Timber

I am enjoying Roz Stendahl's class in Sketchbook Skool! Quite a challenge, but she is such an inspirational teacher! When I say inspirational, I don't mean she encourages me to kick the inner critic, pick up my sketchbook and fill it with drawings every day. Danny Gregory does that (which is very useful too). I actually mean she gives practical, precise, advice, and she is not afraid to show us her drawing process, step by step, without fast-forwarding! Just what I wanted. By the way, for years, I had been watching videos on YouTube thinking that people actually drew and painted that quickly! And I was wondering why my cross-hatching didn't work out quite as well as theirs!

So I jumped the gun on assignments for this class (Yes, we have assignments every week, but you can do them at your own pace, so it's not too much pressure, really) and tried to draw Timber while he was sleeping. Well, I'm discovering that dogs move as much as cats when they sleep. So it's a case of sketching fast. And moving on to another sketch when he just won't go back to the same turn of the head!

I'm getting very fond of drawing with my water-soluble-ink pen. It's really a calligraphy pen from a set I got earlier this year, and it's a bit scratchy, unless you have really smooth paper. But it gives a lovely line and squiggles. And I love the way it goes smudgy when you add water or watercolour.

I'm not going to start a pet painting business just yet, though! Plenty of practise. And timing my drawing time with Timber's naps! (while Willow sleeps in a box somewhere!)