….day 2 of Sketchbook Revival
Today in Karen Abend’s Sketchbook Revival class we were introduced to Mary Beth Shaw who is a journal artist. She took us from a doodle sketch done in pencil to an abstract spread using collage, ink and acrylic paint. It was a fun process and a great way to start a painting when you have no idea what you want to paint. Here is my day’s artistic endeavour.
…yesterday I showed you two blobs of colour that I would transform
Today I completed a cat that looks like it was crossed with a mouse and a leaf eating dragon. Here’s what I started with…..
….and this is what I ended up with
….when you don’t know what to paint start with a blob of colour
Today was the first day of Sketchbook Revival, another on-line free series of classes to get your creative juices to flow. The program is hosted by Karen Abend and today’s guest artist is one of my favourite teachers, Carla Sonheim.
Carla started by encouraging all artists to journal daily with what she calls box journalling. Basically she draws a box in her journal and divides it into sections and writes and draws in the different spaces. She writes random thoughts, to do and idea lists and draws doodles in one of the smaller squares. All of these help give her inspiration for the rest of her day. She also finds it very meditative.
Blob drawings are a great way to start making art when you’re in a rut and don’t know what you want to paint. You literally lay down a blob of paint onto paper and smear it or spread it in a random fashion with a credit card or palette knife. Here are two examples of blobs that I have laid down on the pages of my sketchbook.
Later this evening I will probably turn then around and see what animal or creature I see and start adding detail with a black marker or with ink. For the one that I just finished I used a water based ink so that I could go back in with a wet brush and add shading by just going over the black lines.
In my first blob I clearly saw a bird flying through the air. Here is my finished piece.
….trying to keep busy and watch less TV
My husband finally got bored watching TV and felt well enough to play in the kitchen. For some reason he’s had a craving for tea biscuits so he started to research for a recipe where we had all the ingredients. I haven’t made biscuits in a long time but I do remember that they were pretty basic with simple ingredients. It’s amazing how many variations of tea biscuits there are out there. Some called for evaporated milk and lemon soda pop and of course there are all kinds of add ons like raisin and cranberries.
We finally decided on a classic recipe. My husband also made his own clotted cream and we had a wonderful afternoon tea break with hot biscuits and cream. The only thing missing were the fresh berries to go on top.
Later in the evening I went on the internet and found a new site hosted by Mo Willems, the children’s book author and illustrator. It is very much geared to children but I enjoyed his show ‘Lunch Doodles with Mo Willems”. Check it out if you like to doodle and/or if you have children who like his books. He demonstrates how to draw Pigeon, Piggy and Elephant.
…there are lots of free tutorials on the internet
Sometimes you need to start small to get back into the groove. With Covid-19 and self isolating there is only so much cleaning a person can do. I managed to clear away enough clutter from my art table and I tuned to Sketchbook Skool’s free classes called the Drawing Party.
Today I did the first two classes. It gave me just enough inspiration to get my creative juices flowing. The first lesson focused on laying down shapes of colour and then adding detail with black ink. I pretty much followed Danny’s lead but I can see doing this on my own. For the colour I used my chalk markers and Artist Loft markers. 
The second class was all about slowing down and drawing lots of detail. My subject was a dried up hydrangea.
…thanks to Sandy for hosting this week’s Friendly Friday Photo Challenge
Some of the best art is the piece that you come across unexpectedly. On my walk last week someone or multiple people had left these painted stones on a rock for all to enjoy.
I also find that when you walk into a setting and new art has been put up that you weren’t expecting it can affect you in one of several ways. This new art display at Montgomery’s Inn gave me instant joy because of its whimsical quality. It clearly affected a lot of people in a similar way because most people pulled out their camera phones and started taking photos of these large ink drawings.
…thanks to Nancy Merrill for hosting A Photo a Week Challenge
…thanks to Aroused for hosting the Friday Fun Challenge
….of the 30 Day Creativity Challenge
Thanks to Dina and Klausbernd for the inspiration for my drawing of the Herdwick Sheep.
Thanks to Rainee for starting me on the 30 Day Creativity Challenge
….day 29 of the 30 Day Creativity Challenge
Thanks Rainee for inspiring me to create for 30 days.
Last Friday I spent the day with our granddaughter again. I brought her a sketchbook just like mine and her own blending stick. This, however, did not keep her from drawing in my book. I saw a picture on the wall of a simple vase with leaves pouring out of the top. I started drawing it. When Winnie saw what I was doing she added more leaves to my picture and started to colour in the vase. 
When she was done with that she turned to a fresh page in my book and drew her own vase with leaves. 
Here she used her blending stick on the pencil and white charcoal details she added. She asked me to make a speech balloon with the saying ‘I need you’.
