Cemetery in Odense Denmark
Yesterday I walked past a cemetery in Odense Denmark. Its expansive grounds were centered around a large church but divided by hedges and paths. I sat on one of the many benches beneath a large tree and sketched the line drawing for this scene. Later I filled in color with Procreate.
This is a pen and Procreate sketch.
Danish Farm and Field
After driving through many hours of gorgeous farmland, we arrived in Odense Denmark late this afternoon. While in Germany, I drew a few scenes similar to this one using pen and watercolor but lost the structure of the field in the flow of the paint. Today while driving I was thinking about how I could depict fields and thought to try abstracting the parts (top, sides, edges, ground) of the field into flat planes of color, more like a print than a watercolor.
This is a iPad/Procreate sketch.
An Avenue of Trees
It turns out that Dinklage Germany, which we stumbled upon when looking for a hotel at the end of the day yesterday, is lush, green and incredibly beautiful. When we saw it this morning we decided to spend a day here and I went sketching along the rural roads near our hotel. This area is full of forested parks, paths and tree lined roads. This sketch tries to capture the feeling of being beneath an avenue of trees. Since I am more interested in sketching people than anything else, I have been pushing myself to focus on landscapes for the past few days. I hope to be able to render more convincing settings for the people I sketch.
This is a pen and watercolor sketch on multimedia paper done on location.
From the Car Window
We had a great day driving from Beze, France to Dinklage, Germany, which is just south of Bremen. In the morning we were surrounded with huge fields of greens and yellows that stretched from horizon to horizon. I kept my iPad on my lap and had fun sketching the fields and making composite pictures out of the scenery as it flew past our car.
In the afternoon and evening I simplified my sketches, changing the scale so that one field fills the page. And, since one of my goals is to tell a story through image, I included a few of the many French bicyclists.
This is an iPad/Procreate sketch.
Driving Through France
We are slowly making our way from Barcelona to Copenhagen and drove today in France from Narbonne on the Mediterranean to Beze, a small village not far from Dijon. Although the jostling of a car in motion creates challenges, I really enjoy sketching while driving. As a passenger I have all the time in the world to study what I am drawing and I like the sense of leisure this gives me.
In this sketch I wanted to capture the body language that shows the attention with which the driver is watching the road. The tilt of his head, the way he kept his gaze on the road and the position of his hands on the wheel all play a part in conveying this.
This is an iPad/Procreate sketch.
Paying the Bill at a Barcelona Hotel
We left Barcelona today but not before I sketched a stranger paying her bill at the front desk. I could hear that she had a question about a charge and I could see that her concern showed in her shoulders as she waited for the manager to check the bill. The second clerk, who initially worked with the customer, was also concerned and she showed it by waiting attentively for the resolution to be worked out.
Figuring out how to get an accurate copy of a sketch to upload into my blog is not easy. Scanning a sketch is what works best but since we left San Diego in late January for this six month trip, we have been living out of one large suitcase each. I have had to use photos for uploads since there was no room in my suitcase for a scanner. I was generally disappointed with the quality of the photos and often worked with the sketch in Procreate to try to get a better copy.
This past week my sister showed me how to use Snapseed to improve the quality of my photos and now I love the accuracy of the reproductions of my sketches. I appreciate what Procreate allows me to do and still will use Procreate as a media option, along with the traditional choices of pen, pencil, watercolor and different papers. But until I return to my scanner, Snapseed is my choice for an app to use to accurately reproduce my artwork.
This is a pen and watercolor sketch on watercolor paper. I used Snapseed to improve the quality of the photo of my sketch.
Unknown Tourists Pose at Güell Park
For our last outing in Barcelona we visited Güell Park. The park features the work of Antoni Gaudí and is located in the hills overlooking the city and Mediterranean Sea. It is a popular place among tourists and locals with lots to do and see.
I found a great view to sketch, in fact it was so great that many people paused for a photograph in front of me, including these two tourists. At first I was annoyed, but then I got to watching the way people pose. Many people stand closer than normal to each other for a photo, put their arms around their companions but leave some personal space, and then move apart again after the photo. They also stand up very straight and smile. I wanted to capture this way of posing in this sketch.
This is a multimedia sketch done on site using watercolor and pen. Later I made some adjustments to the photograph of the sketch using Procreate and Snapseed.
Deliberate Sketching 