I confess, I was holding off on my pandemic sketching. I don’t know why, maybe it’s lack of ability to focus, or maybe feeling overwhelmed by life these days, even though things are radically simplified by staying at home. I’ve never felt more grateful for a roof over my head and food in the fridge.
Yesterday, however, I finally jumped in to the Urban Sketchers group on Instagram at #uskathome this with this sketch. I had to capture those orange flowers in the bright light, as their tropical colors cheer me up every day as they over-winter in the only sunny window in our house.
And since we’ve been talking about starting with big shapes, can you figure out which shapes I drew first to set up the sketch?
I had to redraw these shapes a second time to get them the right size and location on my paper. Those first boxes determine everything! If you are sketching indoors during this pandemic, please consider posting your sketches to Instagram at #uskathome. More blog posts to come, how to find the vanishing point is coming up…stay tuned!
Drawing Perspectives 
Beautiful! I love the monochrome background – that cool blue shade is lovely and makes the plants in the foreground really pop. May I ask what colours you used to achieve that blue?
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Hi Beverly, thank you!
That background color is a variation on my favorite gray, but instead of using French Ultramarine, I softened the color by using cobalt blue as the base hue, with a touch of permanent alizarin crimson to make it a little purple, and a touch of WN burnt sienna to make it a little gray.
S
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Thank you very much for your kindly posts, Stephanie, which help us improve our drawing and urban sketching techniques. I would like to make a request to you, in case you consider including it in your interesting posts: how do we calculate the angles of buildings when vanishing points are far from the paper space?
Thank you in advances and take care of yourself at home.
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Hi Antonio,
Thanks for your message and for this suggestion…it’s coming up as I start to talk about one and two point perspectives, so stay tuned!!!
Take very good care,
S
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Stephanie, thanks so much for sending your material out. Your posts are terrific. I bought each of my students your perspective book last Christmas. Take care of yourself.
Mary
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Hi Mary, thank you so much for your kind words! So much appreciated…and I Hope they liked the book!
S
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Thank you for sharing all your insights. I’d love tips on photographing from a sketchbook when it’s hard to get the pages flat
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Hi Ellen, thanks so much, and that is a great idea for a post!
S
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