Life drawing with ink

Over the weekend I attended the sketch club at ArtEst. The model was a man, which was an exception and rather refreshing. I decided to attempt these sessions with ink. At first I used charcoal to outline then a confident brush strokes. Erasing the charcoal left marks.


So I decided to go without the charcoal. Maybe because it was the last session and I was warmed up, the result was better.


An opportunity to sketch Sarina came up in the week. She lives in a house right on the waterfront in the eastern suburbs. What a view! The waves lapped gently and there were boats on the water. She certainly lives well. Anyway we had a lovely time although my sketches were, I thought, mediocre. The best one is this 3 min sketch with loose lines.


I believe that the best sketches in ink are the ones done quickly. The lines are looser and impressionistic. Longer poses end up over worked.

Botanical ink drawings

Following on from my experiments with ink and wash, I've decided to try some botanical art. Subjects are easy to find : my garden is blooming. The magnolia little gem has these wonderfully waxy leaves that are rust brown underneath. The flower is a delicate white with a pungent scent.


The frangipani tree is just outside my studio which makes it very handy to draw: just open the window. The tree us still in bloom and lush. In another month, the leaves start to drop. Our flowers are white with a yellow heart. There are those that are pink with yellow hearts.

A loose line style

Inspired by Ada I returned to a subject I abandoned using acrylic and decided to experiment with water colour washes and ink outlines. The subject was my daughter and friend on a carousel. This is a dynamic scene whirling and kids laughing which actually lends itself quite well to this technique. The difficulty is deciding when to stop.