Sketching Again!

(To read full post you may need to click on post title to view in your browser.)

I've gotten away from the daily sketching. I knew it had been a while but was chagrined to discover my last sketch was back in February. Here it is, in all it's glory:

It took until July to get going again. I sketched these dried iris seed heads sitting in the garden and then added a little walnut ink back in the studio.

Felt so rusty! Slowly, though, I started getting back into the rhythm. These beauties below are from my friend Nancy, who is so generous with her extravagant rose garden. Loved the pop of the yellow pencil added to the ink and water drawing.

Plants are my favourite subject to sketch -- likely because their organic shapes are so forgiving to draw. Every now and then, though, I challenge myself. Drawing in ink, I find symmetrical objects, like the spoons below, difficult. 

I did "cheat" a bit and drew vertical lines lightly in pencil for each spoon to give a bit of a guide. Still, the spoon bowls ended up lop-sided! The horizontal spoon was first sketched in pencil and I did a fair bit of fiddling to get the bowl even. Only then did I draw over in ink.

I spent a few more days on symmetrical stuff and then went back to the garden. I'd been watching these hosta flowers and when they were on last days I brought them inside.

If I have a subject in mind, I'm more likely to do a daily sketch. So I often take a few days to finish a sketchbook page. Two days for this one.

The sketch below was spread over five days:

Here is a four-day page:

And another one -- the paint box looked so simple but once started I got caught up in the complexity of the hinge and all the indents for the paint and the sponges. If I've learned anything, though, it's to keep going. The finished sketch isn't important -- it's the practice getting there.

I really enjoy laying down some hand-coloured tissue and then sketching over top with ink. The white of the paper makes the colour of the translucent tissue just pop!

I used a black brush pen to get the heavier thicker lines -- thought they showed up better than the thin lines my regular pen makes (like in the top tomatoes). I seem to be back in the rhythm now. Here are a few recent sketches:

Not so sure about this last one -- my shapes are a bit off. A challenge to catch the curve of the dried pods.

The trick to a daily sketch, unfortunately, is to sketch daily! Sigh... But sketching has much in common with exercising -- both will be part of my life for many years to come -- so if I miss a few days (or, yikes, longer) at some point I just start up again. Happy sketching!

Hang Tag Fun!

(To read full post, you may need to click post title to view in your browser.)

The other day I watched a video on Linda Celestian's YouTube channel. Linda is an American artist with inspiring tutorials for making your own hand-painted collage papers but this particular video was about making a garland from hang tags -- those often beautiful and creative tags attached to clothing, kitchen linens and other consumer products. Her video reminded me I had a stash.

When I dug out the box I discovered a handful of collaged notecards I'd started playing around with years ago.

Here are a few close-ups (excuse the glare from the overhead lights):

 

I seem to have moved past making these little collages yet that pile of tags with their gorgeous graphics and imagery still calls to me. Take a look:

Love the narrow tag attached to this skirt tag. Anything black and white always attracts me. Add in text and I'm hooked!

And look at these darling tags:

These are from a line of Danish clothing for children. Beautiful art work! And then I have a few leather and fabric tags:

It's fun and educational to look back on old work -- to see what drew me then and where I am today. I'm not sure I'll continue with the tag collages -- but it would be a great one-a-day project come winter! And since I have such an abundance of tags on hand there might be a garland -- or two -- in the future.