I went out early on a drawing expedition one day last week. Took a drawing I'd begun on a quarter-imperial sheet of paper clipped to an MDF board, a propelling pencil, and a brush pen filled with watered down Payne's grey.
It was sunny and just a little after sunrise when I began the drawing a couple of weeks ago, but it was overcast and drizzling that day. I spent a little while longer on the drawing and took some more reference photos, but it wasn't going anywhere, and I probably won't start a painting anytime soon. There's a colour study I might finish in the studio, but I'll hold off on the painting until I feel ready. Sometimes an idea needs to incubate until you come up with an approach.
And while I'm here, why did no one tell me about these brush pens? I bought a couple off the Ken Bromley website. They are brilliant. The concept is simple: a brush head screwed onto a reservoir into which you can put any watered down paint you like. A fountain pen with a brush nib, in other words.
I risked a second expedition after lunch, now that the plague is dying down, and worked on a sketchbook drawing with the same tools. Had to move once when an ageing couple refused to walk past me because they would get too close and might catch the Chinese EbolAIDSitis. Of course they stood there for a couple of minutes first, waiting for me to read their minds rather than saying, 'Shift it, artboy, plague avoiders coming through!' No one does quiet, seething, passive-aggressive rage like we do over here. Makes me proud to be British.
One other thing I can recommend is getting up really early - around 4am - for the good light. Every direction your head turns, there's another real life Claude to look at, and the bonus cherry on top is that there's nobody else around at that hour to spoil your fun.
