Sunday sketch in pen, ink, and watercolour
I’ve had my eye on sketching Crossley Heath School (Halifax UK) for a while. It’s a local landmark and two of my children go to school there. I walked up on a Sunday afternoon and sat on the wall that borders the school’s grounds to draw.
I remembered Shari Blaukopf‘s tip to take a picture before you start drawing as anything could happen before you finish your sketch and snapped the view on my phone.
Fast sketching
I started with a quick pencil outline. I wanted to make sure the heigh of the building fitted in the page – I tend to draw too big. I switched to drawing in pen. I tried to capture the essential lines quickly. The kids were playing on the lawn but I knew they would want to move on shortly.
A lady working in the allotments across the road came to look at what I was doing. She told me about blueberries and raspberries and how there was such much work picking all these. I told her I knew her daughter as we used to live across the road from each other and asked her about her grandchildren. (It’s a small world!).
After 15, maybe 20 minutes of almost un-interrupted sketching, a friend called to say she was on her way to visit. I dropped in a few darks with my brush pen, packed up quickly and headed back home.
As we left the Red Arrows came flying overhead. A startling sight.
I painted the sketch at home that evening. I used the reference photo to get the colours and lighting right.
