In hunting down the older clutter sketches I came across this one.
Likely sketched Autumn 2021.
I realized this is the same view I sketched this week, so I had to put them side by side and compare!
I definitely like the variable brush tip better than the single width. I like that I went ahead and did sketch in all the background. Might use a smaller brush for the background next time. (Which I did in one of the other clutter sketches I did this week.)
Another thing I find very interesting, is that my technique is the same for these. I traced over a photo in Procreate to create these line art sketches. You’d think there would be no difference in the drawing skill. But I see differences and improvements between these two, and frankly, that surprises me. The biggest differences I see are drawing the lines that denote thicknesses. Those alone create much more three-dimensionality. That which seems to be the difference between what I used to feel looked like “coloring book” sketches, versus more realistic sketches. It’s taken me years to learn how to make things that look less like “coloring books.” Ha! Ironic that it is a traced sketch that reveals more of that learning.
The weather is shifting, and we are getting some storm clouds, and a little temperature drop. I’m feeling the “dog days of summer.” I love that phrase, especially as it marks not only this hot, difficult stretch of summer, but the astronomical fact that this period of time has the star Sirius (in the constellation Canus Major, hence the dog star) rising at dawn. The Farmer’s Almanac calls July 3 to August 11 the Dog Days of Summer.
I’m once again using watercolor and stencils to art journal. This stencil came in my Cora Crea box of Dark Academia and I love it. The paint is Schmincke Dark Sepia Reddish. These little moon collages are from Coloring Book of Shadows.
I did a number of clutter sketches this week.
I’m liking the variability in line using the Gelsinki pen in Procreate. I like the effect better than the technical pen brush I used in previous sketches.
I first fell in love with clutter sketches due to Stephen Reddy’s work. He has a number of clutter sketches published in his books. It was love at first sight. Not only did I want to be able to draw like that, but I also felt such sketching would be a great way to handle my growing clutter problem in my own house.
Why might sketching the clutter help? Sketching is often like meditation, especially when the subject has so many lines. You create a new way of looking at and thusly thinking about what is in front of you. They say clutter blindness is a thing. I wouldn’t say I had blindness, as much as paralyzing overwhelm. My clutter erupted in a short period of time, born of grief, and depression. I call it pandemic clutter, because the profound losses that first year of pandemic, gave birth to it. I have yet to overcome the damages. I still believe sketching is an excellent way to cope, to change thinking, and grapple with the impossible. There are so many negative feelings trapped in each square inch of clutter.
My very first clutter sketch, which I drew right after seeing Stephen Reddy’s book and getting so inspired by his clutter sketches, was of my treacherous staircase. This sketch I did from a photo, in pen and ink, and ink wash, copying his technique for shading. Or at least trying to. Ha!
Drawn Christmas Day 2020.
I hated this sketch at the time, due my lack of skill with both lines and shading. Skills I STILL work on. At least I’ve learned now that they are skills that never finish developing.
Drawn 1 April 2021.
The next clutter sketch I attempted I also used inspiration from Paul Heston, who does these amazing room sketches, always including his own hands drawing. I used my iPad. I felt like I was cheating, but I really wanted to make clutter sketches, and felt my drawing skills were simply not up to the number of lines required, the proportions, any of it. So I put the photo into Procreate and drew the lines, basically tracing the photograph. This is what I ended up with. I loved it. Just the lines, simplifying the scene into basic black and white. I still use this approach today.
I just realized that’s a covid mask hanging on the doorknob. Woah. That stirs up some feelings!
After this I decided that before and after sketches would be a great way to document my efforts to declutter.
Drawn September 2021.
I had to scroll through nine months of photos to find when I took this photo, and did this sketch! I apparently need to add dates to the iPad sketches! I read the book Decluttering at the Speed of Life, and took her advice to start at the front door.
I have a few random clutter sketches, which have no dates. I believe they were all in that Autumn of 2021.
January 2024.
I found this third one, which I did in January of 2024.
The next big push for such clutter sketches was a year later, January 2025, when I participated in the All Day Declutter with Take Your House Back, which I wanted to document. I’ll share those in a future post, as I get them uploaded.
The ink and watercolor drawing style definitely takes more time that looser and sketchier styles. However, I am enjoying focusing on the principles of design for these. Applying page design, and the various elements, to the same daily subject definitely helps see what these elements can do for design purposes.
I am continuing my way through the various options on the design page sampler I posted last week. The variety is very interesting, and I really like these pages. Each of these took between 30 to 60 minutes each.
Not much sketching in week 27, but then I began Sketchbook Design, making pages for the Intro Week exercises.
I really love this sketch! I used the Schminke Retro Cochineal Red to paint the peonies I’d purchased at the grocery store. I used a petal brush for the first time, and through some mystery of brush design, it really did make those amazing flowers so easy to paint! I painted this for the exercises for the Sketchbook Design course. Had left-over paint, so painted a color block a few pages later in the book, knowing that color blocks are an element we will do next week.
The record breaking heat (118F/48C!) brought some household drama, which I decided to document indirectly with a clutter sketch.
I rather like the wireframe look of these clutter sketches, so I generally leave them this way rather than adding wash or shading.
I turned to this pre-painted color block and the day happened to be the Full Moon. I’ve been including these collage items for the lunar phases this month, and it seemed the perfect fit! I added the date and weather and loved the open look of the page, the white space, and the color block so much I left this page as is. My usual style is fairly crowded, packing a lot onto each page, so this is definitely the kind of design style taking this class teaches me to embrace. I love this page!
Thursday was a big day between Prime Day and Age of Umbra. Lots of little sketches that are chaotic and/or not very good. I enjoy doing the portraits for Age of Umbra, but I do them on the fly while the livestream is playing so accuracy is not what happens! The goal is to document daily life.
Here is the gallery of the full pages for the last couple weeks.
My very favorite of all of the Sketching Now classes! I’m so excited to be starting this group run, and return to these lessons. Every time I go through this class, my sketchbook and sketching level up significantly. Every time!
This is the spread I used as my “Current Sketch” starting point for Intro Week.
Sketchbook Goals is exercise one, and since I seem to have a floral theme for this page most of the years I’ve taken this course, I painted the peonies I bought this week.
Handwriting Tips is the next lesson, and I’m not feeling like doing too much differently with my text these days, so I just kept my page simple, but focused on the overall design to match the other half of the page.
I had left over paint in my palette so I painted a simple color block later in the sketchbook, thinking that having this beautiful color show up again would create a flow within the sketchbook. It sure does!
I finished volume 21 and decided I’d continue to sketch the food. To go along with the Sketching Now group run of Sketchbook Design I plan to focus on improving my page designs to make the pages more interesting.
When I took the Sketchbook Design course in January of 2022, I had collected a number of “recipes” for this size sketchbook, specifically with the intent of using for food sketches. These were drawn from Liz’s food diary pages, which was my original inspiration for how I wanted to keep an illustrated food diary.
These hot summer days are slowing me down significantly! I’m continuing with the food sketches, but not much else. Likely because I’m not really leaving the house for anything but grocery shopping, and I keep forgetting to bring my sketchbook for that. But watching shows gives a good opportunity to try some quick portraits.
Jamie's Sketchbook 