Seaside Town

I am a bit behind in posting images here as I have a wider audience via Instagram which is where I tend to post things. This was a little exercise I did a few weeks ago with a seaside theme.

 

Character Development

 

Over the past few months I have been trying to focus on character development work by sketching people in various outdoor locations as much as possible. The above images are from my sketchpad and iPad (if they are too small, try clicking in them to get a larger view). I have just been playing with ideas, getting a style to flow rather than doing anything detailed. I seem to have been doing this for years and never been happy. One day I might get right what I actually want to do - once I know what that is!

 

Hop Picking Machine

 

The tracked time on my iPad says I had this file open for 6 hours and 38 minutes. This might well have included snack breaks and lunch. Even so, I reckon around 5 hours in a farm shed sheltering from the rain and drawing part of one of my favourite subjects was time well spent. I was enjoying myself so much I hadn’t realised I had spent most a day doing this. Why? I wasn’t keen on going out for a walk and getting wet as I was camping in the car on this farm for a few nights. This huge machine gave me an ideal opportunity to just sit and draw and focus on detail. There are so many interesting geometric shapes and different perspectives and I was able to work in complete safety as it is only in operation for a few weeks in late summer. I limited myself to working solely in black linework, no grey tinting or colour allowed.

I am fairly happy with the result, in this case it was the process I enjoyed rather than the final outcome.

Sketching in Hitchin

 

Life seemed to be getting back to ‘normal’ in Hitchin with lots of people out and about shopping and enjoying the sunshine on the first Saturday after the easing of lockdown restrictions. 

Pheasants

 

Pheasants at Wrest Park (English Heritage, Beds). They were quite happy foraging amongst dead leaves only a few metres away from me and proved an interesting challenge to sketch. Whilst I was drawing, a robin came on perched on a branch almost within hand’s reach and was quite happy flitting around me whilst I drew.

Anglesey Abbey, Cambridgeshire

Two sketches made today at Anglesey Abbey (National Trust). A beech tree amongst the daffodils and the Winter Garden: blue glory of the snow (Chionodoxa), purple/blue/pink lungwort (Pulmonaria), magenta elephant’s ears (Bergenia) and white paper birch trees.

 

Red Dead-nettle

 

Red dead-nettle on a roadside verge in Clophill, Bedfordshire. I took a few photos whilst on a walk today then sketched this in the evening on the iPad.

Sketching in Hitchin

It was cold in Hitchin today so I wrapped up warm and did some quick iPad sketches. Looking forward to the town opening up again with more people out and about and events returning to the town centre.

 

Cottage by the sea

 Birthday card for my wife. Procreate on iPad.

 

Gardening

Now the weather has warmed up a little it is time to begin planning what to do in the garden this year.

 

Sunlit Oaks

 

Quick sketch made whilst out for a walk today of sunlight in an oak wood near Lilley, Hertfordshire. The bright green mosses covering the trees beautifully backlit by warm sunshine. Procreate on iPad, 29 minutes.

Hop Picking

 

This took a bit of working on and I could have tweaked it here and there. This is a hop picking machine I visited in September in Worcestershire. The two workers are attaching the hop bines brought in from the hop yards to the trackway. The hops are then lifted into the picking machine which strips the hop cones from the bines, removes all the stalks and leaves, and carries the cones off to to be dried. Just outside the shed himalayan balsam and woody nightshade were growing. I added them in, along with a few hops at the top, to frame the image.

I started by drawing a outline A3 sketch in pencil which I then scanned. From then on I worked entirely on the iPad, using the split screen function to view reference photos and my working image side by side. The final image was A3, 300 dpi and 190MB. With such a large file size I was limited to 30 layers so had to keep flattening parts as I progressed. 

Classic Pizza Company

 The Classic Pizza Company at Orleton Court Farm in Worcestershire serving up delicious pizzas paired with craft beers brewed onsite with home-grown hops. This illustration took probably the longest time I have ever spent on an artwork in terms of production, not actual drawing time. I have been dipping in and out of it over several months, eager to work on it but somehow finding it hard to concentrate on the detail and apprehensive of what direction it was going to take. I am fairly happy with the result, though  I had considered redoing it to make a few improvements.

Reflection

Another example of me not drawing what I had been planning to draw, but what I wanted to draw.

 

Seagull

Have done very little in the way of creating pictures for several months now. I spent quite a while concentrating on my writing and then got buried in decorating the house. There are a couple of picture ideas I want to work on but they will be time consuming and I am finding it hard to get motivated to start them. I began one, then decided to have a fall whilst decorating and bruised my ribs badly on the back of the sofa. In an attempt to do something creative whilst recovering I drew the above mainly as a playful doodling exercise to see what would appear.

 

Tring

Sketch drawn whilst sitting outside The Cog Cafe in Tring. I was pleased with this as I had a comfy seat and various nibbles to keep me going. There weren't many places to sit and watch people so this was ideal. People didn't stop and stand much so I had to add the characters afterwards.  Could have added more but didn't want to take too much advantage of my perch. There was no direct sunlight which was good as I would have had the sun in my eyes which would not have been much fun.

Titley, Herefordshire

Three sketches made near Titley in Herefordshire whilst on a recent walk: a large beech tree growing in an old quarry, a sunken road leading down to the River Arrow and an old barn. These worked well - I had better lighting (no bright sunshine) and comfortable places in which to perch.

Westonbury Water Garden

The cuckoo clock at Westonbury Water Garden near Pembridge in Herefordshire. A beautiful, luscious garden with wonderful plants and quirky follies. Halfway into drawing this the sun came out which made seeing the image on my iPad almost impossible, plus it was very hot. Still, I was pleased with the result.

River Teme

Two quick sketches of the River Teme at Shelsley Beauchamp in Worcestershire.  In the first one I wanted to capture the pink flowers of himalayan balsam. I would have liked to have zoomed in on the flowers but didn’t have the will power to do so. The bank of the river was very steep here and I couldn’t easily access the plants at close range. The black and white picture is the view from the bridge over to the orchards and hills. I could have done it in colour but I only had a few minutes spare and decided to work in greyscale instead.

Hills

Doodling on the iPad is wonderful when something emerges out of all the rubbish scribbly stuff I do that gets deleted time and time again. Started with a few flowing lines which then developed into hills and the rest followed.