Finished this today in urban sketching. View from my backyard with Edinburgh tenements and a back corner of Fountainbridge library. Mixed media on A4 (pencil, watercolour pencil, brush pen, posca markers, white ink and conte pastel). I always end up mixing lots of media these days :O
These are various sketches I've done recently. I decided to buy a sketchbook through the Sketchbook Project at the Brooklyn Art Library, and these are a few of the drawings in there. Not sure when it'll get digitized, but you could always check it out when it does.
I haven't done a still life since highschool! I was finally motivated to make one after finding this black conch shell on the beach of Rimini. In the past I found one but it was broken, i feel like i've been on a healing journey and was delighted to find a complete full shell. In a way I took it as a sign of the healing graces God is pouring out on me. I also found the coral thing floating on the waves of the shore. I felt the presence of the divine through His creation that day. I picked up the other scallop shells and the red rock there too. The big snail shell I found outside the monastery, there are some big snails here! So yeah, I wasn't trying to be too precise in this still life but I wanted to jot down the idea and my thoughts from that day. Peace be with you all
Quick 1 hour sketch working with a limited palette for a moody, gritty atmosphere. I always like to think of the story behind a piece before I start, and this one was a reflection of where I see the world going - a dystopian world in which many parts of the city have been abandoned, taken over by urban foliage, and left to ruin as people flee.