Yvonne's Sketchbook

Catching up with creative things

Having crossed quite a lot of things off my very long "to do" list I rewarded myself by shutting myself away for a few hours yesterday evening to catch up with the Wanderlust 2016 videos for June which I hadn't downloaded or watched yet. Now I have :) I have to say this is a great year-long mixed media class so far, and excellent value. If it is run again next year i'll definitely sign up again.

I also managed to go through some more of the lessons of the Sketchbook Skool class "Expressing" that was run earlier this year over a six week period. I'd done the first three weeks but then was in Spain with virtually no internet. I have to say that I really really enjoyed the class by Michael Nobbs and really like his "Sustainably Creative" website. I've been striving all of this year to be creative every single day and this is mostly working out - there have very, very few days when I don't do at least something - even if it is just a few rows of my crocheted blanket work in progress.

Michael suffers with ME/CFS and he gives plenty of advice on staying creative when you have little energy (or time).

I'd already decided that as from 1st July i'm going to do a collage every day for the month - I will look upon this as my daily playtime :D then I came across a website - kind of randomly - and it interested me a great deal www.expressiveartworkshops.com run by Shelley Klammer. I've signed up for her Collage for Self Discovery e-course 

Eriskay - Prince Charlie's Beach

75 Day Ink Sketch Challenge

Finally got around to compiling the results of my attempt at the 75 Day Ink sketch Challenge.

 

This is a challenge that was started by artist Brenda Swenson who was one of the amazing teachers at Sketchbook Skool during 2014.

The rules are simple: No preliminary pencil sketch just dive straight in with ink, no erasing, just do it!

I believe I have pushed the rules somewhat as most times I added colour after i'd completed the ink drawing. Colour was added using a variety of media - most often watercolour but at other times Inktense pencils, coloured pencils, spray inks and a little glitter every now and then...

My personal challenge started, very tentatively, on the 19th July 2014 and ended on the 1st October 2014. I really enjoyed the challenge and although didn't have much confidence when I started but the time the end came around, although I don't feel that my drawing improved much, I was much more likely to tackle subjects that I never would have dreamed of tackling when I started.

Sketchbook Skool - Seeing - Week 6

Seeing - Week 6 - Homework Part 1 Liz Steel is the tutor for the week 6 Seeing class - I have been really looking forward to this amazing Aussie's class. Liz is an architect by trade but is mostly known for her urban sketching and her addiction to drawing tea cups. I love her tea cup sketches! Liz Steel Liz's Flickr Our first lot of homework was to draw an object that means something to us - it didn't have to be a tea cup... Sadly I don't have any really fancy cups and saucers (but have it in mind to go through mum's china cabinet when i'm there next month...) so I started off with a 1930s style cup and saucer - a Clarice Cliff repro by Moorland Pottery with the famous Crocus design on. I wasn't too thrilled by the results so this morning I had another go - this time using a Wedgewood soup cup and saucer which was given to me by my grandmother on the birth of my oldest daughter 30 years ago. The design is called Kutani Crane. I was much happier with the result. I was quite embarrassed when The Artist from next door dropped by to pick up my husband and i'd left my book on the side, opened to the Wedgwood cup page so he scooted over when he spied it and had a look. He seemed reasonably impressed :-)

Homework - Liz Steel's class. (Day 24 of the 75 day Ink Sketch Challenge)

Day 23 of the 75 Day Ink Sketch Challenge

Seeing - Week 6 - Homework Part 2 The next lot of homework that Liz set for us was to draw a building. With her being an architect she gave us a number of tips for when drawing buildings. It was a dull and dismal day and I decided to draw our house - it's kind of wonky, I think I definitely need a lot more practice!

Homework part 2 - Our house

Sketchbook Skool - Beginnings - Week 6

I've been waiting with baited breath for the final week of Beginnings, tutored by the amazing and totally whacky Tommy Kane - his videos, as expected, were full of great advice and wise words. Tommy can spend up to 10 hours on a single sketch - crazy! Our homework for the class was to draw our own kitchen - choose a really complex part of the room and go for it. Tommy Kane Illustration Tommy Kane's Blog I took a couple of days over the drawing and the eventual painting with watercolours and a small addition (as per Tommy) of coloured pencil - probably a total of about 3 to 4 hours. I hadn't expected to draw past the corner on the right hand side - my original plan was to draw from the oven to the corner. Once I turned the corner everything went to pot and my perspective was way out. My corner plate rack is not actually in the corner and it looks like an elephant trod on my toaster it's so flat! But I was partly impressed with the final result, wonky and quirky as it is. Every single item is included, every bottle, every cup, every plate. It was very absorbing, even when I was adding the watercolour. So absorbing in fact that I took a swig of my brush-washing water that was in a mug next to my cup of coffee! Bleeuurrgh!! Tommy has a number of rules that he follows when doing detailed drawings like this that I will adopt:-

• Draw in slow motion and really look
• Once the pen hits the paper finish the drawing!

And what did the great man himself have to say about my kitchen drawing?

Yvonne, you have made a gorgeous little masterpiece. Your line work is so delicate and perfect. Your watercolor work is spot on. Your work has great personality to it. I even love the texture of the paper you use. You should be very proud of what you did.

Blushing!

DrawingAugust Day 9 - Homework for Tommy Kane's class

Sketchbook Skool - Seeing - Week 5

The tutor for week five of Seeing was the totally incredible Andrea Joseph - what that girl can do with a ballpoint pen is truly amazing! Andrea's Blog Andrea's Flickr Andrea's Etsy Shop Andrea is one of the few British tutors on the course and was very generous in her advice and teaching, lots of video demos and she went through some of her sketchbooks too. The first homework was a lettering piece - we had to choose a quote that we liked and write it out. I chose this one by Camille Pissaro.

Homework 1 - Lettering

Next we had to find some objects of the same colour and then draw them in a ballpoint pen of that colour (red objects, use red pen etc.). As I could only find a blue ballpoint pen in the whole of the house that's what I went for...

Drawing August Day 4 and Sketchbook Skool week 5 homework

Lastly Andrea demonstrated drawing a collection of items and set us the task of drawing a collection of our own - in ballpoint pen of course. I had a bag of buttons that had come from my late mother-in-law's house so I chose them.

Drawing August Day 6 and Sketchbook Skool, Seeing, Week 5 - homework

I really enjoyed this homework and indeed the whole week. I don't think that I'll be making a habit of doing drawings with ballpoint pen - Andrea made it look way easier than it really is. I guess with practice it would become easier - I found myself pressing too hard occasionally - in Andrea's video she used very very light, soft strokes when doing the cross-hatching and this is where I found the difficulty - I felt very clumsy. My favourite button to draw and the one that turned out pretty good was the large round, leather-covered button. Sadly week 6 will be the final week of Sketchbook Skool for this semester :-( but i'm looking forward very much to it, Liz Steele is leading the last class!  

Sketchbook Skool - Beginnings - Week 4

The teacher this week for Beginnings was Jane LaFazio and in her demo she showed us the process that she goes through - how she selects what she wanted to draw, doing a rough pencil sketch then adding pen and finally watercolour. Jane loves to work in mixed media, including stitchwork and she talked us through some of her sketchbooks. Our homework was to create a grid drawing. Jane suggested fruit or vegetables but we'd had a beautiful sunny day and there were a lot of butterflies in the garden, especially on the Buddleia which is fully in flower (and unlikely to stay that way here - the wind and the salty air soon knocks the blooms down).

Buddleia and butterflies

I drew the 9 x 9 grid first then pencilled in the basic shapes of what I wanted to draw. Once i'd done that I used a fine line pen and added colour using Inktense Pencils. Jane had suggested using black for the grid but I thought that would be too harsh and detract from the flower and butterflies so I used some diluted watercolour. I used this drawing for the #DrawingAugust Challenge too. My mum has already asked me if she can have it to put on her wall...

Sketchbook Skool - Seeing - Week 4

The very first online courses that I participated in were by Cathy Johnson so I was looking forward to learning a whole lot more from this lovely lady, especially as a lot of her drawing is bird and nature orientated. Cathy Johnson's website Cathy Johnson's blog Cathy demonstrated techniques for sketching birds - both from life and using photographs - then homework was to do our own bird sketch. I chose a House Sparrow, it turned out OK(ish) it was a little bit out of shape. Maybe i'm just picky when it comes to bird art - I think it stems from knowing birds so well. Anyway here is my homework, followed by some links to a couple of great bird artists.

House Sparrow, male

My Lapwing turned out a little better

Day 13 of the 75 Day Ink Sketch Challenge

Both of these birds were drawn from my own photographs. Part 2 of Cathy's homework was to upload a page from our nature journal. I submitted my seaweed page

Day 25 (Ink Sketch Challenge)

I love the lovely loose watercolour work of wildlife artist Darren Woodhead, I first saw his work at the UK Bird Fair held annually at Rutland Water. Darren is based in Scotland and his website is: www.darrenwoodheadartist.co.uk Another artist I greatly admire is The Artist that I mention now and again who lives next door. Bill Neill has lived here in the Hebrides for over 30 years and is an amazing all round naturalist. He uses mainly watercolour but sometimes acrylics. Bill's website is: www.william-neill.co.uk  Books I recommend for drawing birds:-

• John Busby, Drawing Birds - An RSPB Guide
• John Muir Laws, The Law's Guide to Drawing Birds

Sketchbook Skool - Beginnings - Week 3

The tutor for week 3 of Sketchbook Skool is the fabulous Prashant Miranda - I loved his gentle, laid back style of teaching. His videos were filmed in India and he showed us how to do a graduated watercolour wash. The demo video was filmed at a beach in Goa, bringing back happy memories of the two months I spent in Goa in 2009. Homework was to paint our own watercolour sky so I painted the beach here in Uist which is just a 10 minute walk from home. I'd been waiting a few days as the sky had been overcast but today was glorious, 24.8'C - just about as good as it gets here in the far-flung north west. I would so love to be able to draw birds. Birds are my big passion in life but my usual efforts at drawing them are at best pathetic - i'm not being unduly unkind to myself, it's true! Perhaps because I'm so familiar with the subject I get uptight about it. I know that when i'm looking at other people's bird art I usually start off by checking whether they have drawn in the correct number of primary, secondary and tail feathers. Sad but true! I wanted to draw some birds into the beach scene, there were small flocks of Sanderling flying along the shoreline and a few gulls over the water plus a couple of Redshank feeding on the sand. I have the rather ancient book Drawing Birds by John Busby so looked in there for some advice on adding a few stylised birds. Here is the result.

Askernish Beach

Well i'm off up to the Isle of Lewis tomorrow and will be staying until Monday, my sketchbooks and watercolours are packed so i'll see what turns up.

Sketchbook Skool - Seeing - Week 3 - Part 2

So this is the result of the second part of Brenda's homework. A continuous line contour drawing using a water-soluble ink which is then painted with watercolour. As a member of the local craft co-operative I have to take a turn every now and again to man the shop. I chose some of the interesting items from the shelf to do the ink drawing of then painted it. It worked out kind of OK - I wasn't totally unhappy with it :-) The candle isn't quite right perspective-wise and i quite like the felted stone, it does almost looks furry/fluffy :-)

The painting and the original scene...

Sketchbook Skool - Seeing - Week 3 - Part 1

The third week of Sketchbook Skool "Seeing" is presented by Brenda Swenson. I must admit I had never heard of Brenda before this week but I immediately warmed to her, she is very gently spoken and has a lovely way of teaching and engaging the viewer. Our first homework task for brenda's class this week is to make a continual line contour drawing (no lifting the pen from the paper) and we were asked to select objects with variety (shapes, textures and sizes).

• one object - take 3 minutes to draw this
• two objects, take 6 minutes
• and finally a drawing of three objects, taking 10 minutes.

I must say that this was more difficult than Brenda made it look and sound! Her advice was to slow down, look really hard at the shape of the object(s) and draw what you see, not what you think is there. If right-handed start at the top and go down the left side first. My first attempt, the single object ended up pretty wonky. The two and three object drawings were slightly better - I think it is perhaps easier when there is more than one object because you have more points of reference? Oh, and yes I didn't stick strictly to the rules of the task - I added a few more details to the second and third drawings once the contour bit was done. Just couldn't help myself ;-)

Continual line contour drawings, 1 object, 2 objects, 3 objects.

Hopefully tomorrow I will get chance to do the next part of Brenda's homework: A still life, draw then paint with watercolour. Brenda's website: www.swensonsart.net Brenda's blog: brendaswenson.blogspot.co.uk