Life Drawing 30th July 2014...

Those that know of my work know that figure drawing isn't something I do very well though I keep trying. This is the last week it is running at The Cambrian but it begins again in September, today was the first time I have had to draw a male model but it didn't go to bad considering. Maybe the last couple of weeks doing the sketch book nearly everyday has helped a bit, who knows?

Most of the drawings on the first page were 5 minutes apart from one which I was still sharpener my charcoal pencils. The second image took 30 minutes and the last took 40 minutes.

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Todays Sketch 29th July 2014...

Todays Sketch is a watercolour with blue Ink Pen. This is looking towards the Roof Tops of London Road Fire Station in Manchester taken from platform 14 in Manchester Piccadilly Train Station.

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2nd Sketch 27th July 2014...

Decided to put off what I was doing today until later. Yet another acrylic sketch, I have tried to do this with a different approach to my brushstrokes, however I still started fiddling with the figures in the foreground. I feel the beach went well but not sure about the rest I still need to loosen up which seems to be easier said then done. Please give me some truthful feedback as its not normally my style its more of an impressionistic approach.

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Todays Sketch 27th July 2014...

As I'm not going to have time to do much work in the sketchbook today due to other commitments I've decided to do a pencil sketch. This one took about 20 minutes ish its from a photograph of the youngest daughter took in 2004, what made me want to draw it was the splash she was making. This might be another one I paint larger one day.

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Todays Sketch 26th July 2014...

Todays sketch also took too long to complete not as long as yesterdays acrylic piece but long enough. I properly wont get a chance to do a sketch tomorrow I have a lot of stuff to do that I can't put off any longer. The image is of St Ann's Square in Manchester and I have just found out 2 minutes ago that the statue is Boer War Memorial by Sir W. Hamo Thornycroft in 1908. I was only interested in the busker when I took the photograph a couple of years ago but I thought I better find out what the statue was.

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Todays Sketch 25th July 2014...

Finished Sketch/Painting of Manchester (Piccadilly) Bus Station in Manchester, UK. This is another photograph taken a couple of years back for a different project for college, the image has been cropped from the original. When does a sketch become a painting? when you use one of your favourite mediums and you fiddle and spend 3 times as long on the bloody thing. No more acrylic paintings in the sketchbook I'll never get it finished at this rate. I do like the image but found that I can't get the detail that I want to put in when the image is small, the image is on A4 cold pressed watercolour paper. This might be another one worth considering painting in a large format at a later date.

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Todays Sketch 24th July 2014...

Didn't have time to finish this one today but here's the drawing I did early, have started painting it with acrylic paints. The image is from a photograph  I took a few years ago of Piccadilly Bus Station in Manchester.

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Another Sketch 23rd July 2014...

Yet another sketch done today I think I'm doing well considering I haven't done anything for 6 weeks before making myself do this sketchbook. Anyway this time I have done acrylic sketch, I not to happy with doing small acrylic paintings due to the size you cant fiddle I much rather do a larger piece. I might try another acrylic sketch tomorrow I see how it goes, this image is the corner of Cross Street in Manchester city centre.

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Todays Sketch 23rd July 2014...

Decided to try Indian Ink this was applied with a brush water was added to the ink to dilute the strength of the black ink. A permanent fine liner was also used for the contours, the picture was taken a couple of years ago in Manchester looking at the new and old buildings.

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Todays Sketch 22nd July 2014...

I decided to do another sketch using the charcoal pencil with watercolours technique  as I enjoyed the last one I did. This is a photograph I took way back in 2004 whilst in London with college, I forgot I had photographs of London. Any way this is another quick sketch that I haven't took loads of time making sure every brick is in the correct place. The only difference is I fixed the charcoal before adding the watercolour, I also drew back into the image with the charcoal pencil after applying the water colour. As well as using the charcoal dry I also dipped the tip into water first this made the charcoal look darker. Its worth trying this technique give it a go, you can knock one out in half an hour lmk how you get on. In case you don't recognise the place its a view of St Paul's Cathedral, London taken from Paternoster Square.

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Another Quick Sketch 20th July 2014...

A more experiment sketch this time which was done very quickly. I read today about a technique that the painter David Cox used/s ? Applying Charcoal for the drawing first then add watercolour this is without any use of fixative. The Charcoal runs a bit when you add W/C but you can use it for tone, glad I tried it… Before I forget the drawing is part of Gwrych Castle in Abergele, North Wales, never been there even though I can see it from the window.


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Todays Sketch 20th July 2014...

This is today's sketch the building is around 10 minutes walk away from me but did I bother getting up with my camera and go a photograph the building well of course not I wanted to paint. Since I've started this sketchbook I actually want to paint and draw I even look forward too it which I haven't felt like that for a couple of months. The building is St Therese of Lisieux in Abergele, North Wales which is a Catholic church, I know nothing at all about the building but I have always admired the shape of it and said I must paint that one day.

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Been a log Time SInce I posted...

Thought I better post something as its been 4 months since my last confession. Finished college about 6 weeks ago and since then I haven't done much with a pencil or paintbrush. I have been going to Life drawing lessons once a week but the drawings aren't getting any better though, I'll have to practice more dig out Virtual Pose Dvds if I have too.

I have therefore decided to start a Sketchbook just to get me doing something at least one quick sketch a day. Those that know me will know I don't do sketch books so this will be interesting, I will post these once a week or so. Below are some of this weeks sketches, there are mistakes and ideas in the sketchbook this is what its for, everything will get posted good or bad. If I'm lucky one or two might get looked at again and created into larger oil paintings.

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Below are the sketches I've done so far, all of these are local to me around the Rhyl area in North Wales