It was great to mix just two colors in a variety of ways on one large page (8×10 Stillman & Birn Alpha). There are some new to me colors in my palette that I haven’t mixed much previously, so I focused on those pigments, primarily. My first mix is with Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine (All my paints for this exercise are Daniel Smith) as I wanted to try to get that nice grey this pair can mix. My next mix is Quin Gold and Pthalo Blue (GS) to see what kind of greens I can get. I mixed Cerulean Blue Chromium with Pyrrol Crimson, as I haven’t worked much that red before. I was pretty pleased with the purples I cold get from it, as well as the crazy way the Cerulean exploded into the Pyrrol Scarlet. My favorite magic happening there! Last I mixed Pyrrol Scarlet with Pthalo Green and was surprised at what a lovely grey that made, as well as an excellent earth orange red that will be perfect for tile roofs!
I do so love drawing with a continuous line. It is so freeing! It reduces a complex subject into something utterly doable, and low pressure! I must remember to use this technique far, far more often!
First was a few kitchen items. I grabbed a box of lemon ginger tea, a lemon, and fresh ginger root. Cute! The exercise was to do the outlines, and here they are. I had so much fun I had to do it a few times!
Next assignment was to sketch part of a house that had some foliage in front of it. At least that’s how I interpreted it. This was even more fun! I really love how easy these were, and the energy in the sketches. It capture something special my more careful sketches don’t.
Next time I look forward to trying an even more detailed version. Maybe add the roof tiles for some texture, over and above the tree limbs. My sketchbook page got a bit crowded, but that’s the fun of being “on location” and working with what you have! I am nearing the end of this 7.5 x 7.5 inch Stillman and Birn Alpha. I’ll have to decide what size I’ll be going with next!
I decided to dust off my food sketchbook. Since this is the week of continuous line, I had to apply it to the food sketches! Not all of these little sketches are in continuous line, but I found it super helpful to sketch the pasta and the chocolate chips. Subjects where the detail typically overwhelms me.
I am also working on my sketchbook design skills in the food sketchbook. It is a good subject to practice spanning the gutter, and varying layout options. I’m obviously heavily influenced by Liz Steel and her magnificent classes, especially Sketching Now Sketchbook Design.
Speaking of challenging subjects, I attempted drawing something I would never have tried before, and I sketched this view of the Natchez steamboat by using continuous line. I rather love it! The cathedral I sketched using what I learned in Sketching Now Buildings, and much to my surprise, it turned out so well. This might be my favorite sketchbook page of all time, and certainly my favorite in this sketchbook!
My assignment was to draw something on a table in public, using two different types of materials. One in pen only, with spot color, and the other in watercolor pencil. Well, due to the current massive surge in COVID cases in my city, I’m not doing anything in public! However, this TN was on my table and it is one of those objects I never think about sketching, because it’s always around. Perfect!
I do love sketching in pen (with no pencil set up lines) and the wonky pen in the sketch doesn’t even bother me. The spot color was a fun addition. I need to remember that more often! The watercolor pencil is easier to adjust and make corrections, especially when adding water to activate it and make it a bit more painterly. I was incredibly tempted to sketch and paint a full color version, but I was short on time. Some other day!
This was a really fun exercise, and I very much enjoyed how different each version is and how it adds interest to the page.
I am so very excited about Foundations this year. As I was doing Buildings a lot of the basics really clicked for me in new ways, and thusly I’m quite excited to do Foundations, and focus on those basics, and allow my new depth of understanding to really be explored and practiced!
This is my fourth run through of Foundations! Hard to believe, isn’t it? I’ve never finished, (I say that a lot, don’t I?) but I always learn a lot. Obviously, I’m absolutely planning to complete everything! Naturally, I’m “behind” already. However, I love it no less!
For the first time, I’m using the same kit as Liz Steel for her class. I am particularly excited to stick with the six color palette and practice my color mixing! I’m pretty good with my color mixing, so this will be fun. I also got a set of Faber Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils for Yule. Thusly, for the first time, I have the full set of colors Liz uses in her kit! Woot!
I’ve experimented with the watercolor brands I had previously, and so far the Albrecht Durer are my favorites for color intensity and ease of use. I’m looking forward to getting a feel for how they work and what I can do with them.
My six colors are all Daniel Smith.
Hansa Yellow Medium (HY)
Quincridone Rose (QR)
Ultramarine Blue (UB)
Cerulean Blue Chromium (CBC)
Transparent Red Oxide (TRO)
Monte Amiate Natural Sienna (MANS)
I did a few color bars, aiming for some shades and watercolor magic, as well as capturing which colors were used in the blend. Greens, browns, and grays are all colors that one benefits from knowing how to mix quickly! These are my Lesson 1 Indoor assignments. I always love sketching art materials, and doing color charts! I think we all do!
Buildings was great for me this year. I didn’t quite manage to finish. Again. But I got farther than I have in previous years, and had a number of breakthroughs. Seasonal depression is a thing, and in the middle of a pandemic its far worse, so I will be kind and forgiving with myself about not finishing. I loved every minute of class, every Livestream, and every sketch I did was the best I’ve yet done, and that’s a massive set of wins!
Getting better and better! My biggest success has to be in “thicknesses” and that there are a LOT more lines needed when drawing buildings! I’m getting so much more dimensionality. Even my angles and proportions, by far a big weakness of mine, are getting better! I really need to keep using pencil set up lines for that accuracy aid!
I actually sketched outside! On location! This was in a quiet neighborhood, so I didn’t have to worry about social distancing. I added the paint at home later, though, since the sun was a bit brutal by the time I was done. Next time, I need a hat! But I’ve only done “one location” sketching a few times, so every one is scary and a huge accomplishment.
“Working Structurally” may be the best thing! I couldn’t believe how fast and accurately this little sketch of Notre Dame came together! I really have learned so much. Now the trick will be to remember those seven steps!
Next up is Foundations. This will be my fourth run through Foundations, though I’ve not done a great job of finishing that one, either. Hopefully I’ve learned just how much time those lessons really take so I can try to keep up next month!
I’ve decided to go for the six color palette that Liz Steel uses for the class. It feels refreshing and interesting to me to simplify my colors, and work on color mixing, I feel pretty strong with my color mixing, and I have so much fun with it!
Once upon a time, when I got my first watercolors, I’d see a pamphlet that Winsor Newton put out about which of their colors they recommended for a six color palette, so I had to go research that and put it in my notes. However, I’ll be using Liz’s for class, particularly since I’m really curious how the earth colors will mix. Can I get “clear” tones? I’m excited to find out!
For the holidays I got a set of water color pencils! So, for the first time, I’ve got all the colors for the set in the Foundations class, and I’m so excited to be able to experiment with those, too! Never had them all in previous runs!
I seem to “getting” the lessons of this buildings course more than I ever have in the past. Learning how to sketch really is an ongoing process. You think you get it one time, but then you realize there was so much more to get. I keep getting more and more every single time!
My homework assignments, utilizing Liz’s exercises for drawing using edges, shapes and volumes.
As ever, I’m best at “shapes.” I always like my paint first, or paint only sketches. I think they are far more forgiving. I love this spread. I tried to achieve an open design, with overlap and white space. Those techniques are a challenge for me. Yes, sketchbook design in addition to technique assignments! I must keep going with it!
Other things I’m learning, or should I say having to relearn, is that I really do need to use at least a little pencil set up lines. Especially for buildings. I’m always so wonky, and off with my first lines. I think that is one reason paint only is good for me–its adjustable!
My efforts to overlap my sketches in this layout was perhaps a little less successful, and thusly I learn this, too, is an ongoing skill! One reason for the difference, is that this is in a smaller sketchbook. I had been working in the 8×10 Stillman & Birn Alpha, and this is was in a 7.5×7.5 Stillman & Birn Alpha. The smaller size is quite the adjustment.
The first week of Buildings class, and I’m already behind! I keep promising myself I will NOT consider myself behind, because when I do, that’s when I quit. I don’t want to quit, I love this class far too much! (And the people! The people are so great!)
I have thusly given myself permission to go fast! Finished is better than perfect, and I can still learn plenty if I do a sketch in 15 minutes! they don’t all have to be my very best.
Then, since I had a dentist appointment I decided to treat myself to a sketch outing afterwards. When I did the course last time, for the outdoor assignment to sketch a church, I’d gone to St. Joseph’s only to find it had burned and was razed completely to the ground!
Now here is the new church, almost two years later, nearly completed. I knew I had to sketch St. Joseph’s for this assignment, and capture that story!
St. Joseph’s ChurchLesson 1 – Outdoor Assignment, Church
I will say that attempting a sketch just after the dentist really had my hand ultra shaky! I did the Edge on location, but as I was feeling poorly, and the construction workers kept eyeing me in the parking lot, I decided to head home. I finished with the Shapes, and Volumes from the photograph. I’m very proud of myself I did some of it on location, as I’m working on breaking through that mental barrier!
I’m loving class, and I’m excited to get to Lesson Two this week!
Sketching Now Buildings begins and I couldn’t be more excited!
I sketched my home and the first of the intro assignments, which I’ve done before. I’ve never finished the course, so I’m determined to do so this time! It is really interesting to see my own growth in these exercises. If you’d asked me, I wouldn’t have thought I’d improved much, but there it is, in ink and watercolor, all I’ve learned in the past months! This, of course, confirms what I’m learning every day. It’s practice that matters most!
Still working on my landscape skills. I took some notes on various paint brushes that Terry Harrison used/designed for landscapes. He works a lot larger than I typically do!
I was hoping to get a bit more blending in my sky, but I’m really beginning to think that it’s not me, it’s my paper that isn’t quite up for the blending I’m thinking of. I’ll have to try both cotton paper, and a different style to experiment!
I took a short trip to Boyce Thompson Arboretum. My intention was to paint on location, but I’ll admit I chickened out. Again! So these are done from photographs I took. I was experimenting with different techniques with my brush to get different effects.
You can sure tell I struggle with open layouts in sketchbook design. I’m not sure if the amount of white space here is perfect, or dreadful! LOL! I’ll keep practicing, though, because clearly that’s the only way to go! Plus, it’s super fun.
I had no intention of making this map and entire double page spread, but it really got away from me! I love it, however. I do love maps, and one of the things I’m eager to add more of into my sketchbook is maps!
Since I did not sketch on location at the Boyce Thompson Arboretum, I was determined to do so somewhere, so I went to the Japanese Friendship Gardens and painted this on location. While not my first on location effort, it is the first since Pandemic started. It is also the first time anyone spoke to me about it! He was so complimentary and impressed! So that’s a new first for me, and what a pleasure it was!
More lost days, then a little Bob Ross inspiration. Since I’m really keen to learn how to paint landscapes, I decided to try Bob Ross in watercolor. I learned a lot about how different oil paints are from watercolor! Ha!
Then a second attempt. Yep, I need a whole different set of techniques than Bob used!
These four were also my first “sequence of pages’ designed as a set for my Sketchbook design class.
I had a variety of subjects I knew I wanted in this sequence, including large landscapes, clothing sketches, and open line drawings. Originally I was going to group the clothes on one page, and the line drawings on another, since they were the same, but after this lesson I realized that it would flow so much better as a sequence of spreads if I broke the subjects up. So I therefore definitely needed a second large, contained landscape to complete the sequence.
I love it now! These pages seem to now tell a story in a much better way than they would have had I gone with my first method!
Additionally, I used the same date stamp and weather temperature as a unifying marker through the pages. I probably could have done more with headings or text, maybe even a color block with the clothes, though I do like the airy open white space I have. It is a nice contrast to the fully painted landscape pages.
I certainly learned a whole lot doing this! Now I just need to practice a lot more so it gets faster! Though all told, I think all four spreads took me about three or four hours in total, so really that’s not too bad at all.
Wrapping up September with a landscape of Piestewa Peak that I’m very, very pleased with. I even love the outrageous amount of white space!
Jamie's Sketchbook 