Category: Pencil

A group of us took a country walk through parts of Sussex recently. We started and ended in Fernhurst and walked for around nine miles up and around Blackdown and The Temple of The Wind. We encountered all kinds of scenery, lots of woodland, and some spectacular views up on Blackdown.

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After we returned home I took my new set of pencils and made a sketch of some silver birch trees. I learned from my previous sketch and deliberately made the picture much less busy. I also framed the picture differently within the A4 page – longer and thinner than the previous desert landscape sketch.

The finished image is quite pale (I’ve struggled to take a decent photograph) and I like it. The composition works well in the shape and size of the frame and I think I’ve managed to stop before making the drawing too full – I hope there’s still some room for your imagination. This drawing has been given to a friend.

My friend Mark Catchlove recently gave me a set of Faber Castell Polychromos pencils, what a kind gift. They are a lovely, muted set of colours, greys and browns with a couple of blues and greens, and I’ve been experimenting with them to see how I respond to having fewer colours to choose from. Here’s my first attempt.

I’ve tried to fit too much stuff in here, it looks too busy for my liking. Maybe dropping the top line of the frame further down the page and losing some sky would have looked better? This sketch is on an A4 sheet of water colour paper with a rough surface, the next attempt will be on smooth cartridge paper.