So this is another beautiful view I enjoyed when travelling through New Zealand. I had no specific memory of this photo, but I gladly used it as a reference for my newest sketchbook-entry for my ongoing series “wanderlust”. I always indulge in painting dramatic skies.
So I did some more travelling on paper – this is a sketch of the lovely town Avebury in Wiltshire, England, which I visited some years ago.
I am content how the flowers turned out, and the perspective seems ok which was one of my main concerns.
I enjoyed working on this and am happy I kept going despite finding perspective drawing still very demanding. But the only answer is PRACTICE. My real passion though is to paint landscapes with a moody, gloomy atmosphere & dramatic skies and then use a good amount of pitchblack ink 🙂 … So guess I´ll just try to keep a healthy balance between idyllic, lovely, pretty and colourful vistas and those dark, melancholic & sombre sceneries.
1.Work-in-progress:
Reference photo on the left and the sketch with the masking fluid in place to cover up the areas that are supposed to stay white / light One can paint over it when it´s dry, and then after the paint is dry one can rub it off with the fingertips to then paint those spots in a lighter colour or leave it white.
2.The reference photo on the left / the finished sketch on the right
3.Scanned-in-version of the sketch…To give prove the chimney in the upper-right hand corner is NOT tumbling down as the smaller sketch seems to suggest 😉
This sketch is based on a pic I took on a holiday in Venezuela, some years ago.
I liked the vibrant colours of the buildings and the summer-atmosphere. I smuggled the dogs into the sketch to make it a bit more lively – and in my opinion, there can never be enough dogs :-).
The sketch was meant to focus on the buildings / architecture and the perspective, but, well…I got carried away, wanting some four-legged cuties in the picture. I like how they encourage the viewer to “come and play with us”. I used water colour and ink (and some fine liner).
This is the reference pic, and the work-in-progress
Some new sketches for my series “combat wanderlust – travel on paper”. So I´ve been to Venezuela on paper (many years ago for real), and am a sucker for a bit of dramatic skies 😆.These two new entries in my sketchbook are done with watercolour and ink. Am still enjoying these small formats and the mixed media. I´ve tried to get into architectural sketching again, but feel I cannot concentrate enough for the detailed work in pencil beforehand, so that has to wait until my patience is in better shape.
Here are two new sketches to combat my wanderlust – Ronda is an interesting town in Spain built on cliffs with really spectacular views. The sketches show the “puento nuevo” (“new bridge”) / a view from near the bridge in the historical part of town. I spent a nice day there during a holiday some years ago, and I remember finding it really fascinating (and very very hot).
I used inks and water colour.
A quick ink & water colour sketch of an area where I used to go on extended walkies with the lovely dogs of the nearby shelter. I got into the habit quickly to take pictures, and would often then work on them afterwards in one or the other creative way. The reference photo I liked because of the gloomy, moody cloudy atmosphere. And I love using ink when sketching.
This is a sketch I just finished, done with watercolour (mainly pencils).
The lake is near where I live, actually my favourite place in this area. I took the reference pic in a Golden October not long ago, when my spirits were high as I had just moved to this area. It seemed as if nature welcomed me by putting on an awesome light show which I acknowledged thankfully by taking plenty of photos while enjoying long long walks outdoors. One of these days I´ll take my sketchbook and sit at the lake and try to sketch a different view.
So this is my first “real painting” in my nice watercolour-sketchbook.
It was so much fun to work on, and the reference photo revives good memories of long walks in nature with my favourite shelter dog Nando (whom I miss dearly). This was taken some years ago in a rainy april when the fields, grass and shrubbery were juicy with soaked up water. The Egyptian Geese are lovely to watch with their lively colouring and villain´s eye mask. I am always happy when I see one of these interesting looking birds.
work-in-progress pic
Finished Painting
Hi,
I just finished this sketch of St. Paul´s Cathedral – these days, I went through my various (travel) photos to find something interesting to sketch. So I came across this one, which I took 15 years ago. For the sketch I used brown & black acryllic ink and water colour on sketching paper. I do like how the roof turned out. When it comes to proportions (St. Paul´s gotten a bit slimm…) and angles, I need more practise and might try out one of those inkpens to see how it is to work with that concerning drawing more precise lines etc. But all in all, this sketchy almost messy, imperfect style does suit me and I doubt I will ever reach a stage where my lines / drawings become perfect or superrealistic. I enjoy the sketching a lot, it´s relatively quickly done as my patience and inner peace are scarce these days. So after this one, there´s already another one I´ll start today. Maybe something botanical…
This is the photo – enlarged and scanned-in, so a bit blurry:
sketch early stage:
sketch partly coloured:
finished sketch:
Hi,
I finished this very challenging sketch of the townhall-front in Seville, Spain. Here, I used ink as well as a bit of coloured ink and water colour (pens and liquid) – and I am especially proud of the patience and perseverance I put into it even though there are quite a few deficiencies I am aware of … but what the heck. It will get better from sketch to sketch I guess, and one can find fault in about anything if one tries hard enough (and usually I don´t try very hard 🙂 🙂 🙂 ).
The colours of the reference photo (cropped, by the way…the original is wider on the right hand side) are really beautiful. The sketch was fun and I put a lot of effort in getting the proportions right – but in the end I really wanted to be done with it…I think I´ll go for a nature sketch with some nice floral details next.
.
Cris´s blog of art & craft 
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