What, no colour?

Back to work for me this week so not a lot of time to spend on my art :( However, it was a short week and now it's Friday night - yay! Despite all the rushing around I managed to do two monochrome sketches. I do like to just draw sometimes and I think it helps to 'see' better and to sort out tonal values without worrying about colour and technique.

The first sketch was done in the local riverside park on the way home last night. I used a Bistre Conte crayon in a Derwent Journal - about the same size as the smallest Moleskine.

The second sketch was done on my usual Friday afternoon three hour dog walk. It was absolutely baking hot and luckily I had taken a water bottle and tray to give Louie a well-earned cool drink while I settled down to sketch.

I used watersoluble graphite pencils and a waterbrush, working again in my Derwent journal.

Hopefully I'll get back to do some serious painting very soon. In the mean time, have a good weekend everyone.

One more thing, just for Pat Elliott, one of my lovely followers, I've included a sketch from last year of my sketching companion and best friend Louie the Beagle!

Drying up

 It's amazing how the work of other artists and books by artists for budding artists can inspire so much.

We visited the neighbouring town of St Neots yesterday. My intention was to do a bit of sketching in the town whilst my wife and eldest step-daughter went off to 'shop' ;).

I wandered into the local book shop and made the usual bee-line for the art book section. I came out with a wonderful little book called simply 'Sketching'. The book is about  A7 size so it fits in my sketching pack (or even just a trouser pocket) and provides a nice portable reference for tips and inspiration, and Heaven knows I need some of the latter sometimes !





The reason I mention the 'Sketching' book is because the author recommends hard pastels,  pastel pencils and Conte crayons as good sketching tools and so, since my collection of dry materials were looking a bit forlorn in the bottom of one of my art boxes, I decided to get them all out and give my watercolours a little rest. Here then, purely from imagination, are the fruits of my labour.