In an earlier post-which you can see
here- I talked about drawing people from observation and I discussed mainly the possibility that you can draw people-quickly-on buses and at cashpoints. There are plenty of other possible locations. I am sure that you will find places that I have not thought of. But if you go to cafes then you have the chance of drawing people from life. Another group of these drawings-showing parents and children can be seen
here.
My local branch of Costa has a large plate glass window looking onto a busy street and is next door to a supermarket. So it is a good place to watch the world go by. There is also a pedestrian crossing immediately adjacent so people halt there before crossing the road-and you have the challenge of trying to draw them-quickly!
As you see none of these drawings comes from a sketchbook.There is nothing wrong with sketchbooks . They keep your work together in one place but they are perhaps more noticeable-they take up more space than a piece of paper removed from a small folder.
My purpose in doing these drawings is firstly to practice obsevation and drawing skills and the ability to work quickly.I do intend to put more figures into my landscape painting. There they can form a focal point. It is something that landscape painters do not do so much nowadays.The reason may be that they think that lack of figures allows the viewer to identify more readily with the scene-they have it all to themselves. But perhaps that is too sophisticated a view Most likely artists just have not practised their life drawing and so are incompetent to do any such thing. Monet,Sisley and Pissarro knew better.
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| Checking the shelves at Costa |
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| Two for the price of one. |
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| At Quilliam Bros' |
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| At Quilliam Bros again. |
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| Young person absorbed with her smartphone-at Quilliam's again. |
