I don’t usually do portraits (you can probably tell by this sketch), but I thought I would have a go of painting my dad from a photo (I can’t do him in person as he is no longer with us) as I was thinking of him (this was done the day after his birthday). I was also thinking I would give this to my mum as a present (she is in the background and I think my sketch of her worked out better)…but I think I need a lot more practice before that happens!
Fri-10-Jan-2025
Here is another Christmas present – that I got from one of my nephews. I tried to draw this a few days before this and made a bit of a mess of it (I didn’t get past a few ink lines and getting the shape all wrong). In this version I found it easier to use watercolour pencils, a more splashy style and focus on negative shapes (the brown table background) to capture the white thermos mug.
Thu-9-Jan-2025
Here is another one of our Christmas presents – this one being from one of our nieces – a lovely set of little bowls. Each one has a different pattern inside and I belatedly realised that this makes it hard to sketch them and capture the pattern!
Wed-8-Jan-2025
After a lot of #UrbanSketching, with this sketch I am back to drawing some things at home – starting with sketching a few of the Christmas presents I got. My wife bought me this lovely pen. It’s a TWSBI “Eco T eggplant”, with a piston filled barrel. According to one website TWSBI comes from the Chinese phrase “San Wen Tong”, with Wen translating into culture and the Bi added to refer to “writing implements”. I have it filled with Noodlers black ink and it has a super fine nib.
Tue-7-Jan-2025
That may not be a big deal to most people but we’ve been in the habit more recently of going to the car wash (which isn’t helped by having to take buckets of water down 4 flights of stairs to clean the car). To make a change, the day I sketched this, and to get a little exercise I washed and polished our tired old Honda. We were bamboozled into buying this wax at a car park some years ago…it never proved to be as easy to use as they made it look.
Sat-30-Nov-2024
This sketch has nothing to do with #Inktober2024…I just wanted to draw this papaya before we ate it (and before it went off). This type is called “red lady, is scientifically known as Carica papaya and was originally developed in Taiwan. They have sweet, red flesh…yummy.
Sat-8-Nov-2024
As I sketched this my nose was running and I was sneezing repeatedly – yes I caught a cold again. Goodness knows from where or whom I got it from. My colds are always exacerbated by my dust mite allergy …so it’s not a fun time. But at least I had the energy to draw this – I was given this cap when we joined the Kawit heritage tour.
Mon-9-Sep-2024
This sketch was done on our train ride up to Edinburgh, where we stayed with some friends (I forgot to post this one so this is long delayed!). On our first day we walked around the New Town area and marvelled at the huge Georgian Terraces, which reminded me very much of Bath where I used to live. New Town is not all that new – it was built in the late 1700’s to reduce congestion in the Old Town. I sketched this trying to use a very limited palette of ultramarine and raw umber.
Thu-8-Aug-2024
Here is another sketch of one of my favourite subjects – just some random veggies from the fridge. As is often the case with my sketches, I just started drawing on the left and then ran out of space on the right – but I don’t really care. Somehow the courgette also seems to be floating a bit.
Wed-4-Sep-2024