It’s so easy to slip out of the routine of posting regularly, one miss here, one day away and here it is a month and a half gone. At least I have kept up the regular drawing sessions our Zoom group.
Sketching a ‘concertina book’ I’m working in
The subject matter is generally what is laying on the table when our session starts, like this knife.
Old butter knife
Then there is ephemera. We all made paper party hats for our friend’s birthday. What better way to remember that day.
Paper hat fun
Last but not least our car ‘mascot’, a ‘beannie’ toy we’ve had for years (and several cars), now sadly faded from sunny exposure. Probably the more challenging aspect of this sketch was drawing the woven tablecloth.
I had one of those ‘duh’ moments this week when several observations just clicked into place for me.
I was watching a sketchbook ‘tour’ video by British artis Lis Watkins (link below), admiring, yet again, her excellent use of white space and the restrained use of detail in her work.
Borrowed from Lis Watkins Instagram account ‘lineandwash‘
Later in the evening I was sketching online with friends and was really happy with the outcome of my sketch of this bowl of peeled limes. Of course I’d left lots of space around it and felt no need to include all of the bowl in my drawing.
A bowl of peeled limes
Obviously I was reacting to seeing Lis’ work and when drawing objects this approach seems a pretty natural one for me to use.
On the other hand when I sketch on location, wearing my ‘Urban Sketchers’ hat I often fall into the convention of ‘filling’ the page. I think if you look back to my previous post ‘Practice, practice‘ you can see what I”m referring to. I took a photo early on in the process and the sketch was pretty much ‘there’. I then kept going and looking back on it now, I realise I should have stopped much sooner!
So this week I’m consciously trying to save some white on my page, while simultaneously keeping sufficient ‘location’ information in my sketch*.
My latest ‘urban sketch’ at a local cafe on Monday.
I am liking the look of this sketch. It’s certainly a challenge to balance both space and location. I’m sure I can do this.
*If you’re not familiar with Urban Sketchers, the international sketching organisation, it’s primary goal is to encourage people to sketch on location, and that location needs to be visible (in some form) in the sketch.
Lis’ video of her sketches from recent travels is linked here:
I’m continuing on with my new approach to sketching with a flat brush, just to change things up a bit.
I also finally found the time to sketch from the upstairs gallery of one of our local shopping malls looking out to the view outside.
Getting set up with obligatory coffee and pistachio biscuit
I didn’t manage to snaffle one of the window tables, but sitting back from the window probably gave me a more expansive view of the structures outside the window.
First strokes, I could have stopped hereFinished sketch including background buildings
That’s all I could fit in before I had to go. Now I want to come back and do more sketching from here.
I’ve mentioned the Zoom get together I have most weeks with art friends. This time I sketched the meeting itself.
I’m testing out some materials I don’t usually work with. I’m using hot press paper – I generally use cold press – and a flat brush, not my regular round brushes.
The Zoom meeting, that’s my partner at the other end of the table. He also works with the same group.
If it’s a less than satisfying result it’s because I’m forgetting that I’m doing this precisely because I need to get some ‘brush miles’ up. Without practice and learning how to use these different techniques, I can’t expect to get consistent results.
I’m in the process of making myself some new sketchbooks, playing around with different types of paper and formats.
My inside covers are from an old atlas
Some of the paper I’m recovering from long abandoned sketch pads, so not everything is a standard size. As a result I’m making some tiny sketchbooks from the leftovers.
A tiny soft cover book
So far I’ve made seven of these. One is for a friend and I’m thinking of randomly giving the others away when I’m out sketching.
Some of my little sketchbooks
Of course I also needed a subject to sketch for our Sunday Zoom session. You can guess what I used as my subject.
leonieandrews 