More Sketchbook Skool and Sketchy

More of my newly discovered love of sketching and all things Sketchbook Skool and Sketchy

This was my attempt at sketching Danny Gregory, joint founder of Sketchbook Skool and first teacher in my Exploring course. I tried hatching again as that was the theme of his klass

This was my first watercolour attempt for Nina Johansson who was my teacher for the second klass. All a bit of a mess but really enjoyed using my new Daniel Smith watercolours.

This is another Sketchy portrait. I love this lady's happy face!

Sktchy and Sketchbook Skool

I'm doing Sketchbook Skool's 'Exploring' course and the first week has been all about hatching with Danny Gregory. Here are my attempts:

My beautiful teapot and first attempt at sketching with hatching

A Sktchy portrait - too light I think, needs to be more confident, but I like that there is no hard outline containing the hatching.

Guess who - the morning after she announced another General Election in the UK and a woman from Bristol went viral with her comment, "Oh no! Not another one!"

Rose Hips

My goodness - so, so long since I posted here.

I've been doing some sketching recently, inspired by a couple of online courses courtesy of Sketchbook Skool and Jane LaFazio. Trying to find my 'style' so experimenting a lot.

This is a study of rose hips from my garden in part coloured, part left just ink sketch. I once saw a book of sketches by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the Scottish architect and designer who died in the early 20th century, and it contained some beautiful sketches of flowers in ink, only partly coloured and I fell in love with them. I even translated one of them into an embroidery years ago but where that is now I can't think. I'll have to see if I can find it although I suspect it wasn't stored properly and has suffered for it.

courgettes

I'm going to have these for dinner tonight but before I do I thought I'd sketch them...

I used Derwent Graphitint water-soluble pencils - not my favourite medium but they were quite useful for getting the stripy effect. 

umbellifer

Tried my hand at a little botanical study! I had no idea what this was when I picked it at the edge of a field planted with rape but when I got home and consulted my wild flower guide I found it's a Thorow-wax. Strange name but fascinating plant. It's an umbellifer which is part of the carrot family.

Still trying to get the hang of writing in my journal with the dip pen!

tomatoes

M. Graham watercolours, pen and ink. I did the writing with a dip pen which takes a bit of getting used to as it makes blots all over the place. I don't mind that though. Pity I had trouble spelling 'choice' - I tried to cover my mistake but it didn't work!

abandoned station in yorkshire

We stayed in a holiday cottage just the other side of the now grassed-over track from this ex railway station. A little further down there were some old railway carriages that are now holiday lets. The people who lived in the old station house kept chickens which used to walk along the platform and annoy Rosie who couldn't get to them! Thank goodness!!

dead sunflower head

This is from a photo I took last year. I don't like sunflowers but I love dead sunflowers - they are so much more interesting and have a soft beauty that the live ones don't have.

Sketching again

I don't know why I don't make a pact with myself to sketch something at least once a day. I really love doing it and am sure practice will improve me. So I did two sketches today - one which was just a copy of a photograph and the other was my Valentine's Day present which, if I'd left it much longer, would not still be there! Yummy...

I've signed up for Danny Gregory's Sketchbook Skool which starts early April and am hopping from foot to foot with excitement. Hope I don't mess up!

Sloe Berries

The sloe bushes at the bottom of the field are absolutely laden with berries this year. The first time I walked past I thought I must take a bag and collect some before someone else does! But the next day I had a closer look and they're nowhere near ripe enough to pick yet so I just picked a small branch so I could draw them. It's said the best time to pick the sloes is just after the first frost so I'll be lurking with my carrier bag in the wee small hours one day soon.

From the Fields

I collected a couple of bits & pieces from the field where I walked Rosie today. This one looks like an Oak Apple but I'm sure it isn't because it's too late in the year. The leaf is certainly oak-like but the acorns are growing now so this can't be oak.

This one is definitely a meadow thistle - so delicate and pretty. Both sketched on Khadi paper which loves water and is quite happy to be stitched into which I may decide to do. I'll post the results here if I do.

Desk, study and irish wolfhound

This is one of my trays of art stuff. I'm very overdue for a tidy up! My little study room (I daren't call it a studio - it would make me feel as if I was pretending to be an artist) is difficult to navigate with a huge Irish Wolfhound lying behind my chair. I get pinned up against the desk unable to move anywhere :-)

Oil & Vinegar

This is sherry vinegar, not rice wine vinegar as my notes say. But either are great vinegars to use in dressings. The rice wine vinegar is a little softer than red or white wine vinegars and the sherry vinegar packs a bit of a punch but nothing like balsamic.

Shells

This was an exercise in using line for shading and no colour. I used pen and ink, pencil and water-soluble marker.

Falling Leaves

This was inspired by a silver pendant I have and love dearly. I also have a feather pendant so who knows - maybe I'll sketch that too.

3D SHAPES

This is one of the exercises I've done for my Sketchbook Delight online course with Alisa Burke. I love her courses - there's no pressure but lots of inspiration which I need at the moment until I find my muse.

I threw the whole lot at this - watercolour pencils, watercolour paint, Zig Art Pens, and ink!

STARTED SKETCHING AGAIN

I've picked up my sketchbook again with a promise to myself to try to keep it up for a bit. Good tip to start with if you can't think of any inspiration - paint your tools!

roll on 16th july

I broke my wrist at the beginning of June. Didn't realize it was a break; thought it was just sprained so carried on the best I could. When the swelling didn't go down I was nagged into going to the doctor who arranged an x-ray and I've been in plaster ever since! SO frustrating! I can't do half the things I want to do. I was just starting on a sampler tapestry weaving but can't work the fingers of my hand well enough to carry on with it. Still - only 12 days to go now!

I did manage to do a quick pen, ink & wash sketch of a rather good bottle of Shiraz before opening it. It's history now...

bamboo

A few days ago, before winter returned (!), I sat in the garden with a cup of coffee and sketched the bamboo. I'm not sure what type of bamboo it is but mine grows in a pot and at this time of year the colour of the leaves ranges from golden brown to palest green and it has tiny red fruits.

Painted with my lovely M. Graham watercolours (one of the ingredients is honey so I may try them on toast later :-)

Visual Chinese Whispers 2

Aha - look what I made from Justine's eggs! I knew I had this somewhere :-)