Monday 13 September 2010

Drawing and Painting in the Garden


I've been grabbing pockets of time where I can, catching the last of the summer to sketch outdoors. The back garden is perfect for brief escapes, and provides the perfect opportunity to keep up my practice with paint. I thought you might like to see the results...


I've used waterproof, fine-point pen first, then the watercolour. The lovely, old York Stone of the house is great to paint, with its subtle colour-variations.

The previous owners planted a vine and I'm still amazed that we can grow grapes as far north as Sheffield. They are just beginning to colour:

The ivy too is changing, as the season comes to an end. One wall is covered with it and it turns from green to brilliant red for a week or so, before the leaves all fall. I switched to pencil, although found that the watercolour can wash it off if I'm not careful:

9 comments:

Jon Davis said...

Lovely sketches.
Are your grapes edible, or are they a bit tart?

Lynne the Pencil said...

Yes, they are pretty sweet and I eat them. John's not so keen as they are quite small and have pips, but I just love the idea of eating something that grows for free!

Tami Traylor said...

I love your work, Lynne. Can you tell me what brand of pen you are using that holds up to the watercolor on top? I'm a huge fan of the Sakura Micron pens but am always open to new art tools.

Lynne the Pencil said...

Thanks Tami. I am still experimenting, but am using a DayRunner Micro for the top two drawings, which is totally waterproof.

I prefer a more responsive and variable line but cannot get a waterproof ink that won't gum up my pen, no matter what it says on the jar!

What are Sakura Microns like?

Tami Traylor said...

Years ago, I used to do most of my ink work with koh-i-noor rapidographs but I had a terrible time keeping them from gumming up. I found the Sakura Micron pens to be a nice alternative. I actually like the line quality a little better. They are archival quality, waterproof and don't feather or bleed. I don't know if you can get them in the UK, but here in the US, they are fairly reasonably priced (around $2.50 per pen or even less when you buy them in sets of graduating size). Here's the link to the Sakura site... http://www.sakuraofamerica.com/Pen-Archival

Lynne the Pencil said...

Thank you Tami! I'll lokk them up.

I have had Noodlers Ink recommended a couple of times: I can't get it here, but you can in the US.

Έφη said...

I love your sketches!

Nikira said...

Wonderful set of sketches! Can you order on Jetpens.com in UK? They have nice variety of drawing pens and good prices.

sea-blue-sky & abstracts said...

Lovely drawings Lynne - especially of your house and studio. Lesley