Now that my travel guides are out of print, I’m down to my poetry. Collections of tongue-in-cheek satire in the vein of Hilaire Belloc.

Day 106, 107 and 108 of sketching people, and this time it’s sketching locals at the market and cafes. My sketching habit has been a little sporadic since coming home from our trip, but I’m ready to get back onto that daily kick of creativity.

Getting inspired by the bright colours and vivid backgrounds of Mette Lehmann’s art. Some ideas for creating energy in your sketch by adding loose colour backgrounds.

If you could only take one pen out urban sketching, could you do it? If so, what pen would you use? I considered but discounted my fude collection in favour of the Twisbi Vac700R, and am wondering if she can give me all the line variation I’m looking for. Is she “the one”?

Painting loose isn’t just about wobbly lines. Inspired by a video by Whee Teck on how to paint more loosely, I absorbed his advice about disrespecting the lines to create a looser feel to sketches.

To create a looser looking sketch you use your watercolour to lose your edges or replace your ink lines. Here’s a look at how using paint splatters or faded edges helps to create a looser looking urban sketches.

Took part in some of the Sketchbook Revival art challenges this year, and my favourite was the “sketch an object repeatedly” challenge, where I chose to sketch a page of portraits.

My go-to watercolour sketchbook is the Hahnemühle 200gsm cold pressed paper with a fine texture, which is the ideal weight of paper for ink and wash. It comes with a grey cover, so added a bit of personality to my May 2026 books with some handprinted abstract paper I created with my Gelli Arts plate.

A look at why I’m inspired to sketch the people I sketch, and how I approach choosing the starting point, and focal point of each sketch. What happens when I’m not inspired, and what happens when I leave objects out.

Using my Twisbi Iris VAC700R to create different line weights and variation by adjusting my writing pressure and grip, and using different parts of the nib to sketch with. This is to see how much line variation I can get out of this fountain pen that I love using for urban sketching.

Day 105 of sketching during a day our flight out of Lille. I sketched people before our flight and during our flight. A good end to our trip, with some pleasing people sketches completed.

Day 103 and 104 of sketching people. During our trip to Lille I only managed to sketch people at the train station and on our metro ride to a museum housed in an Art Deco swimming pool.

Day 102 of sketching during a day trip to Brugge. Looking at the impact of negative space and how to create a strong sketch of a person using a triangular shape as the key compositional element.

In Ghent for day 101 of sketching people at the flea market and captured a bit of reportage sketching at the cafe, illustrated with a short poem about their dormant cell phones.

In Paris for day 98, 99, and 100 of urban sketching people. Experimenting how to manipulate the line and colour on a page to create a sketch that has a clear visual path and a strong focal point.

A summary of the art materials I packed for urban sketching during my 9 day trip to Paris, Ghent, and Lille. Includes a review of what I used, and which materials just got a free holiday without having to work for it!

Another look at Andrew Tan’s (dreamscape) concepts and approaches for his comic strip style page layouts. This time around we’re looking at his use of limited colour and negative space.

Day 97 of sketching people at Faro Airport while waiting for a delayed flight to Paris. Experimenting with ink lines with spot colour, and adding blocks of colour behind the people sketches.

Thanks to some inspiration from urban sketcher Roger Klaassen, I’ve been evaluating his people sketches where he’s included blocks of colour behind his figures, and then experimenting with this technique of adding blocks of colour to my urban sketches to see how they can be improved by the background method.

A quick people sketch at the cafe, and swatching a muted shade of green, that morphed into a beautiful skin tone shade using natural sienna, cobalt turquoise light, and opera pink. I also ruminate on how I sketch people and how they see themselves, and how those are two very different things when I sketch my version of reality.

To add interest to my people sketches, I’ve been experimenting with loose watercolour washes for variegated backgrounds with a semi-abstract feel to them. To create skies with energy, movement and depth – with the occasional cauliflower, bloom or back-run.

Day 95 of sketching people. Today I sketched groups at the monthly Sol de Inverno event in Tavira. I used a different easel today, made out of an A5 watercolour book cover, and it worked really well.

I revisit a loose watercolour sardine sketch I painted before I arrive din Portugal in 2022, and have another attempt at an empty can, this time with loose lines and loose watercolour and plenty of splatter.

Day 94 of sketching people at a live sketching event at a local art gallery. I faced the dilemma of wanting to add colour to my sketches but having to wait for the page to dry before I could begin another sketch.

A step by step approach to adding tonal shading, adjusting saturation, and emphasising lines to add depth to a Toulouse street scene sketch, and create a strong focal point.