Sketching at Hilmteich

  35 degrees is a lot for a country so temperate. Thursday, for the first time this year I felt the heat shimmering off the pavement as it used to do on the streets of my childhood town, signalling that Summer was once again upon us. It has since cooled significantly, but on that day, with ever increasing temperatures as the minutes ticked by I decided to spend the still cool hours in a greener, place, near water.

   One of the things I like about the city that I live in, is the way that bits of the countryside flow finger-like into the urban areas. One such finger of woodland is near Hilmteich, a small pond filled with ducks and ornamented by a lovely garden shop and cafe. The perfect place to cool off and do a bit of urban sketching.

The garden shop is one of those that sell both plants and gifts. I always leave feeling inspired to paint and garden. They carry several different varieties of roses which are supported on heavy metal trellises created to be used in large pots. An interesting idea and one that could be a future sketch, but I digress...

After browsing the shop for a while I sat opposite it and did a bit of sketching. I am trying to work on adding color earlier in my process. This isn't always easy since I love to do quite a lot of pencil work before I commit to anything as permanent as colour. This being a white building I decided to use a blue grey and sienna to create the sunny and shaded parts of the building.

I dream of sitting and doing a sketch for several hours until I am really happy with the finished product but with several appointments on the agenda I had to finish the details at home.

 And here is the finished product:

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