Chris Osborne Art 
Coopers Cottage Lightning Ridge
The Story Behind the Urban Sketching
When I spent two weeks in Lightning Ridge I came walked passed this old cottage most days and absolutely loved it. At that stage I hadn’t really done any sketching only my gouache paintings and thought this would make a lovely subject.
Fast forward a year and I started sketching old buildings and cars and remembered about this fantastic little cottage. And looking at the photo its even better than I remembered it to be so it just had to be sketched.
My Sketching and Painting Process
Initial Pencil sketch.
This stage of the sketch you can decide what to omit and what to keep to create a better composition. I love the corrugated roof and decide to elongate it a little so it would be more of a feature. I also changed the modern chairs for a few wooden logs as a bench.
Adding waterproof Ink over the pencil so this will not bleed during the watercolour stage.
Pencil marks erased.
Watercolour added loosely just for some basic colour.
Tombo brush pens added for toning and shadows.
Drawing in all the fine details in ink and a little extra watercolour.
Final framed artwork.
Watercolour Paint, Ink & Paper
I use Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolour on Arches France Watercolour Paper, 300g Hot Pressed or Fabriano Artistico Watercolour Paper 300g Hot Pressed..
Tombo Brush Pens N15, N45, N55, N60, N65, N95 and Faber Castell Fine-liners 0.05, 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, 0.7
My painting come from my own experiences that I have photographed while traveling. By reading this blog, you as a viewer can now hear The Story Behind the Painting. Where, when, what was happening while I was photographing the wildlife.
Enjoy, Chris Osborne
Chris Osborne Art 