Headings

I would like to include a few headings in my sketchbooks, but I'm struggling with big writing and spacing. I like the attempts at the bottom the best, I think. 

It doesn't feel so cold when you're with fellow sketchers

January is always a hard month, in more ways than one. But when you're an urban sketcher, the cold is a problem. And I live in Ireland, which is not particularly cold compared to many countries. I was wearing a good coat, but my mittens were not warm enough really. So I walked around the area for a while and decided to go to a café on my own first. There was enough room in the Kilkenny Design café. I had a large table, so lots of room to spread out my art supplies. When I was done, I went back towards the back of Holles Street. I popped into the pub we were going to meet in at 4pm. There were a few sketchers there already, but I didn't see anything I wanted to sketch inside, so I headed out again and came across three sketchers at the corner of Holles Row, Stephen, Paul and Cathy. And I settled between them and all of a sudden, I didn't feel the cold any more. We chatted and sketched the beautiful street in front of us. Yes, we did complain about the cold, although Cathy, who is from New York, said that this wasn't really cold, more like April weather in New York! I drew in ink and painted in watercolour on location, and I felt great and full of energy.  

I had fun with colour circles on my page. I didn't have washi tape with me, and I didn't want to do messy squares, so I opted for circles instead. And I am practising writing neat headings. Not something that comes naturally to me!

James Street & Legit café

The area around James Street is very different from Thomas street. All of a sudden, you walk from the hustle and bustle of a commercial street, with shops and pubs and street traders, and all of a sudden, the footpaths become really quiet. You're in Guinness territory. There are a lot of beautiful old red-bricks, with the doors blocked by two sets of gates. The windows are dirty and you can't see what's inside. There's no lights, no obvious activity, unless you walk by one of the big open gates. Sometimes, you see a glimpse over the high walls, with pipes and these giant bottles that look like fuel containers for space rockets. It's all a bit empty, and yet a reminder of the importance of alcohol in the Irish economy, with not just Guinness,  but also some distilleries. I find it fascinating, but to be honest, I also think it's a bit sad. All these amazing buildings could house so many people (with a bit of work, granted) and there could be life on the streets.

There are not many cafés around there, so we were in Groundstate café again. Good views from the windows, and also tables outside for an uninterrupted view. I was sitting outside for a good while, but when I got cold and was looking for a table inside, I was faced with lots of "reserved" signs. It was quite early, before 12 anyways, but I was told that they were reserving these tables for larger groups coming in for lunch and I couldn't sit there. There was about 10 of us, if not more, dotted all around the place, and consuming. But the manager didn't want to accommodate me. So I walked away. I seem to do that a lot these days. I just don't have the energy to battle anymore. But it takes its toll on me all the same. Where is the joy gone?

PS: not sure yet if I will add colour to this or not. I wanted to draw, so, from that perspective, I achieved what I wanted.

I headed to Legit on Meath street. It might not have the same panoramic view, but the service is always friendly, and their matcha latte is delicious. And the veggie breakfast bap even better. So I settled and sketched and soothed my nerves. It always works. Maybe I need a sketchbook on my bedside table to pick up when I wake at 5 am and my mind starts racing?

And to celebrate the runthrough of Sketchbook Design, I left lots of space around my sketches to add design elements!

Teacups, shade and cast shadow

Playing with shadows - Liz Steel's online course Sketching Now Watercolour on Location. This is a rerun and I managed to find my teacups from 2019! This was the perfect relaxation for a day that didn't work out as planned!

The mixes on my second page look more purple in the photo than in reality. They were a mix of Cobalt Blue, Transparent Red Oxide and PV19. With Monte Amiata Natural Sienna dropped in.

Greys

Exploring greys for Sketching Now Watercolour on Location. Watching Liz Steel's videos, it's as much about how you apply the paint with the brush as the paper and the pigments you choose, and of course how much or how little you mix the pigments in the palette. 

This kind of stuff is what makes me happy and keeps me going when I don't have the energy for painting.

 

Thumbnail exercises

I did these studies from the same photo in France as the previous ones. In this exercise for Sketching Now Watercolour on Location, we were moving from black and grey to values in watercolour. Much harder to do - how to achieve consistent values with certain colours, and also seeing value in colours - is the natural sienna light or medium? Also, I should have used a smaller brush for the details. It's a bit clunky. I do like the grey studies better.

Shadow studies

Working on values with Liz Steel's Sketching Now Watercolour on Location. I enjoyed drawing my still life and adding shadows with markers. And I learned a lot from painting just shadows from the photos I chose. But it was hard! Some day, I will be able to paint that street, but not yet!

Maybe not so bad?

So then I moved straight to half sheet. And a completely different feeling from what I had experimented with. But the rocks are the main focus, so I had to have hard edges!

I'm influenced by artists I admire in watercolours, like Uma Kelkar and Tom Hoffmann, I am also slowly watching Liz Steel's livestreams for the 2021 runthrough of her Edges course. And while I've clearly forgotten about softer edges in the distance, you can see how I'm playing with values and colours to separate the foreground, middle ground and background. 

And I'm really proud of myself for not messing up my slivers of light value on the rock edges. This is something I've been thinking about for months, but often forgetting while painting!

Still, it feels like I painted with my head rather than my heart! Will have another go!

Patterns, Texture, and Sketchbook Design

The theme for Dublin Sketchers was patterns. So I went out and sketched in my neighbourhood from the car. And I sketched. On location. From direct observation. Telling the story of a bleak January in my neighbourhood, and everywhere in the world. Does that qualify as urban sketching? It follows the letter. What about the spirit? Well, sometimes, I like to stretch the boundaries, just a little!

Sketchbook design

Apologies for grouping so many sketch pages into the one post, but I just don't have the time to write lots and lots these days. So, I'm also doing Liz Steel's online course, Sketchbook Design. Very interesting to learn how to tie sketches together with borders, titles, text, etc. For some of these pages, I just did some quick sketches, leaving lots of white space and then I came back and added elements to create a design. Great fun. And particularly useful for sketches that didn't really work out the way I had hoped!! It really takes the pressure of the sketch!! I think the only design elements I haven't tried yet are maps, and background colour

Border, headings, text, white space

Colour block, text

Borders, heading, text, secondary sketch

Border, collaged item, text, diagram

Collage, text

Sketchbook Design

I'm planning for a pretty hectic start to 2021. Two online courses in parallel. It will do me good. It'll keep me busy at a time when we'll probably be back to lockdown, after the Christmas holidays - Brendan was briefly in town last Sunday and he told me it was hectic. Lots of people shopping and going into restaurants and cafés, drinking on the street, buskers, ...About 80 percent of people wearing masks on the street though, so maybe we'll be alright. 

Can't wait for that vaccine. But apparently I'm in the 7th category. And Brendan in the 12th. Out of 15!! So I need to prepare myself for probably another 6 months of life in limbo. OK, better not think about that!

So this one is for Liz Steel's new online course, Sketchbook Design, where we'll learn to make beautiful pages, with sketches and writing and different layouts. I've looked at the free intro lessons, and I think it will be fun. But there's one thing I won't compromise on - my handwriting! I've only just recently rediscovered it, i.e. writing in cursive, even if nobody else can read it. It's too personal a thing for me to change. I've always been known for my "bad" handwriting, and now I say I don't care, it's MY handwriting and I'm proud!!

Tea cup and teapot

I was getting frustrated with some of my teacup sketches, so I went back to basics and found some of Liz Steel's best tips on how to sketch your teacup! It's all about measuring at the start of course, something I had stopped doing over time!!

For these practise sketches, I used my favourite teapot and tea mug - I don't have any tea cups. I wish I could find a café that has interesting tableware - everywhere I go it's white mugs and metal, white or Suki teapots - not easy shapes to draw, and a definite lack of colour.

PS: I used a pink watercolour pencil for quick setup lines! And the white squiggles were added with a Uniball Signo Gel pen in the broad format - the fine tip never seemed to work so it was a revelation to try the broad tip (Another Liz Steel tip! Pardon the pun!).

De Sluyswacht

Just started Liz Steel's Sketching Now On Location, and I'm falling behind already, but you know what, it doesn't matter - I'll do it at my own pace and take the time to absorb the basic concepts. I'm sure I won't be the only one. Lesson 1 was packed with theory, information, demonstrations, tips and assignments. All good stuff, but a lot to take in! I have no problem with sketching on location per se - actually it's one of my favourite activities! What matters to me is that I apply what I learn along the way to my sketching, rather than complete the assignments quickly. And I am already thinking differently when I start a new sketch - actually I'm simply thinking about what matters to me in the view that's in front of me, rather than jumping in without a thought. (Sketching with abandon is probably my modus operandi. But a minute or two of looking and thinking before I pick up my pen won't hurt!).

So here is where I got so far, and I was really pleased with the result in white, grey and black, after a few thumbnails, which I found frustrating, but which helped me understand the scene in front of my eyes. This assignment was to work from a photo, so I used one from Amsterdam, a scene I didn't get to sketch while I was there! I still have to do a version with two colours (and then an on-location sketch using the same principles). That might have to wait until next week as I have a few busy days ahead of me!

Learning so much, and loving it! But in my own time!

Here are the photos I have

What's in my bag

Continuing on from the previous post, I sketched everything that's in my bag (except my sketchbook, which I was using to do the sketch!). Most of these items have a memory attached to them (except the bulldog clips I'd say), so they're quite precious to me. It's good to have them sketched now, just in case I lose them some day.

My minimum sketching kit

Another assignment for #SketchingNowOnLocation. This is something I don't normally enjoy, but it was sunny on Saturday and I sat outside for a bit and drew everything carefully, then added colour, then shadows. Not exactly to scale, but close enough!

The Lamy Joy is a relatively new addition. But the Sailor Fude (55 degrees bent nib) has been my favourite pen for at least a year.

And here are the colours I use (which you'll find in the next sketch). I use mostly Daniel Smith and Schmincke tube colours, but also some Sennelier. I buy empty pans and half pans and I stick them in an old empty metal palette. There are a few in this set I haven't used recently (Piemontite Genuine, Goethite, and Perylene Maroon), but then again, I could be painting red brick buildings tomorrow and I'd be glad I have them in my set. But maybe I need room for some stronger colours, like Permanent Alizarin Crimson and Indigo? Difficult decisions, but what really matters is that I can mix a good variety of lights, darks, transparents, opaques and granulating colours, and this choice of colours definitely does that!!

Hot Chocolate and teapot

I'm getting back into a normal rhythm after a wonderful summer. The hardest part is to keep on sketching. So I grab every chance I get. Even if it's only to go to our local café, HX46,  and paint what's in front of me - and yes, I did ask the manager if she could give me one of the pretty teapots to paint, although I was having a hot chocolate. I had also asked for salt and pepper, but all they had was plastic grinders that didn't look that great, so I didn't sketch these. I think the manager was relieved to see that I didn't add pepper to my hot chocolate!!

This was an assignment for #SketchingNowOnLocation, trying to use lots of different watercolour techniques in the one little sketch. Next time I draw a glass or water bottle, I will try to paint a lot more watery than I did here. I was happy with the teapot and hot chocolate, cup and saucer, though.

Plus I did it all in direct watercolour - no drawing beforehand. I really had to think about the shapes and how to keep the whites and how to overlap the objects. I started with the hot chocolate itself, which means I could start drinking it before it got cold!

Street scene

I haven't settled into a rhythm yet since I came home. So I'm jumping from watercolour to line drawings. Jack of all trades, master of none. But it's all part of the journey!

Art supplies in assorted colours

Energized by Liz Steel's bonus videos in Edges. Painted these directly in watercolour, no drawing with pencil first.

Drawing as a meditation

Do you find it hard to meditate? Like things come into your head the whole time and you end up frustrated because you're supposed to 'empty your mind'?
Like all good things, meditation requires practise. And it's worth it. I know. My blood pressure drops 10 points after a 3-minute mindfulness meditation.
But I'm not always in the mood. Or the dog comes over to lick my face to make sure I'm OK.
I go through phases in life. And I'm generally well organised. But at times, there is this swirl in my head that I can't control. It makes me grumpy, anxious. And sad.

I have my own way to beat the blues. To forget the crazy world that's falling apart. To ignore the pile of paper that's growing in my office. To find peace. To be happy.
I don't drink (much). I don't do drugs. Yes, a good weekly yoga class helps immensely. And a walk on the beach with the dog. And snuggling up on the sofa and watching Netflix with my husband.

But what always works for me also fulfils a creative yearning that's been in me for a long time.
So what do I do?
I Sketch. I Draw. I Paint. Every day. Even if it's only for 5 minutes.
And when I do, it's like time stops. Or stretches forever. I become completely absorbed. I forget the to-do lists, the tidying, the schedules, the demands on my time. I feel free. It's just me and the line running on the page, the colours that blend together.

So pick up a pencil, a pen or a brush. Let your inner artist come out. Look outside the window, really look, and draw what's in front of you. Or sketch your cup of tea. Don't worry about the result. It's not about the result. You don't have to show it to anyone. It's just for you.

There are a lot of resources out there to inspire you. Tons of books on Amazon, videos on YouTube, inspiration on Pinterest. It can be overwhelming. For me, one of the books that resonated was The Creative License, Giving Yourself Permission to the be Artist you Truly Are, by Danny Gregory. It helped me realise that making art makes me happy, and it helped me remove the obstacles in my head. Or you could also join your local chapter of Urban Sketchers and go out on location to see the world, one drawing at a time! Or stay in the comfort of your own home. There are no rules!

St Teresa's Clarendon Street

This one was playing on my mind, so I had to have another go - a beautiful courtyard with a café right in the centre of the city, and I never knew it existed! Lots of people coming out of Clarendon Church the whole time - I read somewhere that it's one of the busiest churches in the country. A couple of things that jar to my eye, but overall it was a very satisfying sketch! Watercolour pencil and watercolour.

And here is my Ulysses quote:
Smells of men. Spat-on sawdust, sweetish warmish cigarettesmoke, reek of plug, spilt beer, men’s beery piss, the stale of ferment.
His gorge rose.
Couldn’t eat a morsel here. Fellow sharpening knife and fork to eat all before him, old chap picking his tootles. Slight spasm, full, chewing the cud.