Seeing the world one drawing at a time

Two of us (Fiona and Tina) are flying to Italy next week to take part in 'Tuscan Landscape', an urban sketchers' workshop in the ancient city of Volterra, based in the beautiful Villa Le Guadalupe.


We will be sketching and seeing our surroundings 'one drawing at a time' in keeping with the urban sketchers' manifesto (see below). Their philosophy of truth in looking, capturing and sharing is one that chimes resoundingly with all us who sketch and paint. We'll also be sketching the magnificent Etruscan and Roman remains, working expressively and experimentally exploring interrupted lines and fragments.  We're very much looking forward to sketching in such a wonderful environment and meeting the interesting people who are also attending. In fact we're so excited to be going, and to be going together, that we've been quietly delirious for weeks.

I attended a similar workshop in 2011 and wrote about it in my personal blog here and here.

USK Manifesto

1. We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation. 2. Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel. 3. Our drawings are a record of time and place. 4. We are truthful to the scenes we witness. 5. We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles. 6. We support each other and draw together. 7. We share our drawings online. 8. We show the world, one drawing at a time.

Reading this manifesto earlier this summer, I was spurred on to sketch even more regularly. I've therefore had a very pleasant summer sitting outside cafes and in pub gardens, consuming excellent coffees, beer and various cakes, pies etc, sketching whatever I could see in front of me. I made my own sketchbook, taking an old poetry textbook and altering the pages by staining them with inks, household emulsion and gesso or including extra pages, mostly old monoprints, textured papers etc. Every page is different and the challenge has been to work on whatever surface presents itself next, no matter the subject, and no matter how difficult! I'll post about how I made the book in another post later. 

All sketches have been done on location; on some of the pages, colour and texture has been added later. Here are a few examples:

Victorian pub 'the Rising Sun'; watercolour, ink and gouache on yellow household emulsion paint (Fiona)

16thc coaching inn 'The Crown'; gouache and inks on ink-spattered text (Fiona)

fields and sky at Compton Verney; watercolour and gesso (Fiona)

stone sculpures at Tong church; inks on old monoprint (Fiona)

Tong church and village; watercolour, inks and white marker pen on household emulsion (Fiona)

light and dark; inks, crayon and gouache on household emulsion (Fiona)

watercolour, gouache and inks on old monoprint (Fiona)