on my bookshelf

I sometimes have the habit of buying books on sketching after reading great reviews about them — and then leaving them on the bookshelf, unread for months. Often I keep them on my wish list on Amazon, waiting for a used copy to be available to purchase at a bargain price — but still don’t get around to actually picking the book up right away.

Such is the case with Róisín Cure’s Urban Sketching Handbook, Drawing Expressive People. I would like to be more confident when drawing people, especially from life instead of photos. But with Covid-19 social distancing and our living in the country, I am not located where people can be found to randomly sketch. Even on the rare times we eat out, we do so at odd times in the afternoon when no one else is around.

That’s the reason this book has not been picked up — yet. I am now thinking of using photos of people after all, just to get some practice in. The Demi Palette was thrown together as my version of colors Róisín mentions in the book as good for people-sketching. She adds an orange, which I can easily mix with my rose and yellow paints. She also uses burnt umber; I have none but I can mix transparent red oxide and raw umber for a similar color.

Róisín’s choices:

opera pink, lemon yellow, yellow ochre, burnt umber, indigo, payne’s grey, green apatite genuine, transparent red oxide, and chrome orange

My choices:

quinacridone rose, hansa yellow medium, monte amiata natural sienna, raw umber, indigo, Jane’s grey, green apatite genuine, and transparent red oxide.