Drawing a bottle of ale

A quick blog post this week. I thought I would show a drawing as it progressed along the way.
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I was fortunate to attend an event at Parliament House in Melbourne a few weeks ago . It would have been great to sketch at but was just the wrong time and place . However as soon as I saw the  bottles of ale being served I knew that I wanted to take an empty one home to draw . Why? It is called The Library and has a design of the arches and curving stairs of the Library at Parliament House .

 

 


I asked the caterers to keep me a bottle and I collected it at the end of the evening and took it home along with two macaroons , They sat on my dining table for a week and I drew them over a few nights , then threw them away .

I remembered to scan them as I went. I hope this provides you with an idea of how I approach a drawing . I sketched it in pencil to get the place on the page then I drew it in the colour pencil of the object and build up layers and definition .

 

Colours used. Faber Castell Watercolour pencil. 

Earth Green
Chrome oxide green
Schwarz black
Walnut brown
Burnt sienna
Burnt umber
Burnt ochre
Orange glaze

 

Lettering is so difficult and I have not figured out a technique of writing fine lettering on an object so that it does not look like my handwriting . This is something I will have to practice as I love to draw books which have lettering on the spine and inside . Jodi Wiley is so good at this and I will have to talk to her about it .
I have three gold pens that I tested to  used the top one in the photo , a Uniball , Signo. 

Interested  in more step by step drawings?

I have written a few others

Drawing biscuits

Drawing a feather 

About me and my watercolour pencils

I hope that they inspire you to use watercolour pencils ! They are such fun !

One thought on “Drawing a bottle of ale

  1. Maureen

    Thanks for sharing this process, it was good to see the stages and also the earlier articles too.

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