Canal Sketches

Hungerford Lock - 20 minute drawing
21 October 2013
Watercolour, gouache and ink
Moleskine A4 Watercolour Album

Last week, Elaine and I had a relaxing narrow boat holiday on the Kennet and Avon canal with Paul and Wendy and their dog Alfie.

Bridge 76 from Kintbury - 5 minute drawing
20 October 2013
Derwent Graphitint Pencils
Moleskine Watercolour Notebook – Pocket

In the evenings, I followed (loosely) some lessons on sketching by Katherine Tyrell (see http://www.makingamark.co.uk/sketching-for-real.html)

Jupiter - 15 minute drawing
20 October 2013
Watercolour, gouache and ink
Moleskine A4 Watercolour Album

The first assignment in Katherine’s class involves drawing sketches within a time limit. Katherine suggests doing this assignment at home, but I felt comfortable enough to draw from the boat or a bench on the towpath. I drew the:

• 5 minute sketches in a Moleskine Watercolour Notebook – Pocket (5 ½"x 3 ½" / 14cm x 9cm) using Derwent Graphitint Pencils
• Longer sketches in a Moleskine Folio Watercolour Album - A4 (11 ¾" x 8 ¼" / 29.7cm x 21cm) using pencil and ink

West Mills (Newbury) - 10 minute drawing
22 October 2013
Watercolour, gouache and ink
Moleskine A4 Watercolour Album

For the longer sketches, I used about half of the time to draw a gesture study in pencil and the other half to do a very quick contour study in ink. I completed the drawing in the time allowed, but then spent a lot longer painting them with watercolour and gouache. In cold or damp weather, the paint seems to take forever to dry on the Moleskine paper. I ended up using a more direct wet into wet approach than I intended because the dwindling light meant I didn’t have time to wait for multiple layers of paint to dry.

Katherine suggests concentrating on sketching without colour until you get the hang of sketching. I am going to heed this advice on my next sketching trip and focus on creating some tonal sketches in pencil.