Yvonne's Sketchbook

Sketchbook Skool - Beginnings - Week 1 - part 2

The second part of the Beginnings course was to keep a daily journal and try to sketch something every day, even if you had little time.

Homework - A page from this weeks sketchbook

At the end of the first week of both Beginnings and Seeing I have enjoyed the very informal nature of the classes. Danny was an excellent presenter and teacher in the videos. Our "homework" had to be uploaded to the website that the courses are run through (ruzuku) which was pretty quick and simple. There is also a very large and lively out of class "playground" - a Sketchbook Skool Facebook page for course participants plus a Flickr page - certainly no excuses for not sharing our work. It seems that the classes consist of every level from complete beginners who haven't put pen to paper since childhood to working professional artists and it has been a very positive experience so far.

Window

10pm at night, still light here in the far north west of Scotland. Unusually there is not a breathe of wind and I sit with the window open listening to the natural sounds outside. I started the sketch with a brief wash of watercolour, outlining the shape of the window then started on the detail drawing. Afterwards I added a little watercolour to the items on the windowsill and on the blind.

Window

Time for a walk

Time for a practice camino walk. My shoulder has been hurting and i've been seeing the physiotherapist every couple of weeks or so. She tells me that i have got "shoulder impingement syndrome." Well whatever it is it's darned painful! And i have been worrying about how i will get on walking, with a full rucksack. Only one way to find out... So, i've spent this weekend on the fantastic Isle of Barra in the far-flung Outer Hebrides of Scotland. I got the ferry to the island from the Isle of Eriskay then walked, loaded up with my rucksack, the eight and a bit miles to the "main" town on the island called Castlebay. A fab place to stop for a lunch break...

Lunch stop, Isle of Barra

I stayed overnight at the hostel, legs weren't aching too much and the shoulder was a little stiff but not too bad, not unbearable anyway. The hostel was full and i had to share the bunk room (there were four beds) with 3 blokes - happily none of them snored! At this time of year the hours of darkness are very short - the following photograph was taken after 10pm. It shows Kisimul Castle and is in the bay at Castlebay.

Kisimul Castle, Isle of Barra

My quick watercolour sketch of Kisimul Castle

In my sketch i tried, but failed miserably to capture the amazing light. The next day, after a great night's sleep i walked the almost nine miles back to the ferry. The day was not quite so sunny and my legs ached more than the day before but it was very enjoyable nonetheless. All in all a great weekend!

It's been so long!

It's been so many months since I picked up pencils/pens/paints. Last year I walked, a lot - 500 miles in 6 weeks and sketched as I went along. It was good to be able to do that, and I did it for no other reason than I felt like it. My husband was out on the nearby moors and found a golden Eagle primary feather - it was a wonderful thing and I got this inexplicable urge to paint it. My first watercolour in 7 or 8 years.

Golden Eagle feather