I thought it would be fun to do a bit of watercolour sketching. Because sometimes it’s difficult to know what to paint. So instead of embarking on some ambitious art project, I thought I would keep it simple. I would illustrate a recent day in my life. Therefore, today I share with you “A Saturday of Colourful Sketches”.
Urban Sketching?
As much as I think of myself as an acrylic painter at heart, these days I find myself reaching for my watercolours and a pen more often than acrylics. (And not just to draw frogs! Although there are a lot of frogs, and more appearing all the time…)
I figure that’s ok. I shall accept rather than resist this change in paint preference whether it be temporary or permanent. It probably started when I discovered the ‘Urban Sketching’ movement. I’m drawn to the scribbly, quirky shapes and effortless splashes of colour.
On day I will actually go urban sketching for real. In summer, when it is warmer. For now, I am simply watercolour sketching. But I am taking inspiration from those lovely urban sketches – trying to incorporate the vibrancy and character into my work.
A Saturday of Colourful Sketches
6am, and we’re up.
It might have been 8am.
Every day starts with a cup of tea, Saturdays are no different:
I was quite pleased with how this one turned out. A mini still life. I love how optimistic the colours are – it’s nice to start the day off on a positive note.
A short while later, the main event – the installation of the bird house:
This one makes me happy; I love how the colours of the bird house turned out. If you’re wondering, yes I did put up a little ‘For Sale’ sign – so if you know anyone who would be interested? Cosy detached little new build. Quiet, natural setting. Perfect for young couple looking to start a family.
I hope someone moves in!
After that, I stayed in the garden and tidied up a bit. Did some chopping back, tended to the new growth, laid down some topsoil:
I let the watercolours bleed into each other a lot on this one. It makes for interesting texture.
By the time I’d done what I could in the garden, I decided to make soup for dinner. Here are some vegetables on a chopping board:
Use of colour
By this point I’m really getting into the swing of this watercolour sketching.
But inevitably, chores need to be done, so this is my laundry bag. Of course, my washing machine isn’t actually multicoloured, but how much more fun would life be if everything was more colourful?
I’m slowly working on making my home into a happy haven of feel-good colours. I suppose I just paint the way I wish the world looked sometimes.
While the washing machine was doing its thing, I thought I would do a bit of violin practice:
The vibrant colours work well here because the violin has a beautifully complex waveform. All those lovely, rich frequencies that melt into perfection. In that way, I feel like the full spectrum of colours I’ve used are a visual reflection of the violin’s sound.
My final watercolour sketch of this mini portfolio shows a bit of evening relaxation time. It is of the book I have started reading recently – “The Letters of Vincent Van Gogh” (edited by Ronald de Leeuw and translated by Arnold Pomerans) – with another cup of tea.
That book may well inspire another Vincent-related blog later in the year, so watch this space. You can read my previous Vincent Van Gogh blogs here.
Techniques
I tried to keep the pen lines loose, not worrying too much about how realistic the objects looked. I’m not bothered about that; I’m more interested in the energy and movement that you can create with distorting things. I wonder if this is how the surrealists got started?
At times, I attempted the ‘one line drawing’ technique. Something I’ve come across when reading about urban sketch artists. It’s what it sounds like – you create a drawing without taking your pen off the page, i.e. the drawing is made with one line.
However, I broke this rule a lot, out of habit really. So I need to practice that some more. It’s an interesting idea, and I can see how it creates continuity and cohesion in a sketch.
When applying the watercolour paint, I’m using a large round brush to force me to be less precise. Either a size 4 or 5 Pro Arte brush. With this size, I can create loose scribbly washes of paint while stile maintaining just enough control so as not to completely lose definition.
Watercolour sketching
I hope you enjoyed my ‘day in the life’ urban-sketch-style watercolours. I would recommend you give watercolour sketching a try. Even just one sketch of your morning cup of tea or coffee if you like, it’s really quite liberating.
My main take away from this is not to get caught up in realistic application of perspective or colour. Character and style are born out of breaking those rules (think Van Gogh!). This exercise in watercolour sketching is something I will be doing again.
Until next time, happy sketching!