Ea's Artlog

Still life with book

2012-02-11T17:21:00.000+01:00

9B pencil in sketchbook journal. Same book as in the previous entry ;)

The art of urban sketching

2012-02-10T22:58:00.000+01:00

I finally received my copy of this book about urban sketching, featuring a large number of artists from around the world.

There is a spread on sketching in Aarhus, with an artist's profile on me.

Also a wide variety of sections on sketching various subjects under diverse conditions all around the globe.

I'm looking forward to reading through this, getting a look behind the scenes of various urban sketchers at work, and just enjoying the many beautiful illustrations throughout. It's nice to be published in such good company!
Check out the Urban Sketchers organisation behind this book, which is curated and put together by Urban Sketchers founder Gabi Campanario, on our site www.urbansketchers.org. The book is available worldwide through Amazon (where you can also have a look inside the book), or try asking for it at your local bookstore.

Sketching

2012-02-09T22:06:00.004+01:00

9B graphite pencil in sketchbook journal.

Google's new terms of service

2012-02-02T14:11:00.003+01:00

I'm not too happy with some of the wording of the terms of service provided by Google, and which will take effect on March 1st. Especially the following:

"When you upload or otherwise submit content to our Services, you give Google (and those we work with) a worldwide licence to use, host, store, reproduce, modify, create derivative works (such as those resulting from translations, adaptations or other changes that we make so that your content works better with our Services), communicate, publish, publicly perform, publicly display and distribute such content."

My bolding in the above. I'm assuming the meaning is simply that they need to have the right to publish e.g. blog content on the web, display your entries on Google+ to your network, etc., but it does not actually state any such limitations. How about a digital guide to your city, featuring photos you shared via Picasa, blog entries you wrote on good places to eat out, and sketches you shared from around town?

Google also states that: "This license continues even if you stop using our Services (for example, for a business listing that you have added to Google Maps)", meaning that you will not neccesarily be allowed to remove content you have added to e.g. Google Maps.

Since Google Maps is specifically listed as a place where Google retains rights to your published material, even after you discontinue use of the service, I have set my Aarhus map (showing my urban sketches from the town) to private for the time being. I'm keeping it private until I can ascertain that displaying it publicly does not mean losing control over my images for the future.

Perhaps I am being overly cautious, how do you deal with these things in your online life?

Naturhistorisk Museum

2012-01-28T18:35:00.000+01:00

Sketching at the Museum of Natural History in Aarhus today.

And a spread of the accordion sketchbook:

Click through the images for a bit of text on the subjects. Pen, markers, watercolour pencils and a waterbrush for blending. These are all in a small pocket accordion. I have no photos to share of the sketching in situ, sadly.

Standing in line

2012-01-24T23:11:00.001+01:00

Pitt brush markers, pens, and colour pencils in pocket moleskine sketchbook.

Corner

2012-01-22T15:35:00.000+01:00

9B graphite pencil in sketchbook journal.

Minimalist edition

2012-01-19T22:23:00.000+01:00

9B graphite pencil in sketchbook journal.

Reluctant model

2012-01-18T21:49:00.000+01:00

Another go at sketching M's little cairn terrier. 9B graphite pencil in the sketchbook journal.

Reading

2012-01-17T23:05:00.000+01:00

More graphite - 9B pencil in the sketchbook journal.

Cat

2012-01-17T17:15:00.000+01:00

More graphite. This time our cat, forever melting on the heated floor while waiting for summer. Daler Rowney graphite pencil 9B in the new sketchbook journal.

Graphite

2012-01-13T22:02:00.002+01:00

Trying out a bit of graphite in the new sketchbook. The paper works well with the softer leads, but that also means the drawing smudges easily. I don't like to think about how many coats of fixer this will requite in order to not rub off on the opposing page...

I'm still getting quite a bit of blotching in the scan although I'm using a colour photo setting.
5B "thermo-bond" Apollo pencil in my new sketchbook journal. The text was done with a 4B Derwent Graphic which seemed quite a lot harder in the lead.

Sketchy

2012-01-12T13:30:00.000+01:00

Today with an impatient and fidgety model...

3B pencil, watercolours and waterbrush.

New sketchbook journal

2012-01-11T11:16:00.000+01:00

The new book is a travelogue handbook from Global Art Materials Inc., and the paper is very different from the thick, smooth and tinted paper in the Moleskine sketchbooks that I have been using for the past years.

0.4 mm Artline pen, brown and green Pitt brush marker, and yellow ochre Polychromos colour pencil on the cup. Allsorts on the title page.

Last spread

2012-01-05T22:25:00.000+01:00

The last spread in my sketchbook journal - time to crack open a new one for the new year.

I used a 0.4 mm ink pen, Pitt brush markers in grey, brown, green, rose and yellow, Polychromos colour pencil in red, and a B graphite pencil.

Joys of life

2012-01-04T13:29:00.000+01:00

A nice cup of tea and a good book.

Pen, markers and pencils in large moleskine sketchbook.

Domestic life

2012-01-02T22:01:00.000+01:00

M watching a film with a friend in our living room. Pencil and ink pen in large moleskine sketchbook.

happy new year!

2011-12-31T21:37:00.001+01:00

happy new year!, a photo by Vanadisa on Flickr.

No time to do this properly, must celebrate - just a quick sketch before we tuck in. Happy New Year!

Holidays

2011-12-29T22:42:00.000+01:00

Nearing the end of the year, and the end of this sketchbook - I'll be needing a new journal for 2012.
Pencil in large Moleskine sketchbook.

Relaxing

2011-12-26T08:00:00.000+01:00

A quiet evening after two days of celebrating.

Glædelig Jul

2011-12-25T09:08:00.001+01:00

Wishing everyone a relaxing and enjoyable time at whatever your local winter-solstice associated feast might be - mine is Yule and I shall be wallowing in rich foods for days.

Reading

2011-12-22T22:00:00.000+01:00

Artline pen, Pitt brush markers and colour pencil.

Holidays

2011-12-18T22:16:00.000+01:00

Holiday visitors are invading the house - I still have a week left at work.
0.4 mm Artline pen and a touch of blue pencil in my sketchbook journal.

Migraine

2011-12-12T12:03:00.000+01:00

Artline pen 0.4 mm, red and blue colour pencils, grey, brown and ochre Pitt brush markers, day 3 migraine.

Visit

2011-12-04T22:52:00.001+01:00

Artline pen, Pitt brush markers (rose, pink, green, yellow, grey), and red colour pencil in moleskine sketchbook journal.

Nap

2011-12-03T17:43:00.001+01:00

Suprise visits this weekend. Babies make for interrupted nights and encourage afternoon napping.
0.4 mm Artline pen, blue, indigo, red, green and grey Pitt brush markers, in large moleskine sketchbook.

December

2011-12-01T23:04:00.001+01:00

Green, grey, yellow and blue Pitt brush markers, 0.4 mm Art pen, and red and green colour pencils in large sketchbook journal.

Flight delayed

2011-11-27T21:31:00.001+01:00

A last few elements sketched in Clermont-Ferrand over tea in a small square, and on to waiting for our flight home from Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris. Lots of fog over northern Europe and the planes were coming in late in droves - a departure hall full of waiting people gave me an ample supply of models.

Pens and a touch of colour pencil in my sketchbook journal.

Workshop/atelier in Clermont-Ferrand

2011-11-26T17:00:00.000+01:00

Did you take my workshop/atelier at the 12eme Rendez-vous du Carnet de Voyage? If you did, please leave a comment with your impressions - what did you learn from the workshop? - what did you like about the way it was conducted? - was there anything you thought was missing?

If you would like to have another look at the sketchbook artists I used in the introduction, you can find the drawings I showed you in this gallery on Flickr: in situ

A la prochaine!

Last morning in France

2011-11-25T10:49:00.001+01:00

Hotel breakfast.

Pen, brush markers and colour pencils in moleskine sketchbook journal.

Urban sketchers in Clermont-Ferrand

2011-11-24T19:33:00.001+01:00

Urban sketchers are always easy to spot - they are the ones whipping out their books as soon as there is a little break in the proceedings, obsessively sketching each other over dinner, and plonked down in the middle of streets and squares diligently scribbling away. Here are a few images and sketches of the sketchers at C-L during the 12th Rendezvous du Carnet de Voyage:

The students of Mario Linhares, visiting from Portugal and to be found sketching around town during the festival...

And Gerard Michel from Belgium, doing one of this detailed architectural sketches...

I did a sketch of him sketching at our dinner Sunday evening, where a bunch of us met up at the Crèperie 1513 - you can see him here in the upper right:

Here are a few more dinner sketches:

you can see the rest in my set on Flickr - my rendez vous with C-L

And a final dinner sketch, which was actually the first one - meeting up with Kim Marohn and Martine Kervagoret of the Paris sketchers on our way down:

I did loads of sketching every day on this trip, but most of it was in other people's sketchbooks and I forgot to take photos. A few more sketches from the trip are still left to post though - more tomorrow.

Goodbye to the travel book festival

2011-11-22T22:30:00.001+01:00

The travel book festival at Clermont-Ferrand has been a great experience, only improved by the other Urban Sketchers correspondents taking part. Interacting with the audience, giving a workshop on location sketching, and even the less than smooth round table debate and interviews in French with radio France Bleu and a guy from the local station, all were rewarding experiences. The whole event was very intense with an overwhelming attendance, many visitors coming by each day, revisiting our stands and asking questions about materials, techniques, subjects and sketching practises. Here are some photos from my stand during the festival that were taken by Reza:

As you can see there was lots going on all the time. There were a lot of stands, with both authors and artists, and the exhibition covered two floors of the Polydrome. The images I posted during the festival were photos taken with my iPad when I could get a little break, i.e. During the few minutes where my stand wasn't swamped by spectators. These photos were taken by Reza during the festival and give a better impression of the event:

I'll be posting some of the sketches I managed to do during the trip Over the coming days - mostly dinner sketches of my fellow Urban Sketchers members and a few done at the stand.

I would definitely do this again, especially with a group of Urban Sketchers to hang out with, and perhaps a slight brush up of my French beforehand! And next time I will know that bringing a book for people to buy is pretty much required in the eyes of the audience. So - au revoir, and until next time you can follow my sketching adventures here.

Day three at the festival

2011-11-20T20:13:00.001+01:00

Lots of visitors again today, and we are all getting quite tired from impression overload. I gave a workshop in the morning for 15 people - lots of good drawings, insights and inspirations shared in the group. Sadly I have no photos from the event but lots of positive feedback.

I've been letting people leaf through my sketchbooks when I was at the stand and everyone was very careful with the books. It was fun to see which pages they left open after browsing.

I also got a lot of contributions to my map. Many people told me stories of their visits in Denmark, some from as far back as the 1950's. I'm taking the notes back home where I have time to see what people wrote, and maybe I can base a project on them.

So, goodbye to the festival du carnet de voyage for this year - perhaps I will come back again another time.

I'll be posting scans of sketches and more photos from the event once I'm back home with access to a scanner and the images in my camera.

Impressions de Dimanche

2011-11-20T10:15:00.001+01:00

Some Sunday morning impressions from the festival.

The sketchbooks of Mathias Adolfson.

My table this morning.

And off to give a workshop!

Clermont-Ferrand day two

2011-11-20T00:24:00.001+01:00

Such a long day today as I was still tired from yesterday. We had a very different public come by - no schools, and thus many more adults and very few kids. I the morning there was a round table debate with the Scandinavian sketchers, which was a little stilted and slow because of the translation into French of everything said, and translation of the audience's questions into Swedish and English. Amazingly enough there was a Swedish speaking Frenchwoman there to do the translating, and she spoke Danish as well.

In the afternoon I was interviewed by the radio France Bleu in French - a slightly harrowing experience since I was tired, had no time to talk to the journalist in advance, and couldn't really prepare. All things considered it went well.

People are contributing to my map of Denmark. I put this up on my wall the first day and am asking the public to contribute memories or anecdotes from their visits to Denmark. Above is how the map looked this morning. I will take a picture at the end of tomorrow before taking down the map - it is filling up with notes in various languages. I think I might do something with these later, it would be fun to incorporate them into a project.

I finished off the evening at the official dinner, sharing a table with a load of sketchers. Of course we all sketched each other and I am sure there will be lots of scans up next week once we all get back home.

Tomorrow I am giving a workshop in the morning and several participants already visited me at the stand today - I am sure it will be good fun. Now for a cup of tea and a good nights sleep!

Rendez-vous du carnet de voyage

2011-11-18T12:03:00.001+01:00

All set at the festival and busy practising my rusty French. Just a small update on this first day.

I brought a selection of sketchbooks, and did a collage of prints on my wall.

I also put up a map of Denmark, asking people to share memories of adventures when visiting.

Nina is here as well as a handful of other Urban Sketchers. Sorry about the poor photo quality - I only have the iPad for getting images online.

There are lots of people here, and lots of school children today all wanting to ask questions for their presentations, and asking for little sketches in their books. I'd better get back!

Rendez-vous du Carnet de Voyage

2011-11-16T14:00:00.000+01:00

I will be exhibiting my sketchbooks at the 12th Rendez-vous du Carnet de Voyage at Clermont-Ferrand in France this coming weekend. You can find me in the section Les pays Scandinaves, together with fellow Urban Sketchers correspondent Nina Johansson, and a number of other sketchbook artists. I will also be doing a round table with Nina Johansson and Matthias Adolphsson, and offering a workshop on location sketching during travels.

My plans are to blog from the event here on the artlog, so keep an eye out for words and images from the festival here.

Drop by at my stand and say hello, if you are at Clermont-Ferrand this coming weekend.

Concert sketching

2011-11-13T18:26:00.001+01:00

Unge spiller klassisk - actually a competition for youth playing classical music, with 10 to 20 year olds on all kinds of instruments. This was the first part of the competition and took place at the theatre in Horsens today.

I only sketched a few performers - too busy listening to the music!
Ink pen in A4 size moleskine cahier.

After work

2011-11-08T18:22:00.001+01:00

A quick sketch when I got home from work today. Brushes app again.

Monday evening brushes app

2011-11-07T21:57:00.001+01:00

This evening's experiment with the iPad, using the Brushes app and a touch screen stylus. I made a dark blue layer as canvas base, then painted on a transparent layer over that.

And again, with a pen...

2011-11-06T22:11:00.001+01:00

I went and got a pen for the iPad, and it makes sketching much easier - freer movement of the hand and much easier on my wrist and elbow. This way of sketching will take a bit of time getting used to, but as long as I don't lose interest too soon, I'm sure I can make something of it.

Evening cup of tea, and horrid new pink work phone, done in brushes. The pen is a Targus.

Blogging on the iPad

2011-11-05T19:55:00.001+01:00

So, I got an iPad this week, and we are getting acquainted. I asked people on Flickr to rec me apps, and I now have Brushes and Sketchbook Pro to play with.

I need to get a pen to give me better control, and to spare my wrist and elbow when drawing, but I can already see this will be a fun way to use the iPad, and I might actually get to do a bit of digital sketching on the go.

Today I managed to figure out how to make blogging work, after a frustrating struggle with blogging in the Safari browser which only led to several disappearing posts. Most annoying! But the Blogsy app is saving my day, and ensuring easy blogging from Clermont Ferrand in the near future. I will be exhibiting at this year's travel festival.

If you are an iPad user, please share your favourite apps and tips in the comments.

Digital sketchbook

2011-11-05T19:40:00.001+01:00

Cup

2011-11-01T23:06:00.000+01:00

Lamy Safari fountain pen with blue ink in A4 Moleskine cahier.

More blue

2011-10-29T20:01:00.000+02:00

Lamy Safari fountain pen with blue ink, in large A4 moleskine cahier.

Knitting

2011-10-28T14:00:00.000+02:00

Pen and watercolour in large moleskine sketchbook.

Copenhagen cafe

2011-10-27T10:00:00.000+02:00

Sketch from Cafe Fokus in Copenhagen where I had a cup of tea after wandering around the new covered market, Torvehallerne.

Pen and markers in pocket sketchbook.

Lussy

2011-10-26T10:00:00.000+02:00

My friend's dog in her basket - getting older and a bit eccentric these days, as is the privilege of all those who hang on for long enough.

Watercolour and waterbrush in the Moleskine watercolour journal.

Ferry sketching

2011-10-23T21:53:00.000+02:00

Weekend trip to Copenhagen. I used the oportunity to sketch on the ferry during our crossing from Aarhus to Sjællands-Odde.

I had time enough to sketch in pencil and ink, and clean up my page a bit. Watercolour was added later from memory, aided by a rather blurry and under-exposed camerphone snapshot.

Do you take notes on colour or use a snapshot for reference when adding colour later? I do either, depending on the scene and how much time I have available.

Blue

2011-10-20T18:48:00.000+02:00

Lamy Safari fountain pen with blue ink in large A4 Moleskine cahier.

Lunch

2011-10-12T20:50:00.000+02:00

At Sigfred's Kaffebar. These two had perfectly mirrored noses and lunches - perhaps sisters, or mother and daughter. One was very still, the other animated.

0.4 mm ink pen with a touch of marker and coloured pencil.

Denmark - Portugal

2011-10-11T21:54:00.000+02:00

Big head. Markers and colour pencils.

Reflection

2011-10-07T15:03:00.002+02:00

blue foot -
reflection across the north sea
through the web's aether

original blue foot

Lamy safari fountain pen with blue ink, and a touch of waterbrush, in pocket sketchbook.

Pendler

2011-10-06T19:46:00.000+02:00

Sketches in my pocket journal on my way home from work. Ink pen, marker, colour pencil.

New pen

2011-10-04T21:08:00.000+02:00

I got a new pen - a Lamy Safari fountain pen - and have been trying it out with the standard blue ink cartridge it came with.

I have a converter I can use for my own ink, and want a permanent ink that I can also use with watercolour on top, but I'm a bit worried the pen will dry and clog. Do you have a fountain pen you use for drawing? Which kind of ink do you use in your pen? Will Indian ink ruin the pen? Please share your experiences in comments.

46

2011-09-29T22:15:00.000+02:00

Today

0.3 mm Artpen, blue, brown, and grey Pitt brush markers, ochre and a touch of red colour pencils.

On the mend

2011-09-27T20:21:00.000+02:00

Finally recovering. Here are some sketches I haven't posted before.

Pitt brush markers, mostly. Top drawing in pocket size sketchbook, bottom two in larger sketchbook journal.

Garden sketching

2011-09-20T12:36:00.002+02:00

Another sketch done yesterday. Tried simplifying the subject and working with the strong contrasts of a sunny day.

you can click through this one to see a frame around the subject matter on Flickr - it is just visible in the background.

Watercolour in A4 moleskine. I did a fair bit of mixing since my palette contains neither a green nor a black. Gamboge Lake yellow, cerulean blue, Payne's grey, burnt umber, and a bit of dirty leftover colours in the mixing pan.

September sun

2011-09-19T14:18:00.001+02:00

Finally a day with sun and no rain. I wrapped up and sketched a bit outside in the garden, as I'm still nursing a light atumnal cold.

Working in my large watercolour moleskine. I seem to be confusing myself a bit technique-wise by skipping back and forth between using waterbrushes and regular brushes. Regular sable brush and water in a glass today.

Indoor drawing

2011-09-08T19:21:00.002+02:00

The weather is completely unpredictable and I am tired. Drawing indoors today.

Our shoes stand abandoned in the hall.

Not feeling up to taking on the watercolours proper today, just a bit of scrubby wash on the top sketch. The sketchbook paper is coated and fights the paint, so I don't worry about control when working in this book since the paper will win out anyway. It's great for markers though.

Evening sketch

2011-09-07T22:11:00.000+02:00

Day off - writing letters, visiting friend. Just a quick evening sketch while watching yet another information poor, drama rich election campaign reportage.

Pencil, waterbrush and watercolours in moleskine sketchbook.

Watercolours

2011-09-06T20:00:00.000+02:00

Wrestling with my watercolours today, feeling overwhelmed by the medium and my lack of control.

I've put this drawing on hold for the time being.

Since all my energy goes into learning by doing I decided to abandon attempts at getting a specific effect/result and just see what happened, so I've been experimenting a bit today with different ways of using the paint.

Splashing paint on wet in wet, then adding detail with touches of paint and drawing with watercolour pencils.

Quick ink pen sketch with watercolour washes on top.

Paint and watercolour pencils.

I think I just need to keep gathering experiences with the paint, and eventually I will be able to make it do what I want in a specific image.

Orchid

2011-09-05T15:48:00.000+02:00

Pitt markers in pocket sketchbook.

Birthday girl

2011-09-01T22:24:00.001+02:00

S is 17 today, and I just had to do a portrait of her. I brought out the watercolours and my large sketchbook while she was doing her homework.

I didn't use the watercolour pencils at all this time around - instead I started with a very light pencil sketch.

Working in comparative darkness, but the dramatic lighting was interesting.

The scan turned out a bit more blueish than the original, and also more grainy looking. This kind of pure watercolour is almost too pretty.
Watercolour in A4 watercolour moleskine. I used yellow ochre, raw sienna, burnt umber, payne's grey and ultramarine blue, with tiny touches of cadmium medium red on the skin.

Open doors

2011-08-29T19:19:00.000+02:00

Too wet and windy today to continue my festival sketchbook in town. Instead I brought out the new watercolour sketchbook and drew (painted?!) doors.

I wanted a view through successive doorways, so this is looking from my livingroom, via the hall, towards the kitchen.

Blurry shot courtesy of a grey day.

I made the doorways more squat (they're very narrow) to give myself more space to play around. Not sure whether I should just have left the front plane white and only used colour on the part framed within the opening of the door.

Pencil sketch with watercolour and a touch of watercolour pencil in A4 size moleskine sketchbook.

Aarhus sketchcrawl

2011-08-27T19:40:00.002+02:00

I had an Aarhus sketchcrawl today - as it turned out, all on my lonesome. I've been trying for a long time now to make up a group, but there is only ever me and my sketching buddy Anette. This time around I even tried hanging up flyers around town - outside art schools and in art material stores - but no luck.

I started out at 13:00 by the fountain Agnethe og Havmanden, waiting to see whether anyone would show up.

No luck, so I moved up to the little park behind Town Hall where a band was playing live.

Lots of little tents with bands playing dotted about the park on both sides of the road. I had a bit of trouble with rain spatters interrupting my sketching, but got a few pages filled anyway.

Afterwards I walked down to Klostertorv where they made a beach in the square - cobblestones all covered by a thick layer of sand, and lots of cosy little huts to give a bit of shelter. I picked one and sketched across a few more pages.

Then I moved on up to Lille Torv and Immervad, and sketched from various locations, ending up under an overhang to shelter from more drizzle.

I finished up down by Bispetorv, where I realised I was both tired and hungry and decided to catch a bus back home.

Quite a productive day. I'll go back during the week to fill the rest of the accordion sketchbook with more drawings from the festival, and work on figuring out how to draw crowds!

0.4 mm ink pen and grey brush marker in pocket accordion moleskine.

Watercolour sketchbook

2011-08-24T22:07:00.000+02:00

So, last night I used up the last page in my watercolour sketchbook. I already have a larger one lined up to take over, and hope to begin it tomorrow in town.

The new one is an A4 size sketchbook, and it opens up to a long or tall double spread, depending on orientation. Lots of room for playing with formats.

In the meantime there are still lots of sketches from the completed sketchbook that I haven't shared. Here is a selection of drawings with tea in the subject:

Still experimenting and fooling around without too much of an idea what I am trying to do here, except gather experiences with the medium. My Flickr stream is looking a lot more colourful these days with all the watercolours.

Book

2011-08-23T11:21:00.000+02:00

This book on urban sketching, by Urban Sketchers founder Gabriel Campanario, will be out in February 2012, and I will be in it!

Read more about the book on the Facebook page.

I really look forward to having this on my shelf, with art by a whole lot of talented sketchers from around the globe ready to inspire and motivate me to go out and sketch more.

Saturday grocery shopping

2011-08-22T10:00:00.001+02:00

Sketched this in the parking lot, looking through the windscreen.

Ink pens in pocket moleskine sketchbook.

DHL relay race

2011-08-21T10:00:00.001+02:00

Went to the race in Mindeparken with my job on Thursday, taking part in the walk while others ran the relay.

Watercolour, waterbrush and watercolour pencils in sketchbook.

Behind

2011-08-20T10:00:00.000+02:00

I am falling behind on blogging (and answering emails, and returning calls, and...), and rather than trying to catch up right now, let me just share yesterday's sketchbreak at the new cafe right by my stop in town.

Here is my table - I snagged an armchair and had a cup of roiboos

The interior is quite nice, and brighter than I expected since the cafe itself is partly below street level. Here's a look towards the street windows

I will no doubt be sketching this cafe repeatedly as it gets colder and wetter - it's the perfect place to wait for the next bus. Next time I'll pick a different seat and draw a view of the interior.

Watercolour and watercolour pencils in medium sized moleskine sketchbook - I just bought a large one to experiment in when this one is full. Only two pages left.

Back

2011-08-11T21:29:00.000+02:00

Well, I fell into a crochet hole after that baby-visit.

And I was also a bit overwhelmed by all the Lisbon photos on my harddrive - just looking through all of them has taken forever, and although there are lots worth sharing, I really don't want to flood my Flickr stream with pages and pages of symposium photos. I'll look into creating an online album somewhere else, and then link to that.

I really enjoyed meeting so many sketchers in Lisbon, and also finally meeting in person people I have been following and interacting with online over the past 3 years or so. Being me, I needed a bit of time off in between all the activities - just being with that many people for days on end was quite overwhelming - and I spent part of each day doing something on my own or just resting. Although most of the workshops were really good and well organised I was really more interested in seeing people work (and teach), and if I get a second chance at a symposium I will probably prioritise the lectures over taking part in workshops - I missed at least half of them this time around.

Seeing Marina Grechanik sketch in watercolours was a bit of a revelation, and I realised the watercolour pencil was a great way to get that line back in. Line is where I feel at home, whereas colour makes me uncertain so paints are quite intimidating on their own! Ink pen with watercolour wash tends to become more of a colouring book technique with me - just filling in the shapes after the drawing is done - and then I'd rather just draw in pens alone, but working with watercolour and watercolour pencils at once is very interesting. The pencil can be used on both wet and dry surface, with different characteristics, and reworked with wet washes on top. I'm still just in the beginning stages of experimenting, and having lots of fun with it. You can see my sketches of a friend and her baby in the preceding entry, and here are some sketchbook journal entries in my little watercolour Moleskine - I will be posting more over the next few days as I already have quite a few to share.

Meeting other artists and working with them is very inspiring.

Intermission

2011-07-31T22:23:00.000+02:00

A short intermission in the symposium posts - I finally got to meet little Addis, whom I've been knitting and crocheting stuff for all spring (if you follow me on Flickr this will have been apparent to you). She's all of 10 weeks, and despite her spending less than 24 hours in our home I managed to do several sketches of her.

And a quick one while her mother packed the car:

I'm experimenting with a mixture of watercolour paint and watercolour pencils, inspired by watching Marina Grechanik draw during the symposium. The pencils let me get in the line, which I can't manage in paint using waterbrushes (just too wet) and really miss otherwise. I'm hoping this will help me stick with the colour for a while longer this time around - I keep picking it up and then quickly despairing, so we'll see where this combination takes me.

More symposium photos and sketches are already up in my Flickr stream.

Lisbon before the symposium

2011-07-29T19:05:00.001+02:00

The only sightseeing I did during my stay was to take tram no. 28 with R and Nina. It road like a slow-motion roller coaster up and down the narrow cobbled alleys and took us through the picturesque and somewhat dilapidated areas around the Castelo.

I met a lot of people throughout the day and hardly did any sketching until the evening meal, which featured Liz, Lynne and John, Orling, Paul, Antje and Marina:

I missed Liz in this series as I'd already been sketching her earlier. And here she is again with an oversized nose in my journal page of mixed sketches:

So many people already, and the next night was the correspondents' dinner with too many assembled in one place to make it possible to meet everyone. Pictures from that, and of various artists' sketchbooks, coming tomorrow.

Tuesday in Lisbon

2011-07-28T22:33:00.000+02:00

On Tuesday (last week) we bumped into Isabel Fiadeiro over coffee, and I went back to the Academia des Belas Artes and signed in early. We had lunch in the canteen with Mario Linhares and some of the hardworking volunteers - they did a fantastic job organising the symposium, getting everything ready on time and running smoothly throughout.

In the evening we again bumped into Isabel, this time over dinner with a whole bunch of instructors and Liz Steele, who just happened to sit down at our table where we were wrapping up our day over some really good local food. I decided to use my extra large cahier for sketching people I had dinner with while there, and filled the first few pages with these unexpected companions.

I also got to sketch the world famous Borromini Bear and made a note of his hat size - the little fellow definitely needs a hat to wear on his treks around the globe with super sketcher Liz, who has perfected the art of eating and sketching simultaneously.

Two days before the symposium started, and I was already feeling slightly overwhelmed by all the new people!

Last week

2011-07-26T23:52:00.000+02:00

I arrived in Lisbon on Monday 18th to give myself ample time to recover from the traveling and find my feet. Despite being tired I had to draw a bit in the evening and had a go at the window across the street from our room.

I added some of the details the next day as it got too dark to see before I was done.

Lisbon was irresistibly patterned - mosaic sidewalks, tiled walls, iron railings - they were everywhere.

I wanted to do a collection of the patterns in my little pocket sketchbook, but just never found the time between meeting so many people and the tight symposium schedule.

I'm hoping to go back and see more of the city at a later date.

Still needing to scan lots of stuff, and look through more photos. Will keep posting about Lisbon throughout the week.

Lisbon

2011-07-25T11:20:00.000+02:00

Winding down and packing up after an intense Urban Sketchers symposium in Lisbon. I arrived last Monday and soon met local sketchers and people arriving early for the event. From Thursday morning sign in the days have been packed with people, sketchbooks and impression overload.

I've finally met a whole bunch of sketchers face to face, and it's been great to get such a solid and lively impression of people who have so far just been internet ghosts. I haven't done much sketching during the event, but I've looked at a lot of sketchbooks, seen a lot of artists in action, and had a really inspiring time.

Yesterday I went to a park and did a bit of sketching on my own. There are post-symposium farewells and wishes of meeting up again next year. I'm quite sated by all the impressions and new aquaintances and friends, and pretty much ready to go home.

Packing up my bags and leaving this afternoon. More on here in the days to come.

Den Gamle By

2011-07-16T19:53:00.000+02:00

Family visit to Den Gamle By today - it's a live museum town where preservation worthy buildings from various places around the country have been gathered and re-raised. The main part of the town shows typical buildings, shops and workshops as they would have appeared in the 1860's, and there are townspeople about in period costume doing the jobs of the time. Read more about the museum on their homepage if you like: The Old Town in Aarhus

We ended our visit over a cold drink in Simonsens Have where I did a sketch.

When we got home I added watercolour from memory.

It turned out okay, I think.

More watercolour

2011-07-15T22:08:00.001+02:00

I used a bit of blue and yellow colour pencil on this. I like how it turned out, but the medium still makes me feel very fumbling and slow.

Daughter x 2

2011-07-15T10:17:00.003+02:00

My eldest is visiting with Gigi, and I'm taking the oportunity to sketch her while she's here.

Still struggling with the waterbrushes. Details and darker areas are difficult to manage because of the excessive flow. Perhaps I should just combine with coloured pencils instead.

Hat

2011-07-14T10:07:00.000+02:00

Urban Sketchers symposium in Lisbon next week - not sure my hat will be much help against the intense sun and heat!

Watercolour

2011-07-13T10:17:00.000+02:00

Will I ever have the patience to master this medium?

Tour on the telly

2011-07-12T22:20:00.002+02:00

Ink pen in moleskine sketchbook.

Beach

2011-07-11T15:51:00.000+02:00

No rain yesterday, so we packed a picnic basket and spent the afternoon at the beach.

Quite a few other people had the same idea, and there were families swimming, people sun bathing, running or walking the dog - quite a bit of life on this normally un-crowded beach.

Top sketch is ecoline watercolour ink in a brush pen, and a water filled ditto for washes. The bottom is fine tipped ink pen and colour pencils.

Saba saba

2011-07-07T15:01:00.002+02:00

Ecoline ink in brush pen and thin black Artline pen.

Wildflowers and brush pens

2011-07-06T14:19:00.001+02:00

I'm filling my handmade accordion sketchbook with drawings of Danish wildflowers from around here - just a random selection of the ones I come across along the road, in fields and empty lots.

The flowers start to wither very fast in the summer heat - next time I'll bring a small flask of water to stick them in until I get back, and just pick one or two.

I'm using colour pencils so far. The ones I have are a bit soft for details so I'll probably either get some colours in a less grainy texture, or else add a little detail in watercolour or marker.

I've been asking people on Flickr to help me identify the plants. So far these two are down - the top one is Capsella Bursa-Pastoris, common English name is Sheperd's Purse, the bottom one is Vicia Cracca, common English name is Bird Vetch.

I've also filled more waterbrushes with Ecoline inks, and have been trying them out in the Pentel waterbrush. The ink flow is quite fast and difficult to control, and the colours are incredibly bright.

I mixed the green to bring down the neon brightness, but it's still quite fierce. The inks are very clear and the lack of opacity makes the colours extremely bright. The strong flow of the waterbrushes also makes the ink pool on the sketchbook paper, and it takes time to dry. I tried the brushes out on the watercolour moleskine paper as well which helped with the pooling and wetness - the ink soaks right in and saturates the upper part of the paper.

The saturation then becomes a problem in itself. I'm going to try using these with a water-filled brush to dilute and mix the colours with. Next step will be mixing colours in the brushes, and maybe diluting the inks a bit as well.

Have you worked with Ecoline inks? Any experiences and insights you might share?

Watercolour sketching in town

2011-07-05T10:00:00.004+02:00

Went sketching in town yesterday, wanting to have a go at watercolours. I brought along my little palette and waterbrushes, and got a watercolour sketchbook at the store.

The brushes are very wet, and I am still pretty inexperienced with watercolour, so the results are uneven. I also can't really see what works and what doesn't right now - I need a bit of distance and some more experiments to get a feel for things.

I like the drawing part of this - the many angles and planes, and the patterns in the window.

This one is a simple ink pen sketch with watercolour wash. You can see how I struggled with the overly wet brushpen washing out the colours.

I finished up down by Bispetorv with this sketch looking past the cathedral and old town houses towards the harbour - the bright blue crane caught my eye.

This one is all watercolour and I think the one with most problems. By this time the sky was completely overcast and the light very diffuse, almost completely eliminating shadows. In the end I just ran out of time and had to go catch my bus home.

Not the 7500,- Dkr stone...

2011-07-04T10:00:00.001+02:00

but another peach-pit.

Double

2011-07-03T14:00:00.001+02:00

Tablet

2011-07-02T12:02:00.000+02:00

0.1 mm ink pen.

Sketching in town

2011-06-29T21:48:00.001+02:00

snapshot by my friend Anette

Sunny weather and streets full of tourists and students fresh out of school. Icecream, fresh peas and pounds of ripe strawberries - it is summer in Aarhus.
You can click through the sketches to find an image-description on Flickr.

New

2011-06-27T11:09:00.000+02:00

Late night sketch of some new summer clothes while waiting for sleep. Last night was clear and the sky never darkened beyond a dawn glow (bedroom window faces North). Bats were abroad. No nightinggales though - maybe they're done singing for the year.

Ink pen, red colour pencil and blue brush marker.

Peach and nectarines - summer still life

2011-06-23T13:47:00.000+02:00

Pen, brush markers, and colour pencil.

Breaking Boulevard

2011-06-16T23:44:00.000+02:00

I went by Archauz on Wednesday to have a look at the on-going festival (last day tomorrow) and catch the performance of Martha Carbayo.

Friday night I'll be catching the show in Archauz, probably sans sketchbook.

Most of these done in great haste using Tria brush markers filled with Ecoline inks. Sketch of the juggler done in graphite, and the grey brush pen is a Faber-Castell Pitt pen.

Evening conversation

2011-06-13T22:31:00.002+02:00

Sisters

2011-06-12T23:04:00.000+02:00

Peonie

2011-06-10T12:59:00.000+02:00

Sketching at the percussion student concert

2011-06-09T13:20:00.000+02:00

Wednesday night at Aarhus Musikskole.

Students and audience in the small classroom, packed with instruments.

I had a bit of trouble with the brushpen drying up - it's been shedding the last remains of the India Ink.

Large, not quite A4, Moleskine cahier and a Tria brush pen marker filled with Ecoline ink.

Getting the brushpens going again

2011-06-05T22:08:00.001+02:00

I brought out the brushpens again. The one with India ink had dried stiff in the brush, so I emptied the reservoir and left the tip in alcohol overnight. It has now been refilled with Ecoline ink in brown.

I had a spot of trouble with the first sketch - blobs and drying, and of course the blobs had to be on her face...

We've been having the most wonderful sunny weather over the weekend, following a very wet May. Ices and sidewalk cafes are suddenly iresistable.

Still a lot less sketching than I would like, but at least this sketchbook now has a few entries from the past week.

Brushpens with Ecoline ink, and Pigma Micron pen.

Colour pencils

2011-05-31T21:49:00.000+02:00

Arctic iris in my garden.