#DrawingBreath Project

  
Great to be a part of a community of artists highlighting the vital work of VSO worker Andrew Sesay helping to save lives of mothers and babies in Sierra Leone #DrawingBreath.  Ninth Laurette Chris Riddell has made a wonderful video using live illustrations called Giving Birth in Sierra Leone. 

I experimented with various dip pens including my bamboo ones that I haven't used in a long time. It was much easier working in the studio with this technique. I Did try using dip Pens on location when I went to the Barcelona Urban Sketching Symposium but I made a huge mess and gave up. I really enjoyed using the ink in this project and will try to work out a way of taking them out again without too much mess. 

I made all the drawing separately and then scanned them in and composed them together using layer masks on photoshop. I was aiming to get the lighting to be quite dramatic to illustrate how difficult it is for Andrew as he tries to work under very poor lighting conditions often with only torchlight. I must say drawing babies was quite a challenge!

Sunday morning sketching - Pylon's in the landscape

Every time I take my dog for a swim along the banks of the River Yare in Trowse which is a small village on the edge of Norwich, this scene captures my eye.  I have been meaning to sketch it for sometime now and if left too long the pylons will be gone. 4.5km of overhead power lines and fifteen pylons are to be removed from the Norwich skyline by Autumn. These pylons have been here for decades.  The geometric patterns of the pylon structures  contrast well with the organic landscape and become part of it. I found great spot to set up under shady tree. It was quite a blustery day which added to the atmosphere.

Media used: water based markers, derwent inktense water soluble pencils, graphite pencil and derwent spritzer bottle.

Ink experiments - Garlic Bulb

My neighbour kindly gave me one of her first Garlic bulbs freshly dug from the ground of her allotment. The beauty of the shape, form and fresh aroma inspired me to draw it using my ink and bamboo dip pens.