The Brief

Choose two locations – a start and end point.  Choose a route that has visual diversity in terms of potential pictorial content.  Walk or travel the route using as many senses as possible, taking mental notes, absorbing and enjoying the experience, and using a viewfinder. 

Use the sketchbook to start helping you identify visual stepping stones that map a visual route from one place to the next.  Your drawings could be standalone fragments, or you may decide to join them up across the pages of your sketchbook to make a continuous visual journey.

My approach

I started my journey from my front door.  Trying to find sketches in the ordinary, I would walk, stop and sketch.  I am going to allow my sketching to dictate my route.  My journey will start and end at my house unless I get carried away and have to phone someone to come and fetch me.

I have my small watercolour sketchbook, which is more or less an A6 size, and my two tool kits with pencils, brush pens and essentials.  It was a windy day with harsh sun, and I could already tell that sketching might be uncomfortable.  In the back of my mind, I have already decided to make each sketch brief and try to capture the composition, key elements, and the mood and feel of the day.

Figure 1

Using a watercolour pencil, I quickly outlined what I saw as I walked out the door.  I jotted down the car and the fencing and bushes in the background.  The Sienna colours capture the feel of the hot sun and the natural elements.  Even though the wind is blowing, the trees in the background are protected by the wind and don’t show much movement.

Visual stepping stones are showing my route so far.  Sketch 1 is my overall view as I walk out the door.  Sketch 2: I am walking past the car, standing on the pavement, and walking towards the trees.  In Sketch 3, I am focusing on the beautiful shapes of one of the trees.

Now that I am sitting next to the tree, I can fill in some tones with watercolour ink brush pens.  I use a water brush to blend the mediums to achieve a mid-tone.

Figure 2

In Sketch 4, I am capturing the magnificent tree with its textures and shadows by letting the branches extend beyond the borders of the page to show how big it is.  The viewpoint of my sketch is a worm-eye view (from below) to emphasise the large scale of the tree.  It is a clear day, and the blue of the background sky contrasts with the orange shades of my subject matter and foreground.  I am very fond of this colour combination, which works well with the orange tones being less saturated and the blue being less opaque and almost turquoise.

Sketch 5 shows the houses I see, looking slightly to the right of the big tree.  I am including a branch in the foreground to create a “stepping stone” from the tree sketch.  In Sketch 6, I walked to the seaside and drew a concrete bench, some bushes, the sea with many rocks and a few clouds that developed in the meantime.  The dry watercolour pencil creates an intense texture on the watercolour paper.

Figure 3

Sketch 7 is the same location but a different bench.  The view from this bench seems smoother and calmer, and when you go closer, you can view a lovely mosaic on the back of the bench. (Sketch 8 and 9)

While sketching and absorbing this area, I thought it could be a nice project to make a sketchbook of memorial benches, their location and topography.

Figure 4

Next, I walked to a bay area with a botanical garden with indigenous plants.  The walkway to the garden is paved with wooden pavers and curved railing. (Sketch 10).  The botanical garden had plants everywhere, and the landscaper used pots to create height and focal points.  (Sketch 11 and 12).  In Sketch 11, the plants in the background are a solid dark brown area, and you can’t see the plants in the background.  I think more visual information is needed here, and I could draw a few plants in the background and still have the main emphasis on the pot.  Sketch 12 is a better depiction of the garden area.

Figure 5

Sketches 13, 14 and 15 are all drawings from the indigenous garden.  Here, I tried to be more illustrative by simplifying the drawing to the important elements.  I also experimented with the materials at hand and became more interpretive in conveying what I saw.

Figure 6

I liked the freedom that comes with being more interpretive and continued with this mindset while doing the rest of the drawings in the garden. (Sketches 16, 17 and 18).

Figure 7

It was time to go home, so I made two more sketches of the indigenous plants and then walked to the sea to sketch the seagulls.  (Figure 7, Sketches 19 and 20)

What did I learn?

Overall, it was such a lovely exercise to walk, stop, and draw what I saw.  Using my viewfinder helped me to look closer and see different composition options and viewpoints.  Once I started drawing and trying different approaches in the sense of materials, and viewpoints and switching between observational and interpretive drawing, the ideas started streaming in. 

It is a good idea to get out and draw on location.  The weather elements bothered me, if I am brutally honest.  The sun was shining on the white paper, the wind was blowing my hair in my face, I was sitting in an uncomfortable place, and people were looking at me.  However, this is all part of the sketching experience and could even be incorporated into the drawing’s look and feel.  On-location drawings are different, fresh and raw compared to the controlled environment of a studio, and that is the beauty of it.

Below are my favourite drawings from this exercise.  I had to walk back that day, but my heart was full, and I filled many sketchbook pages.  It was a good day.