Drawing

This morning I got up early and went out for a walk and a sketch. I was trying out my new Uni Kuru Toga Advance 0.5mm automatic pencil with a 4B lead. The pencil was very comfortable to draw with, probably more so than my last Pentel one, which finally gave up the ghost after many years the other day. I’m trying to use up half-started sketchpads, and this was done in my Moleskine soft-cover landscape sketchbook. The last time I used it was in 2015! But hey, paper is paper, right? I find that the paper in these high-quality sketchbooks lasts a pretty long time. ...

On a visit to the National Gallery a couple of months ago, I picked up a book on Holbein from the shop. I can’t remember the name of it and can’t find it online – it’s currently packed ready for our house move. Anyway, I was struck by Holbein’s portrait of his wife Elsbeth (born Binzenstock) in the painting ‘The artist’s family’ from c.1528. She just looks so much like a real person and also so expressive, sad even. ...