Saturday morning sketching

Yesterday the Wolverhampton Society of Artists had a demonstration and workshop on “urban sketching”, by Ed Isaacs, in the Art Gallery where the WSA exhibition is still on display.

It was raining steadily outside and the session was well-attended, including by the Mayor and his wife, who show a keen interest in the Society.  I spent about an hour there before moving on to an appointment elsewhere and joined in the general sketching, glad of the presence of so many people happy to be looked at and drawn.

There was also a press photographer doing the rounds, whose energetic movements and stances caught my eye, so I started to observe and draw the observer…

Recovery and reconnaisance.

I had a setback, just after Christmas, when I was admitted to hospital with abdominal pains that led to me having my appendix removed; very tidily via ‘keyhole’ surgery.
This forced me to stop everything for a while but it also provided me with an opportunity to try out media and subjects that I’ve neglected for too long. I set up a simple still life composition and picked up some old Conte pastel pencils that I was given many years back.

I had forgotten how pleasant it is to build up colours and tones slowly, without the urgency imposed by rapidly drying watercolour or acrylic paint. There is a pleasing feeling of control of the process with dry media that I find can help to deepen my observation of the subject. This is in turn beneficial when I decide to use paint.

My assortment of coloured pencils was not quite working for me though, each type had noticeably different characteristics, including the need for applying fixative, which I wanted to avoid.  I made the decision to clear out my stock, which I gave to the school art department for students to use, and invest in a new set of good quality coloured pencils. After trying a few different types out, I settled on the Koh-i-Noor Polycolour pencils, which have good quality colours and a nice softness without the powdery nature of pastel pencils.

So now I am starting to explore and play with these nice new colours, it brings back that feeling I had as a child, the joy of simply making marks and building up areas of colour, even just in little thumbnail trials, as here.

I’ll post more in a while, it’s too late to photograph the other sketches just now and I have started back at work.

Portrait Study

I’m leaving paint aside for a little while to enjoy simply drawing in charcoal or pencil. This is the result of last evening’s study at the “Art Mechanics” group that I have the privilege of attending at this time of year. The photo has a bit of false colour, it is charcoal on green paper with a light application of red coloured pencil.
I enjoy drawing in charcoal, it has a pleasing physicality about it, deep committing black marks and the possibility of great subtle delicacy when you refine it with your fingers.