Me urban sketching my sunflower

Plein Air vs. Urban Sketching

The scenery that surrounds us is ripe for sketching. There’s plenty of colour and lots of different subjects and objects to capture, and one of my neighbours has started a Plein Air sketch group on Facebook to create a sense of community with other artists who like painting outdoors on this side of the Algarve.

Now, I’m not a Plein Air Painter, but like Urban Sketchers, they always paint outside. So it’s only natural that we form an alliance and paint outside together.

We sketched for about 90 minutes this morning and stood on the boardwalk, with the intention of sketch the boats bobbing around on the water. But as soon as we got there, it was the sunflowers growing out of there pavements that caught my attention. I love the juxtaposition of the sunflowers in an urban setting, and deciding to sketch them was not contest.

My Urban Sketching Kit

I was using the same urban sketching kit set up as I did last weekend, but this time around I didn’t have my tins attached to my board that hold my pens and paintbrushes. I only had a few sketch materials with me on this outing, and I only used a fine liner to sketch my scene, and a water brush to apply the watercolours.

Sketching the Urban Sunflower Outside our Local Newsagents

The sunflowers were in front of our local Newsagents, that also sells different souvenirs. There was so much to sketch under the canopy, but I sampled what I saw so that the focus would remain on the sunflower, and it wouldn’t be detracted from by the stands in front of the shop.

It was really bright sunshine so the paint dried quickly and it was quite difficult to see the tonal value of the painted areas. I wanted to make sure the focus was on the sunflower, and the shop just dissolved into the background.

Although I used some ink lines from a fineliner for the shop, quite a lot of the details was added in with pencil lines. I was going to leave the background in black and white, but instead, I used diluted versions of the sunflower colours to add colour to the souvenir and newspaper stands.

Sketching the Urban Sunflower with a Poem

It didn’t take me long to complete this loose urban sketch, so I sketched the sunflower again on the facing page. There is something so happy and cheerful about sunflowers. I used all three shades of yellow I have in my palette (Hansa Yellow Light, Hansa Yellow Medium, and New Gamboge).

I tried as much as I could to replicate the tonal values, and added some dark areas with pointillism, which not only add a tonal value in an unobtrusive way, but also adds an interesting texture element.

I sketched out a poem, but I messed it up when I added it in ink, so when I got back to the studio I wrote it out again on this square-lined paper, and glued it over the top. Usually I’d just add text quickly, and it’ll end up looking like an afterthought, but this time around I played around with the layout and size of some of the words to create a pleasing layout.

This extra attention to detail about lettering is all part of the new class I’m taking about Loving Your Imperfect Letters. I’m in basic mode right now, but I know my letters are going to get elevated and really add to my sketches in time for Toulouse and the Urban Sketchers Symposium.

Other Styles of Sketching Outside

Today I was sketching outside with Galina who is a plein air artist running this sketching group. She chose to paint the boats and water using an easel, while I opted for the urban view of the sunflower growing out of the pavement in front of a shop.

I did initially plan to sketch the sea view, but as soon as I saw the sunflower I knew that’s what I wanted to sketch. It’s a good reminder to sketch what inspires you. I feel you have to be emotionally invested in the subject or object you plan to paint, or else you’ll just struggle with your sketch from the beginning.