Tag / Urban Sketchers

by Leonie Andrews

Finding space

I had one of those ‘duh’ moments this week when several observations just clicked into place for me.

I was watching a sketchbook ‘tour’ video by British artis Lis Watkins (link below), admiring, yet again, her excellent use of white space and the restrained use of detail in her work.

Borrowed from Lis Watkins Instagram account ‘lineandwash‘

Later in the evening I was sketching online with friends and was really happy with the outcome of my sketch of this bowl of peeled limes. Of course I’d left lots of space around it and felt no need to include all of the bowl in my drawing.

A bowl of peeled limes

Obviously I was reacting to seeing Lis’ work and when drawing objects this approach seems a pretty natural one for me to use.

On the other hand when I sketch on location,  wearing my ‘Urban Sketchers’ hat I often fall into the convention of ‘filling’ the page. I think if you look back to my previous post ‘Practice, practice‘ you can see what I”m referring to. I took a photo early on in the process and the sketch was pretty much ‘there’. I then kept going and looking back on it now, I  realise I should have stopped much sooner!

So this week I’m consciously trying to save some white on my page, while simultaneously keeping sufficient  ‘location’ information in my sketch*.

My latest ‘urban sketch’ at a local cafe on Monday.

I am liking the look of this sketch. It’s certainly a challenge to balance both space and location. I’m sure I can do this.

*If you’re not familiar with Urban Sketchers, the international sketching organisation, it’s primary goal is to encourage people to sketch on location, and that location needs to be visible (in some form) in the sketch.

Lis’ video of her sketches from recent travels is linked here:

by Leonie Andrews

Mt Gambier sketching trip

At the start of April we caught up with fellow Urban Sketchers from Geelong and the Fleurieu Peninsula, at a roughly halfway between them point, in the rural city of Mt Gambier, South Australia. 

Opening night sketching, eating and drinking at one of the local breweries
First morning sketch session

There were catching up with friends and making new ones. The sketching was fun because I didn’t sketch much the last time I came here.

Another brewery/cafe in an old woolstore
The Railway lands was once the station for the city, now gone, instead there is now thriving community parkland with these very symbolic sculptures
The city is built on limestone formations and there are many sink-hole in the area. This one was famously turned into a park in Victorian times.
A tricky angle to capture!
The nearby coastline was very dramatic.
The Old Gaol
A controversial new sculpture. A recent court case saw a woman fined for gluing ‘googly’ eyes to it!
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.

Steve

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.

Sketches up close

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.

by Leonie Andrews

Kambah Woolshed collage

I was out with Urban Sketchers Canberra at the Kambah Woolshed, this past weekend, attempting to make a collage in a very stiff wind. 

Every collage brings new learnings – particularly when working in a representational style – compared to the more common free-form approach.

Kambah Woolshed

Working from the background to the foreground is the most practical way to start. Of course, I still trip myself up and have to re-glue or correct sections.

Having a clear picture of the tonal values is critical. Particularly when deciding on the background to the subject.

Sometimes, the tonal values don’t get completely nailed down until late in the process. The thin diagonal line on the roof on the right side was close to the last piece I added. This made so much difference to the roofline.

The collage and original subject

After looking at this piece when I got home my partner pointed out that one of the columns didn’t appear to be in correct perspective. He was right. I’d carried it through to the roofline when there was a section of planking that ran in front of it.

Here’s the final version.

The finished collage after one final tweak

I continue to be surprised that this process takes pretty much the same amount of time as my regular watercolour sketches do. I’m happy with the result.

by Leonie Andrews

Back at the Portrait Gallery

I know it’s only been a week, but I was back at the National Portrait Gallery again on Sunday for their monthly life drawing session, called Drawn In. The Gallery provides easels, boards, materials, paper, and pencils, but you can also take your own.

My book is watercolour paper, so I did my first sketch, a tonal study, with pencil, on the smoother side of my paper.

Trying to focus more on tone, than lines, although I used both

I decided to move into the Family Art room as it’s possible to use watercolour in there. It was certainly a different angle to sketch from. It was almost the reverse of the view that I did first.

The view from the Family Art Room

Lots of friends from the Urban Sketchers were also there, so we rounded off the afternoon with cups of tea and coffee in the cafe.