The view of the beach from Anglesey bridge on and nice clear day is amazing, so when asked to do a 360 degree study of an expanse, I thought straight away of this. The brief was to face a direction, spend 15 minuets sketching the view, turn 90 degrees, another 15 minuets, and so on every 90 degrees until you are back where you started. The idea was to see how different a landscape can look at even the slightest change of degree so I decided to use a medium that was quick to use with no fuss and the least complications.
I went for a medium coated charcoal stick, but I wanted to add a little some thing so I took my water brush with me so I could dissolve the charcoal to create smoother tones. Then I thought if I took a little pot of black ink along I could use the brush with this as well to get a bit of a contrast with the charcoal if needs be.
This gave me the option to add more detail if I had enough time and worked fast enough. The only problem would be if I used the water brush I would have to wait for it to dry and waste time which is why I drew two on each page. I worked through them all in the same manner by sketching out the main out lines and shading, then going over it with the water brush giving myself 10 minuets to get as far as I could. Then I’d start the second image in the same way and give the first image time to dry out. After 10 minuets I could go back and add add any extra detail with the charcoal and the ink for the remaining five minuets, then onto the nest in the same fashion.
This did partially well, although in hindsight I realised I had forgotten to include the side struts for the bridge! With a little more time it would be a valuable technique but I think it got the message across.
Next was the sea walk and sea view where I ended up sharpening the charcoal stick to create charcoal powder to get a smooth effect on the promenade. I could see just how different the view was even just turning 90 degrees to the left.
This view of a back street leading out onto the main sea front wasn’t exactly a ‘view’ but it was there, and it made for interesting drawing. I think the technique with the charcoal and ink actually worked best on this one because of the ability for detail.
For the final view i saw the other side of the beach and the sea. I liked this one for the sweeping clouds in the sky that gave it a bit of atmosphere.
After turning back to the bridge it was interesting to look over the sketches and see how different the views actually were. Even when looking out to sea.
Eeyanski Arts 