Monday, September 5, 2011

Fast lines


On Saturday our Joburg sketching group went to Brightwater Commons, a shopping complex with a big open air area with markets, exhibitions, children's playgrounds and a skateboard park. We decided to try and sketch the acrobatics of the skateboarders - what a challenge that turned out to be! These two sketches took me all afternoon - most of the time was spent staring at the flying figures, trying to work out which limbs went where, a mental 'snapshot' and then the quickest of lines to pin them down on paper.
I used my Lamy fountain pen, filled with the precious Noodlers Bulletproof black ink that Liz Steel very kindly brought all the way from Sydney to Lisbon for me, which allows watercolour washes over it without running into black and grey mess (though sometimes I enjoy that effect, so have other watersoluble pens in my kit). In the bottom sketch I added a second layer of figures over the black line ones, with another treasure bought in a Lisbon art shop - Prussian Blue Ecoline Liquid watercolour in my thin waterbrush - voila, no clogging! - its such a lovely drawing tool, especially for these fast flowing lines.

13 comments:

Pedro said...

Great figures. Full of movement!

vivien said...

These are wonderful sketches of an incredibly difficult subject. Fabulous!

Joan Sandford-Cook said...

You've done it again - action in motion with just what appear to be a few squiggles - but its the talent - oh such talent with people sketching.

Carol King said...

Thanks for the info about the pens. I like your quick lines.

Liz Steel said...

these are so wonderful... and full of movement. Glad you like the noodlers - it was a pleasure to bring it for you. Hmmm that liquid watercolour sounds fun (but I do not NEED it!!!)

Cathy Gatland said...

Thanks Pedro! Nice to have you visit :)
Thank you Vivien, Joan, Carol and - Liz - I love the Noodlers, and no, you don't need the w/c... you're doing more than fine with what you have!

RH Carpenter said...

Wonderful, colorful, fun figures :)

A Brush with Color said...

Wow--these are wonderful, and just confirm my belief that you are simply the best at drawing crowds of folks. Love these.

Unknown said...

I’ve enjoyed catching up with your blog after my holiday, so many good sketches but I especially liked the Zambia ones.

Sadeu said...

very good drawings : )

Ginny Stiles said...

Do you know if there a source in US for Noodlers bullet-proof pens?

Cathy Gatland said...

Hi Ginny - the pen is a Lamy Safari with a refillable cartridge, which I fill with Noodlers Bulletproof black ink, which is available I see, on Amazon. I think the pens are widely available in the US, possibly also from Amazon.

Sydney said...

wow i really adore your sketch! x

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