The Brief

The first part of this exercise considers how techniques to fill the page can help to overcome being too precious about the observational drawings you make, therefore getting you to draw freely.

For this task you are going to fill up one whole small sketchbook, to its maximum, in a single trip out-creating a visual diary.  You should choose a sketchbook with a small number of leaves and be prepared to draw speedily, focussing mainly on making a ‘collage’ of multiple simple drawings or vignetted scenes and fragments that draw your attention.

For this task you will need to find a space you can stay and draw for a few hours.  This could be one of the following:

• A gallery or museum
• A theatre, musical event or performance where it would be ok to sit down and draw.
• A public talk, lecture or meeting (somewhere you can record the event without issues of confidentiality).
• A place with familiar people or friends where you can be present but in the background.
• An indoor market with multiple benches or cafes.

Reflecting on my experience

The Bryanston Organic Market is an eco-conscious market with various stalls offering organic foods, natural goods, and hand-crafted items. I have chosen the Organic Market as my venue because it has communal seating under large trees. You can sit as long as you want while listening to piano music and enjoying food from the surrounding stalls.

It was a cold morning, and I wanted to be there as soon as they opened, get myself a cup of coffee, and start drawing. I was pleased to find a good spot under an umbrella with a good view of the market.

I had made an A5 sketchbook a few days before and packed my toolkit with materials I expected to use, considering the weather conditions and the time of day.

It is winter in South Africa, and the mornings can be very cold, but it warms up when the sun comes out.  I notice an elderly lady from afar sitting in a few warm sunrays while she’s eating her breakfast.  She was sitting at one of the tables under a tree.  I then noticed the organic market emblem on the wall and thought it would be good to have that on my first page to set the theme of the sketchbook.

The pianist arrived, and the music changed the mood to a nostalgic atmosphere as people drank their coffee and experienced the morning sun.  I noticed another lady hunched over her cell phone, looking tired and emotional.

I am using watercolour ink brush markers, watercolour pencils, black pen, and graphite pencil to do my sketches. My hands were cold, and it took me a while to get into drawing mode. People interrupted me, asking me about my materials and looking at what I was sketching. I felt less embarrassed than usual to show my sketches even though they are rough, raw, and almost careless.  I guess you get over yourself and what people think after doing on-location drawing a couple of times.

I noticed a large poodle, and of course, I had to sketch him. Working fast on the same theme was very doable in this instance because there was a lot going on around me.  I alternated between stationary objects and people and animals that moved while waiting and hoping that they would move back into that position.  If they didn’t, I had to compromise by completing the figure from my imagination.

I added the lyrics from the songs I recognised even though it was music without words.

I haven’t bothered drawing in pencil first and then adding the colour, so I draw directly onto the paper in my medium of choice. This means I could not correct any mistakes.  The market wasn’t that busy yet, being early in the morning and still freezing cold.

It is now later in the morning, and I am switching to acrylic markers to achieve a heavier and more substantial look and feel.  That delicate morning feeling is gone, and the market is more lively now, so you hear more voices and laughter.   It was interesting to notice that some people were still cold, and others decided to take off their jerseys and soak up the sun.  Coffee culture is prominent in this cold weather, which I depicted in Figures 7 and 8.

At this point, I ran out of time. I have been drawing for three hours now, half an hour of which was spent getting coffee and chatting with people. I still have two spreads and one single page to fill in my sketchbook, so I will take photos and continue drawing at home. I expected to fill the book in at least three hours, but I think that will come with practice.

As I walked to my car, I took photos of objects from an antique stall, more people drinking coffee, plants and the car park area and filled up the rest of the sketchbook as seen in Figures 9, 10 and 11.

I have taken this opportunity to experiment with a gouache background, but I found it very powdery and not ideal to work on top of it with other mediums. (Figure 9)

Whenever I have an exercise to go out and draw on location, I dread it, but once I am out, I find it to be a very enriching experience.  I come back with drawings that I won’t be able to capture in a studio setting.  Drawing on location inspires me!

Two ladies were sitting behind me, gossiping about the younger woman’s mother.  While drawing, I could follow the entire conversation of this older lady instigating a quarrel between her younger friend and her mother.   I would not dare to turn around to try and capture an image on paper, but I could certainly draw something conceptual or abstract to tell this story.  Experiences like this, the weather, the atmosphere, music and smells are things you won’t experience in a studio setting.