get a few colours, and one or two greys, based on what I normally paint with, in the smaller tubes so I can add them to my ‘field’ sketch kit. The bigger tubes are just way too jumbo-sized to consider taking them with my regular sketching setup.

Has anyone else used these paint markers? I’d be interested in your thoughts. I see from their website that Liquitex has been offering a free sample to European and American customers, although UK, US and Canadian requests have apparently outstripped currently available supplies. Anyway keep an eye out for them or ask if your local art shop has some samples you can try.

March 8, 2014March 8, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Music at the Markets

I’ve done very little drawing this week. I’ve had to focus on finalising exhibition proposals. Trading drawing for writing and trying to bash some plain English, as opposed to art speak, into my words. I’ll let you know how I go.

Relief came on Friday as we took an hour at lunch to drop by the Fyshwick Markets where there was an ‘apple and pear week’ promotion, which included a tasting of some interesting ciders. Oooh arghh, oooh arghh, I hear you say! To add to the atmosphere two guitarists were playing some very easy sounding jazz – not that we needed encouragement to sample the ciders on offer.

Jazz guitar at the Fyshwick markets, 7 March 2014.

I clearly didn’t realise the effect the cider was having on me until I scanned the image below and noticed that I’d managed to get both the wrong day and month on the drawing!

Jazz guitar and some listings of what was on offer on the day. (For the record I recommend Willie Smiths Organic Cider and the Hillbilly Crushed Pear).

February 28, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

The weekly cafe drawings

In which the artist realises she spends way too much time drinking coffee as an excuse to draw.

Tuesday saw us at the Curtin Shops where we had a fine view of Matthew Harding‘s bird sculptures. This is my second attempt, at drawing this sculpture. The first magically disappeared when I pressed the ‘don’t save’ icon on my phablett by mistake!

Bird Sculpture, Matthew Harding 2001, Curtin Shops, ACT, 25 February 2014.

In despair I returned to using the type of media that don’t just disappear vis, my pen and paper. I made this second drawing with an interesting array of traffic lights.

Reading with traffic lights, Curtin Shops ACT, 25 February 2014.

The next day we were in the centre of Canberra, known around here as Civic, where I was joining friends for lunch. Post lunch we found yet another cafe, Garema Cafe, not surprisingly adjoining Garema Place. This is one of four cafes crowded into a tight alley between buildings.

Down the alley towards the Taxation office building, 26 February 2014.

Thursday we were buying fruit at the Belconnen Markets when, yes, you’ve got it, we stopped for a cup of coffee. I didn’t quite finish this drawing, there’s only so much time that I can spend on a cup of coffee.

Inside the central plaza at Belconnen Markets, 27 February 2014

February 24, 2014 by Leonie Andrews

Concrete pergola – three ways

I didn’t intend to do this drawing 3 times, but while I was sitting at one of the local libraries I saw this intriguing piece of architecture – an outsized concrete pergola. The structure itself is two stories high, each of the horizontal blades looks to be at least a metre high.

Firstly I tried drawing it with my fountain pen. I found it hard to control my tonal values and got rather lost somewhere between the vegetation and the structure.

Concrete pergola outside Woden Library, 24 February 2014.

The second attempt, from a slightly different perspective. This drawing shows a much better grasp of the structure, as I started by drawing the negative spaces. I also decided to skip most of the vegetation.

Second version of the concrete pergola outside Woden Library, 24 February 2014.

My last version was done on my phablet using PS Touch. I decided that one of the most attractive aspects of this scene were the colours of the concrete against the clear summer sky. So I ditched the vegetation and just stuck to the architecture. I quite like this one.

Third view of the pergola outside the Woden Library, 24 February 2014.

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Tag / location sketch