Urban Sketchers Bristol

Hello peeps, I forgot to blog about our last Bristol Urban Sketchers meet up (we have the latest one this afternoo) .  Usually we meet in town and chat, sketch, regroup for some lunch and sometimes a cheeky pint too.  Well, under lockdown this of course has to change so we have gone virtual!

We sketched using google etc in Alhambra, Spain at the suggestion of one of our members.  Well, what a beautiful location, some amazing scenery, small backstreets and amazing buildings too.  It was also great being able to catch up with the others and sketch whilst chatting to others too.

Sadly my notebook is not great for watercolour as the paint sinks straight in so ideally I should just use pencil or pen and ink (as we know from an earlier post on here its not like I don't have a "few" blank notebooks in the stash!!) but I keep forgetting that I am sketching at home and don't have to use my travel kit and could actually pop upstairs and grab the pencils!!

I am looking forward to being able to sketch again outside and meeting up with the group, but in the mean time, this is a really good alternative and a great way to explore other places, albeit virtually

Happy sketching

kyla

Urban Sketchers Bristol meet up

 Last Saturday was the Urban Sketchers Bristol chapter meet up.

We met in the Bristol Museum and I decided to sit in the cafe and sketch using my new travel watercolour kit 

I also decided to try and sketch people, my first person (chap with the top knot on the left) was my first and my favorite, I am not very pleased with the others but am seeing this as something I can learn to develop as I try new techniques etc.

One thing we did find out during the meet up was that the museum does NOT allow you to use anything other than pencil!  Several staff approached some of the group about their watercolours (even though we were all using sealed water pens, the ones that hold a small amount of water in the cartridge and doesn't even flick out of the fiber end) asking them to stop using them.  

Sadly we cannot find this anywhere on their webiste and none of their staff could even point out where this was stated!  I totally understand the issue, but these sealed pens carry no risk of spillage whilst children run around with bottles of juice and they even sell water pistols in the museum shop! 

 Now we know we can ensure that we only bring pencils if we sketch there again, but it is a shame that this was not communicated to the public and I suggest a tad outdated considering most use  water pens.  It would be interesting to know other museums take on this or whether other groups have had any issues?

If you have please let me know?

Kyla

A new technique

 As some of you may know I belong to Bristol Urban Sketchers.

A couple of meet ups ago I was chatting to a very talented young lady who was using oil pastels and tissue paper to create a sort of print impression.

I was so impressed I remembered that I have some oil pastels and tissue paper at home so thought I would have a go.

First I coloured the tissue paper with oil pastel

then I used a biro to sketch my design onto the tissue paper

then you lift the paper to reveal the picture.  

I really like this effect and its something I think I will experiment more with.

Kyla

Bristol Urbansketchers monthly meet up

Just a quick update (trying to update via my phone so who knows how this will turn out)! 

The weekend saw the monthly meet up of Bristol Urban sketchers. A fantastic group I have belonged to for a few years and we are growing in size.

This time we all met at the Underfall Boatyard at Bristol docks.

Some fantastic things to sketch and a great place just to sit and watch the world go by as it's a working boatyard as well as pleasure boat trips.

A lovely couple of hours sketching then we all meet up for drinks or a spot of food and chat and swap sketch books and personally I learn a lot of new techniques too.

Happy crafting

Kyla