Sketchbook Revival

I received an email in May about an online "Sketchbook Revival". For 12 days videos from different artists were made available. Many of the artists shared pages from their personal sketchbooks, and demonstrated one technique or another. The videos covered many different art forms. They included making & binding books, pencil sketching, bold graffiti designs with markers, water color sketches using traditional water color as well as water color pencils, using regular colored pencils, botanical drawings, collages, and several others. I didn't have the opportunity to view all of the videos as we were in the throes of getting ready to leave Florida and my time was limited. However, the program reignited my artist-wanna-be fire! One of the artists, Liz Steel, shared watercolor sketches that she creates when she is traveling as a way of remembering her trip. Wow! What a fun thing to do. I am going to Europe toward the end of September and decided it would be wonderful to document my travels with my own sketches... and to be able to do this, I need practice. Lots of practice! Therefore ... I purchased a few different journals so I could experiment with the types of paper. I bought a nifty travel watercolor set, and a few extra brushes. I did get some markers and colored pencils as well. I made a commitment to sketch... every day! I am loving it. When I return from walking the dogs I pull out my box of journals and art supplies and sit down to create. It is a wonderful part of my day... and I have completed 44 different sketches to commemorate our travels, share what I see when I walk the dogs in the morning or simply things that strike my fancy. I have missed a few days, here and there, but I have done more in the past few months than I probably have in the past few years!

Here are some of my favorites!

Among my first sketches... watercolor pencil, water colors, marker & pen
3.5" X 5.5"

Watercolor and pen
3.5" X 5.5" 

Pen & watercolor.
I am a huge fan of how the oyster turned out. I'm not sure why!
3.5" X 5.5"

Watercolor & pen.
I was trying to capture the haze in the early morning.
3.5" X 5.5" 

Watercolor & pen
5.5" X 8.5"

Watercolor & pen.
This is my first attempt at doing people in wc.
5.5" X 8.5"

Watercolor & pen... and a lot of artistic license!
5.5" X 8.5"

Watercolor pencil, watercolor & pen
5.5" X 8.5"

Watercolor
I was not happy with the background. This is an area needing improvement!
5.5" X 5.5"

Watercolor & pen
5.5" X 8.5"

Watercolor & pen
3.5" X 5.5"

Watercolor & pen
3.5" X 5.5"

Colored pencil
5.5" X 8.5"

Only watercolor.
No preliminary pencil & no pen!
5.5" X 8.5"

Only watercolor.
No pen & no preliminary sketching with pencil
5.5" X 8.5"

All sketching accomplished with watercolor
5.5" X 8.5"

 My confidence is growing. The drawings most often do not turn out the way I envision them, but I  see progress and I usually find something in each that pleases me.

#41: Lucy & Remy

I was recently a guest at a family's home. I had never met the couple and it felt wonderful to be so graciously welcomed along with one of my friends and a woman she knew. We were in the Atlanta area for a Pickleball Clinic and the friend of my friend had made last minute arrangements for us to stay with her high school pal when the original airbnb plans fell through. 

The couple had adopted two large dogs, each having "issues". Lucy was a Greyhound/Great Dane mix who was very timid. Remy was a lab/Great Pyrenees rescue who had some fear aggression problems. The couple has done an amazing job of assimilating the dogs into their lives and they have made great progress in helping the dogs overcome their problems. 

Remy

Lucy

I wanted to thank my host and hostess and decided to sketch the dogs. I pulled out my pad of vellum and my 2HB and 4HB pencils and went to work. After completing the pictures I turned them into a note card to write my thank you note. I sent the top version of the card to the couple. 

What I liked about the pieces:

I was very pleased with the outcome. I really liked the eyes. Lucy has big "doe" eyes and I think my drawing shows a bit of her timidity. I liked the shading that I used in Remy's mouth.

Lucy
8 1/2" X 8 1/2" pencil on vellum

What I might do differently:

I was not pleased with my treatment of the background. The actual sketches, which I did send along with the card, had a monotone pencil treatment. The photos were retouched to darken the corners. I wish I had thought to do that to the original sketches. The background shading shows pencil lines on the lower left side of Remy. I should have gone over it again with a softer pencil and smudged it some more. 

What I learned:

I need to learn more about working the background. I also have decided that whenever I have the need to thank someone I hope they have a pet that I can sketch to include on a Thank You card. The couple was very appreciative. 

Remy
8 1/2" X 8 1/2" pencil on vellum

#30: Shasta

Inspiration:
While taking the online Drawing Cats and Dogs class I practiced by sketching dogs that belong to my friends.  Shasta was especially intriguing with her short hair and her coloring. I created one drawing and shared it online. She went nuts over it, and asked if I could send it to her... she'd even pay! (I didn't charge her.) I decided it would be fun to surprise her and include another drawing... or two. 

#30: Shasta

9" x 9" pencil on vellum

What I like about the drawing:
I love the pup's expression. To me, she looks like she is inviting the viewer to come play with her.  I feel like I was able to show the dimensions of her face by using more strokes, creating a darker area. I am pleased with the background. I like the variation I achieved with smudged pencil.

What I might do differently:
I am not certain that her ears are accurate. Again (and again, and again...) I must move away at several stages of the drawing process to assess my work. I used very little shading by smudging the pencil. I think that might have helped differentiate areas of different color.

What I learned:
Val Webb (course instructor) says that the eyes are the soul of the picture, and I agree. Val puts them in, first thing. It certainly does make the drawing come to life, right away! I am not a patient artist. I don't like taking a lot of time with my work. I want to see it... NOW! Were I to take more time, step back more, and revisit the work another day I think my work would be more refined. I also find that view a picture of the art work helps me get that "view from a distance." I shall try looking at a picture of my work on my next piece.

#28 Samson

Inspiration:

Samson is Faith's big 'brother'. I sent the picture of Faith with a card I made to my friend's husband, and I made a card for her with Samson. Samson seems to be quite a character,  based on blog posts she writes, and pictures she includes. 

#28: Samson

5" x 7" pencil on vellum

What I like about the drawing:
Samson's white, fluffy coat looks quite realistic. I think I was able to create some dimension. I like his soft eye. My finished drawing is pretty true to the original.

What I might do differently:
The background is hideous. I like the crosshatch, but a little goes a long way. I probably should have taken more time with the tufts of white hair, using a sharp pencil to create more texture.

What I learned:

I need to practice different options for creating a background, and figure out when to only partially highlight a picture. 

Pencil Sketching

I am taking an online class with Val Webb to learn more a out sketching dgs and cats. My hubby unearthed a photo of a cat we had about 10 years ago. 

I sharpened my pencils and this is what I produced:

I was quite pleased with the results!

Classy!

I discovered that one of the local community colleges offers classes for adult education. Only one of the art classes fit into my schedule. It is called, "A Dip into Art". The instructor, Joy Schultz, explained that we will have the opportunity to 'dip our toes' into different artistic media. Each week will focus on something different: charcoal, pastels, watercolor, acrylic, mixed media, and pen and ink.

In our first class we experimented with charcoal. Joy inspired us by saying that art is simply 'mark making'. We tried making marks with a piece of vine charcoal. We tapped it. We swiped it while holding the charcoal on its side. We tried dark marks, and marks that varied in intensity. We rotated the charcoal, and made long sweeping arcs. While making marks, Joy talked about composition, texture and value. Almost everyone drifted into making lines, then shapes and then creating something from our marks. 

Then Joy showed us some charcoal sketches by John Singer Sergeant. She discussed different techniques he appeared to use. I was getting a bit nervous, as I was already thinking where this might be going! She let each of us pick a picture, and draw it. Oh! Horrors! "I can't draw a face!" she explained would be our first reaction. "But," she went on to say, "don't look at what you think should be there, concentrate on the shapes you see, and their texture and value." 

I had (and continue to have) some difficulty with the proportions of the face. But, all-in-all, I was quite pleased with my first attempt.

My first charcoal portrait suffered a bit from being folded, but you can basically see what I accomplished. It looks OK… until you see the original:

Well, obviously I need practice! So… this week I have done just that. I have found a number of Sargeant's pencil and charcoal sketches to try to copy. I guess if I keep trying, I'll only get better. As we know, practice makes perfect!

Two attempts;

pencil and charcoal

My charcoal and Sargeant's charcoal