Category: watercolour

Daria

I decided to switch things up a little by putting my favourite Zecchi watercolours aside for a while and get some of my other watercolour sets out of the drawer. I have several different sets and most of them sit unused for most of the year, especially if I don’t travel at all, as has happened this year. So for this portrait of Daria from Sktchy I used my Sennelier paints.

Sennelier are my favourite of the mass market watercolours – like Zecchi they have a honey binder, and that seems to be what is distinctive about all the paints I like the most. As usual I painted this in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

Lucia

Sometimes an inspiration image is so great it tells a story all by itself. You don’t need to do nothing except draw or paint it. Once you’ve done that the story is there on the page for the viewer to see and interpret as they see fit. The inspiration photo for this portrait of Lucia from Sktchy is one of those images. It’s such a perfect photo of a young woman with her hair in big pink rollers, not the kind of image very often these days, yet something that speaks of a very familiar past to anyone born more than 30 or so years ago. I love it and I loved painting it.

I drew this with a Unipin dark grey brush pen, painted it with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished it with Prismacolor coloured pencils in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

Heidi

This is Heidi, who is another Sktchy artist. Her photo, which was the inspiration for this portrait, is so joyful that I really felt the joy while I was painting this. It was fun to create!

I drew Heidi with a dark grey Unipin brush pen in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook, painted her with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished the portrait with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Yanina

I painted Yanina from Sktchy in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with Zecchi watercolours and finished the portrait with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Leah

Working in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook again today with my Zecchi paints for this portrait of Leah from Sktchy.

Eira

I’m having some problems with my hands at the moment and I’m having to adapt my drawing style a little. My drawings are becoming looser as a result, especially today’s portrait of Eira from Sktchy. I really like how this one has turned out.

I drew this with a dark grey Unipin fineliner in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook, painted it with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished it with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Don

This is Don from Sktchy painted in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with Zecchi watercolours and finished with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

Agathe

This is Agathe from Sktchy. I was trying so hard here to hold back with my watercolour and not end up with mud. I’m really struggling with the paper in this Moleskine watercolour sketchbook. It’s not taking watercolour as well as the previous ones I’ve used; the paper is becoming soaked after just a few layers and subsequent layers are becoming muddy. So I was trying here to keep my layers lighter and use much less water. I think it’s less loose as a result, but there’s no mud!

I was using Zecchi watercolours and Prismacolor coloured pencils in a Moleskine watercolour sketchbook.

Big Al

Big Al


Day 2 of my drawing therapy and I’ve drawn Big Al, Sktchy artist and muse. I used a new dip pen I bought recently and India ink – hence the blob of ink on Al’s ear. I forgot that pen and ink can be messy! But it’s also fun.

I made this portrait in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with pen and ink, Zecchi watercolours , Prismacolor coloured pencils and a white gel pen.

Faun

The Brighton-based life drawing school “Draw Brighton” started a Patreon at the beginning of the Coronavirus lockdown to provide an income to help support the teachers and life models while the school is closed. I’m a patron and receive enormous bundles of amazing photos to draw from every month but I haven’t got around to drawing from many of them. But finally I painted this from one of their “Drawing Circus” collections. I’m afraid I don’t know the models name.

I painted this in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook with Zecchi Toscana watercolours and finished it with Prismacolor coloured pencils.

If you’d like to know more about Draw Brighton and/or their Patreon you can find more details here.