[By Liz Steel]
I have had a lot of fun recently preparing my workshop for the symposium where I will be sharing the ways in which I use edges, shapes and volumes in a spontaneous way to create lively sketches of buildings. So many people have this idea that buildings have to be drawn precisely, but they don't.
Feeling Edges, Abstracting Shapes and Constructing Volumes are the terms I use for the fundamental skills to sketching.
It is not just about using edges, shapes and volumes but feeling, abstracting and constructing - they include different ways of thinking visually and different ways of responding to the scene. Because of this, I believe they are also the foundations of more advanced approaches as well. Being able to switch mentally between seeing in edges, shapes and volumes helps me sketch loosely and quickly but with some underlying structure, and mixing it up while I work means that it is a lot of fun.
Here are six step by step photos of a recent sketch of St Thomas church in North Sydney where I was thinking through my workshop ideas. I started with a few shapes and then alternated between line and colour. When I do this I feel like I am taking huge risks (will this sketch look like a building in the end?) but somehow this 'mixing it up' gives me a degree of accuracy that is surprising.
This experience is what I will be sharing in my workshop. Click on the image to see the photos larger and also see a few more examples - or go here on my blog.
I can't wait to see you all in Manchester! I am leaving home really soon, have already worked out my palette and am preparing for another workshop that I will be teaching in Lucca en-route to Manchester.as well. I have a good 5 weeks of sketching in Italy and the UK before I get to Manchester so will be really in the groove by the time the symposium begins. See you all soon!
