I really enjoy drawing, always have. I love spending hours wrapped up in the gentle art of sketching, coaxing a likeness out of the subject and capturing it on paper. I draw to record. I draw to relax and I draw to paint. Drawing helps me to plan compositions and identify tonal relationships. It allows […]
Tag: Cowes Library
I love taking photographs of landscapes, but very rarely sketch ‘En plein air’ (which sounds very professional but actually means ‘outdoors’ in French). As the nights draw in I thought I would use my photo references to inspire some sunnier day landscape sketches. It also helped me to think about techniques for creating depth in […]
Do you love drawing, or would you love to learn? Would you like to draw different objects every week in a wonderful Victorian setting? Would you like some guidance on how to improve your technique or to try out different materials? And are you partial to a biscuit, or two, with a hot drink and […]
Inspiration not intimidation
There are so many great artists out there, do you ever feel ‘I’ll never be as good as that’? Do 100’s of images on all the social media platforms confirm to you that there really is no point in trying? It’s easy to feel that way; intimidated rather than inspired. But all of those artists […]
At the Cowes Library Drawing Group we explore different drawing ideas every week and use a variety of objects for our observational studies. This term we have covered texture with teddy bears, colour theory with courgettes and the complexities of foreshortening, with tin cans (of course!) But this week we had the opportunity to combine […]
Tonal Values – eggs exercise
One of the biggest challenges in drawing is to take a three dimensional object and give it depth and form on a flat piece of paper. Observing the areas of light and dark in your subject and understanding the ‘tonal values’ in between can really help you capture realism and depth. ‘Value’ is a term […]
Thoughts on… Perspective
We touched on perspective in the Cowes Library Drawing Group last week. Just touched on it. You can research thousands of articles and review mathematical equations to help you with the depth, width and height of objects in the drawing, or you can ask yourself the following question to get you thinking about it. “I’m […]