Sketch Crawl Event December 19, 2016

Right before Christmas our group met up at the Spanish Springs Square at The Villages for an afternoon of sketching.  Unfortunately, I didn't make it.

Spanish Springs is one area of The Villages I had been to before taking a few pictures but really wanted to go back and take more so I could sketch about the event I would have liked to have participated in.  Terry and I drove out on Christmas Day, which was wonderful because there was very little traffic and businesses were closed.  We walked around taking lots of pictures.  We actually made an afternoon of it driving to various locations taking lots of photos for sketching ideas.

The first subject I chose to sketch was the statue of Harold Swartz........founding father of The Villages.  And with this statue I decided to try working a different way than I'm used to as if I were on location and wanting to speed up a bit (eliminating the pencil sketching to save time).  The idea is to use brush and paint first capturing the shape or blocking in and then fine-tuning and detailing with pen and ink.  Not sure this method is for me but it's early yet to really know for sure.  It takes me just as long if not longer to work this way but probably because it's a new concept.

For my example, I chose not to use pen and ink but instead dry watercolor pencils for line detail (until later when I went back in with a few light ink lines).

To complete the 2 page spread, I chose what stood out the most in my photos.  I used my normal method of quick pencil sketch, followed by pen and ink, and then dry watercolor pencils as the ink I was using is water soluble (as seen with a little shading taking a damp brush to the ink).  I would have preferred to use watercolor but wasn't thinking when I grabbed the pen to start inking.

Hand sewn journal with Fabriano Artistico WC paper, Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils, and the Sailor Fude 40 degree bent nib fountain pen.  Ink is what came with it in cartridges.