Museums are an endless supply of subject matter for practising drawing and I'd recommend them to anyone. Thee suits of armour are to be found in the Musée des Invalides in Paris where I spent the afternoon and were an ideal subject for studying shiny metal. I will explain how I achieved the smooth shading in a future post...

These 2 watercolour studies are typical of the eastern coastline of Essex. These salt marshes are home to a wide variety of wading birds and geese and the landscape is constantly changing with on the tides. The upper sketch was an attempt to capture the evening light and reflections. The lower picture was made facing the sun so the colours are more saturated. Watercolour is fun but it's a very unforgiving medium. The ability to draw will help your painting ability enormously.

This was drawn during a day trip on a Thames Barge. These sailing vessels used to ply the coast east taking hay and other agricultural goods up to London.A number have been kept in working condition by sailing enthusiasts and can be hired out for functions or trips. This is a view of the below deck where I was sheltering from the wind.

Here are some small sketches of trees made whilst taking the dog for a run in the nearby woods. A pocket-sized sketchbook and a fibre-tipped pen are ideal for making this kind of drawing and visual notes.  Drawing with this kind of pen is pure pleasure : the fineness of the nib for detail, the blackness of the ink for shading, no pencil sharpener needed, the responsiveness of the pen when drawing fast. The one drawback is the inability to vary the thickness of the line. For this I recommend a broader harder felt nib and vary the pressure, or ,of course, a flexible nibbed dip pen.

 

Here's a drawing you may have seen here recently. Read on for a more in-depth look at my technique....

This drawing was made during a visit to the fishing village of Honfleur popular with tourists. Finding a spot to park myself with so many people about wasn't easy. I ended up having to crouch with my back to the harbour wall with my pad on my knees to stop it from blowing away. the pen I had with me was of a broad felt nib type but sufficiently hard to enable me to produce fine lines when using light strokes. In fact a pen of this sort allows a wide range of line thicknesses depending on your stroke...

I began by sketching the scene in light pencil (which I rubbed out later). This meant I could concentrate afterwards on filling in now that the bones were in place. As you can see the result is like a pattern of abstract dots and dashes. The horizontal lines represent brickwork. The aim was to be as economical as possible with the line to acieve the maximum results. You may notice that only the shadows are drawn (such as window reveals) and sunlit areas are left blank. Look at the dormer windows on the close-up below.

Notice how all the shading goes in the same direction. It is very important to decide on the direction of shading for each object in the compostion, as it has a real effect on the end result and

unifies the drawing. In this example, these rooves are in the background. The shadows are beginning to merge into one another and form abstract shapes. It was important that they be treated, therefore in a similar fashion. The horizontal direction of the hatching was an obvious choice : it represents the brickwork coursing, slate roofing etc.

This view shows the quayside cafés. From this close-up it's almost impossible to tell what it is. It would have been pretty impossible to depict this scene exactly, and it would have been counter-productive. Visually the cafés are not the main focus of the drawing, but they do provide an interesting counterpoint to the main part of the drawing above. It was necessary, therefore, to give only an impression of activity, and light and dark shapes. It's fun to try and represent something in an abstract way - to leave the rest to the imagination. It can be more powerful, and is certainly less time consuming :)

When I go out, I always try to have a pocket-sized sketchbook on me in case anything catches my eye. Such was the case with these railings in London. I liked the perspective seen from this oblique view as they stepped up.

This is a drawing in pen & ink of the medieval town of Puy l'Eveque in the Lot region of France. I was on holiday in the region and took 2 or 3 visits to finish the drawing. I started , as usual with a drawing of this size, by sketching in pencil the main lines which I could rub out later if needed. Perhaps I could have done it less time but the number of people who stopped to chat meant that it took longer :)