Sketching in Lockdown

There were no people

I mostly took photos - I didn’t break any rules

I walked down Fore Street on my way to the Post Office, something I had done almost every day for a few years. But this time it was different, like a scene from the start of The Walking Dead - there were no people; only me.

I didn’t hang about too long as I thought it was probably breaking the rules. So I mostly took photos; I remember thinking there was a lot of scaffolding - people seemed to be taking the opportunity to do things up (I’m not sure if they were supposed to.

It seemed ideal

Lockdown bought most of the world to a halt - but for me it was business as usual. I ran an online business and, in reality, it was busier than normal because people were looking for something to do; and they were getting creative about what they wanted to do.

The end of lockdown

As there was an easing to the lockdown, I remember making a note on one of my sketches that I was going to have to sketch people (or maybe I could just ignore that they were there). But I thought I’d better give it a go, so I did.

I realised how important people were

But the people really added something - a sense of being there and a way of showing the scale. And, as importantly, the height of the heads (an importance that wasn’t obvious when there weren’t any heads).

So maybe lockdown wasn’t that ideal after all. I think everyone else was probably already aware of this.

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What’s coming?

This Substack is intended to expand upon the ideas of urban and landscape sketching with minimal materials, to provide examples and inspiration.

It’s all about getting your thoughts and feelings out onto paper without too many rules to follow - this is sketching - not drawing.

Thanks for reading this and coming on the journey with me. Enjoy the journey and the destination can just look after itself.
All the best,
Peter