SKETCHBOOKS
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SKETCH WIDELY
Concertina watercolour
sketchbooks are great for extending
your drawings through a series of
folded pages, either in one session
or over a series of sessions. They are
easy to spread out to check and
rethink. It can also be useful to
see how a project and ideas are
developing. The sketch above was
a quick one, showing just a few
favourite elements from the allotment
in watercolour and gouache.5
SKETCH WITH
LIMITED COLOURS
So-called weeds abound on any
allotment site. They add to the
biodiversity and encourage wildlife to
flourish, and deserve credit for their
tenacity, subtlety and beauty.
This was a quick and simple sketch
to capture those qualities, painted
very freely using just three or four
watercolours and an acrylic pen to
add a bit of structure and detail.6
SKETCH ON
NEW SURFACES
When my process becomes too
familiar, I can lose the creative
impulse and need a nudge or new
stimulus. This might be a new subject,
a new media or a new surface, or a
combination of two or three of these.
I sketched this woodpecker at our
local natural history museum on
Polydraw drafting film, which isn’t
marketed for this purpose, but has
a smooth, water-resistant surface.
I drew with liquid graphite and pencils,
erasing highlights with wet wipes.4
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