These drawings are from an evening cycle ride a couple of weeks ago. I built texture with moving lines before adding colour.
In each sketch, I roughed in an outline in pencil, drew in pen and added colour with a limited palate of watercolour, sometime with conte crayon.
I followed the bright blue flash of a kingfisher into the dark under a bridge. When I focussed on where I thought it had alighted, I found instead a grey wagtail, bobbing and dipping on a branch.
kestrelart 
The black ink on the sluice one makes a delicious contrast – dark, deep and thick. On the double page one I am captivated by the pink droops on the left hand tree. Lots of different treatments in the line of tree trunks. I think you could take that one further. I wonder how it would look if that simpler brown wash on the left tree and right background showed up somewhere in the middle. Another very productive evening cycle. I think the double page one is most complete, in fact the left hand page can stand by itself.
Thanks OA
I draw in the moment and tend to forget my lessons. But a key reflection is that I want to draw inside the shapes using marks to build texture, before painting, rather than use lines cartoon style to outline the blocks to be coloured.
I’d like to see what would happen if you went larger – more room for all those marks. How big a drawing board can you balance on your bike? Also are you still ok to write my artist statement? I’m hoping to do a mini show for friends
You serious? I’d be honoured to write it but you hardly need me. What’s the exhibition?
It will be some close friends (if they come) in my loft for a couple of hours, then hopefully moved to my sister’s back room for a weekend in the summer to display with my brother in law’s stuff. I had a friend come round to help me sieve through all I’ve got. It was a very posistive feeling. I spend lots of time going through blogs, but that’s the first time I’ve got everything out from the past 5 years or so and gone through it. I made some interesting discoveries e.g. lots of my better stuff is on the same type of shiny paper and the same size.
Can I come over to see? I would love to look.
Yes you can if you think it’s worth the train fare!
These are slightly longer and thinner than a5, a book that fits on my bike box. I have a much larger book. Perhaps if I get time tomorrow, I’ll use the bigger book. Any other thoughts on what I should do when I next draw? I’d value your thoughts.
Right I’ve had a think about this. I know you prefer working in situ and that suits your current balancing of time and I noticed in the caves you were the one who was getting the most out of it – you had no shortage of ideas or interest (I believe you could have stayed down there another couple of hours). So instead of developing sketches back at the ‘studio’ perhaps you could spend a whole morning or afternoon at one of the spots down at the river/canal. Perhaps take a few more supplies, bigger paper and develop the sketches whilst you were there. It doesn’t have to be one piece or one view, but stay in one smallish area and develop a chosen view after sketching for a while. Of course it would be handy if it would stop bloody raining! If time’s not available how about going back and doing these same scenes again – see what happens when you’re already familiar with the scene but at a different time of day. If you’re looking to try something new ( even if it is just a try ) pick a favourite picture or artist or random blog and try your chosen scene in their colours/ style/ size etc. How about looking at rosie scribblah’s posts and try something you particularly like in them? I think you feel very stop/start in what time allows you to do at the moment and want continuity. Perhaps you can build structure into the bike rides like in a workshop – 2min, 5min, 30min sketches, 1hr longer piece. I’m going to post this week on the workshop with Oliver. I’ll write what we did, perhaps that will give some ideas too. Actually, i’d like to see what you’d do with a strict 2min only sketches of landscape. Well I’ve exhausted myself now and in no way feel that you have to do any of this!
Love this art work and the concept
Thanks
It comes from a workshop I did alongside outsideauthority (a talented and experimental WordPress amateur artist) where we reflected on this issue of making marks.
Wow, I’m struck by how different these sketches are from the work you were making when I first found your blog. Stretching and growing!
Thanks, but it doesn’t feel like growth. I’d like more time to develop sketching on a more abstract way. Look at Rosie Scribblah and the way she approaches her field work with standing stones. Also Outsideauthority had a bold way with lines that develops her sketches beyond documenting what she sees. To be honest, I’d like more time to draw but there’s this thing called work …
You’ve created a ‘monster’! At least you know what to get them for presents now!
?????
Don’t know what happened here, the special box just re-sent an old comment! Duh, what’s that about.
I thought I recognised it! 🙂
Work, does get in the way. But ….. if it’s something that you value don’t walk away. It might just take more time. I didn’t go to art school until after I finished paying off my house, but I did get there in the end. You have a goal that’s definitely worth working towards.