Sketch the Market: Ink, Watercolour and Washes

Suitable for beginners as well as experienced artists, this short course offers a focused exploration of plein air sketching, using drawing as a way to savour and respond to the sounds, scents and sights of a bustling market. Over four Saturday mornings, Rose Montgomery-Whicher will offer instruction on how to compose a picture using a viewfinder, how to assess proportions and angles, and how to capture people in motion. Students will learn how to add splashes of colour, whether subtle or bold, to carefully structured pen drawings, using coloured materials of their choice. Participants will cultivate an observational practice, learning to distill complex visual information into sketches that evoke a sense of place.

Analyze Spatial Relationships: Develop an eye for composition, proportions and perspective within a complex, active environment.

Refine Mark Making: Develop shorthand marks to depict people and aspects of the natural and built environment.

Practice Rapid Documentation: Learn to capture the gesture and essence of moving subjects and shifting environmental conditions.

Apply Colour Selectively: Learn to choose a few colours to enhance narrative focus and atmospheric perspective.

Develop confidence to draw in public: by drawing with a supportive group and learning how to choose a vantage point, and set up materials to draw in relative comfort.

Strathmore Visual Journals for Mixed Media (cotton paper), 5 x 8” or 9 x12” have versatile, good quality paper in a spiral bound format that is easy to hold even while standing. However, if you want the possibility of drawing over 2 open pages, choose a hard backed watercolour sketchbook with 140 lbs paper, not a spiral bound sketchbook. Good brands to choose from are Hand Book Watercolour Journals, or Hahnemuhle or Etchr.
A pencil, H or F or B or 2B. Staedtler Mars Lumograph pencils are especially nice. Or Faber-Castell 9000.
Pencil sharpener and something to catch the sharpenings
White eraser
Very fine pen with permanent black ink, such as Sakura Pigma Micron or Staedtler Pigment Liner, 05 or less. Additional pens with permanent ink if you like. (Note: liquid ink while lovely to work with, is not practical in this situation)
Watersoluble coloured materials of your choice: whatever you already own OR a small set of watercolours (economical choices are Beam Paints “travel cards” with a selection of small amounts of quality watercolour paints, OR a Winsor & Newton Cotman pocket set) OR watercolour pencils, OR Caran D’Ache Neocolour 2 crayons OR Stablio Woody Crayons. (Note: the last 2 options look like children’s materials, but they are adult artist quality and great for plein air sketching).
Brushes: one flat ½ or ¾ inch brush and one round # 4 or 6 or 8 brush
Rags or paper towels
A water bottle and a small non-glass container for paint water. Or use waterbrushes instead of traditional brushes. If so,Tombow and Caran D’Ache are good brands to look for. De Serres water brushes are difficult to use.
Practical considerations: A bag or box to carry your materials from the studio to the market. We have folding chairs, but you might want a cushion to sit on the ground. Also consider the weather.