New waterbrush

My daughter gave me a Pentel waterbrush and today I tried it out.



It's different from the Tria re-fillable marker I've been using as a waterbrush until now. The water runs more freely, it's a lot easier to squeeze water out of the brush, and the brush gives better control - finer lines, and just generally more precise brushwork.


click here to view large

I'll have to practise a bit with this brush to get used to the way it dispenses water though, as I've gotten used to the Tria and having to squeeze hard to get anything stronger than a slow trickle - my technique means I'm being inundated with this new brush!

detail left:


detail right:


You can see how the washes are thin and runny in this. It also took me much longer to do, but no doubt I'll become reasonably proficient with the new brush in a little while - if I practise.

Red sofa

Ink pen and watercolour in large Moleskine sketchbook.

Too dark to see

The bright nights of summer are long gone, and my evening sketches in the sketchbook journal are suffering the results. I need to start drawing something other than family members watching TV/reading/surfing online after supper - the results of drawing in the dark are becoming too frustrating, at least when trying to do them in ink. The medium demands a precision I can't achieve in poor lighting.

Stuck

I promised a post on Saturday's marathon sketch crawl here last weekend, but I'm being delayed by a persistent bronchitis - who would have thought that it's possible for breathing to be such hard work as to make one sore all over?!

Instead of the comprehensive post on my Århus sketch crawl, have a small pen piece from this evening of S reading. She kept moving her face minimally up and down and from side to side, following the text on the page, and in the end her features ended up a bit all over the place - there are at least two versions of eyes, nose and mouth on top of each other here:



Done in my pocket Moleskine sketchbook, which is now almost full - mostly of sketches and drawings from my holiday in France. I've been bringing it along daily, trying to goad myself into taking up commuter sketching on the bus again. I need to start picking seats at the back, so that I will be able to see things to sketch!

Thursday

This week has been a confusing blur due to wonky work schedules and general fatigue. I haven't managed to sketch at all since the weekend, and decided I just had to do an entry in my watercolour journal tonight.


click to view large

Maia was the available subject, reading and chatting on her tiny laptop in the livingroom. The colours are slightly random, due to very poor lighting conditions in my corner, as is the subject. It's still mildly amazing to me that it is actualy possible to do artwork with such an unfocused mind.

Details of either page:

large


large

Maia suddenly had to leave, so I didn't get a shot with her in the image, but here are a couple of rather fuzzy cameraphone shots from my sketching session:

This shot can give you an impression of how dark it was.


I added a few details to the background after she left.

Long sunny afternoon

I spent a long sunny afternoon at my sketching buddy Anette's place today. We sat in a sheltered corner of her garden, drinking tea and sketching - here is Anette's sketch of me working on my watercolour:




I had a nice spot in the sun - the sun in my eyes made it a bit difficult to sketch, but at least it kept me nice and warm! I ended up borrowing a cap from Anette though - it's too difficult to wrestle with a panoramic watercolour when you're half blinded by a low autumn sun...






click here to view large

Details of each page:



Apart from the entry working as a whole, I think each page works quite well as a seperate image on its own as well. Somehow the panoramic format invites one to create compositions within the composition.

By the time I was done with my watercolour, the sun had moved quite a bit and our corner was becoming chilly, so we moved to another part of the garden where Anette's daughter and a friend joined us for some more sketching and tea:


I did a quick pen and marker sketch in my large sketchbook journal.


The perfect way to spend a mild and sunny autumn afternoon.

Migraine

My latest migraine peaked last night after 3 days of accelerating intensity. Most of Tuesday lunchbreak was spent in the hanging garden out back of my office, trying to distract myself from the pain and nausea with a little art.


The garden is a lovely green oasis at first floor level, tucked in between 5 story houses and offices in the middle of Århus. A ragged butterfly struck a pretty pose on the table just as I got out the cameraphone to take a photo.



A couple of colleagues were having a meeting over lunch in the garden, and from the farthest end I had a clear view of them at their table in the sun.


click to view large





This entry turned out a little different - the pain prevented me from doing any planning along the way, and the entire scene is made up from little strokes and marks. I added a grey wash in the shaded parts of the background at the end, and that constitutes the extent of conscious control over the result.

I like the muted palette here, and how almost every colour is some variation of green.