To Sketch - You Observe
So much has been going on in our sketch world this week. It feels like we’re getting busier nearer Christmas as we did before all this!!
Mosman students were down at the Corso in Manly Sydney. Observing.
Where is my eye level? How does that angle work? Does it go up or down?
We guide you through this but it’s still a mystery at times, until you get to ‘see’ how it works. It’s great to see our sketchers thinking through perspective, with guidance from their tutor.
Another perspective is the one where you look straight at a structure. Flat perspective. Always a delight and does capture the character of the place.
Balgowlah Sunday Workshop. Sydney. Such a very rewarding day for people who’d like a taste of sketching, observing and discovering colour using our minimal kit. The results always surprise the students. They come hoping to learn sketch but also with some doubt. Before long they have a gorgeous still life on the page, huge smiles and great relief. Whew. They have started the journey. A few other setups are placed on the table and sketches appear on their pages. What a gorgeous day and so rewarding.
Gold Coast. Varsity Lakes. Queensland. The mission was flat perspective - you know, the one I mentioned above - looking straight ahead at your building. Before we did that, we had coffee of course - and decided to try other mediums to see if they might appeal.
We tried Sepia Artline 200 pens 0.4 fine. Good ol’ reliable Sharpies, fine point, black. Lastly a lead pencil!!! A Staedtler Lumograph 4B Aquarelle. This means you can sketch in pencil and apply water brush to get tone. So much fun. You’ll get great blacks with it too.
My own sketch of the Lake Brewhouse was done in the pencil, waterbrush, black sharpie, watercolour and white Posca pen. Very unlike me! Fun though.
Kingscliff NSW. An unbelievably gorgeous day in the park. Students arrive on bikes. No wind but a breeze to take the edge off any heat. Great temperature. The perfect shade tree. The butler brings coffee, plus water to drink, with a hint of lemon. Birds checking us out - magpie, ibis, black parrot, aussie minor with lots of song to serenade us.
Oh gosh. That’s right. We’re here to sketch.
Let’s start with a couple of banksia seed pods and a spikey one, with some of the first pink frangipani off our tree. Nice.
Flat perspective coming up. Decided on an apartment block across the road. Good shapes to observe. Planning the page as a rough sketch first works well. The into the ‘real deal’ sketch over the page, and apply colour. What fun. Apartment block looked great.
Moss Vale. Southern Highlands NSW.
We all seemed to be doing perspective in some form or another this week. Must be the time of year! The students here had to stay indoors as big winds meant it was difficult to hold a sketch book outside.
Never mind, we have loads of ways of getting you to observe the building in front of you. Just get your big shapes in first, and add your floors, doors and windows later. Same way a builder does.
Check out our amazing student work. Makes us so proud.
