Cynthia Barlow Marrs SGFA

London by Urban Sketchers - 2022

A tea dance sketch at the Royal Opera House is my contribution to London by Urban Sketchers, a book of drawings by more than 100 urban sketchers published in 2022 to mark the 10 year anniversary of Urban Sketchers London.

We have sketched London's monuments and backstreets, suburbs and Tube stations, its museums, cafes and constructions sites and pubs, parks and protests -- all in pen and ink, watercolour, mixed media or digitally drawn, showing London one drawing at a time. I edit the blog for Urban Sketchers London and for this reason could be accused of bias -- but 'tis a thing of beauty.

The book is sponsored by Da Vinci, Derwent and Hahnemühle, and is available online atmhttps://urbansketcherslondon.bigcartel.com/product/london-by-urban-sketchers-book

'Make it an inky October' - 2019

I contributed two sketches to James Hobbs' article 'Make It an Inky October' in the November 2019 issue of The Artist magazine -- a greyscale drawing of the Curfew Tower at Windsor Castle, and a sketch on a yellow paper place mat of our luncheon companions at a trattoria near Lake Garda.

Original
Ink on paper

Artist's Drawing Techniques - 2017 and 2023

Originally published in 2017 in the UK, the USA and France, Artist's Drawing Techniques is being republished in the UK in August 2023. The new cover illustration is a greyscale version of the full-colour sunflower drawing I created for 'Using coloured inks' on pages 154 and 155.

I was commissioned by DK Books to write and illustrate the pen and ink chapter (apart from pp 152 - 153) for this 300-page hardback book. I created 14 beginner, intermediate and advanced mini-workshops, illustrating techniques from mark-making with a dip pen, to scribbling, stippling and layering coloured inks, each with step by step instructions. I also created three showcase drawings that incorporate all of the techniques in the chapter. But I am just one of a number of contributors, and with chapters on drawing with graphite, charcoal, coloured pencil and pastel, this book has something for just about everyone.

'Pomp, circumstance and celebrity in Windsor' - 2019

My Windsor watercolours are featured in the Illustrated City series in The Guardian online. Published on the 200th birthday of Queen Victoria 24 May 2019, my story begins with the monarch's lace that outlasted the British empire, and ends at the Queen Victoria pub near my home.
http://tiny.cc/PompCircumstance

Original
Watercolour on Paper

Drawing magazine - Summer 2016

Drawing magazine in the USA published an eight-page feature article on my location drawings in their Summer 2016 special issue on sketchbooks. The article was proposed and written by the British painter John A Parks, a faculty member of the School of Visual Arts in New York. The drawings selected to illustrate the article were made on location in Windsor, Venice, London and Kansas City.

Landscape Architecture Theory - 2016

December 2016: A detail from my 2009 collage 'Reed Bed' is featured on this book published by Island Press. The author is Michael D Murphy, professor emeritus at Texas A&M University. I worked with Prof Murphy in South Africa in both private and academic sectors -- a nifty way to connect my previous career as a land planner and my current career as an artist.

Cover design by Bruce Gore.

Pen and Ink - 2016

I have four works of art in this book by the freelance editor, author and artist James Hobbs. It's a beautifully designed 200-page handbook with contributions from more than 30 artists in ten countries. The British version was published in 2016. But if you read Spanish, German, French, Portuguese or Dutch, you're in luck: James' book has been published in all of these languages. The drawings, of course, speak for themselves.

Published in Britain by Frances Lincoln

Notes Relating to an Idea of Blue - 2011

I created my chalk and charcoal drawing 'Shadow Play' during a Drawing Theatre workshop at Battersea Arts Centre. The original is in a private collection, but Shadow Play has another life as the cover for a poetry collection by David HW Grubb.
Published 2011
www.shearsman.com