Quick Sketching After All these Years

 I haven't posted here consistently over the last few years.

But I have consistently sketched.

For years, especially QUICK sketches of people...while waiting in lines in stores or cafés... 

People  reading, or chatting make great subjects.

Simple, FAST line drawings, sometimes with added color from my notes & memory once I'm home. 

Why do I like to do it? 

Sketching is the vehicle that allows me to observe more carefully things of interest. 

( often for me that means sketching people.)  

Sketching focuses my energy, calms my hyperactivity. (Meditation!)

The tactile sensation of movement on paper while I'm

tuning into my surroundings.

All the senses working in harmony.

And as with these 2 recent, quick sketches, done in an

out of town café, 

it gifts me with a souvenir. 

Fountain Pens & Ink

 I spend a good deal of time in the company of fountain pens. 

Writing in my journal/s, writing anything & everything 

that needs recording or processing.

I'm old fashioned. As much as I love word processing,

it is pen, pencil, ink, & paint that I adore using

(and scissors & glue).

This was a photo that I posted on a fountain pen site. 

It's interesting to be among fellow pen enthusiasts.

I am not the collector that many of them are,

but I do have, well, more than one pen (ahem).

Something new is to draw & paint using inks,

inspired by some of the artists on the site.

 

Goulet Pens sells small vials of ink samples, 

a great way to try out luscious colors & various brands. 

More Card Making Process

I have fiber artist friends

who experiment wildly with mark-making, 

 media & formats. 

I love their work 

& love learning from them, trying some of their techniques.

But in the end, I come back to drawing

&  "coloring" (Gasp!!) as my favorite mode.

These days I use watercolors & Prismacolors, 

but I'm still connected to the childhood pleasure 

I had with Crayola crayons.

I pulled an image from an older journal sketch for

December greeting cards.

In the end, what I love most is 

that I be authentically expressing myself

& finding pleasure in my process,

ignoring that old inner critic.

Recently I did a jigsaw puzzle of an illustration

by my favorite illustrator, the French Sempé.

 I found great joy in learning more about how he uses

ink line & paint & felt affirmed in my way of working.

I am fascinated by grids & boxes lately. 

In the end, my idea for Christmas cards, 

(in the above photo)

evolved to these trees without the boxes.

 

Blue: Folio Book with Pockets & a Pamphlet Booklet

 

I promised myself & you, blog visitors, that I 

would glue up my painted Blue papers (previous post) 

into a folded folio.

The pages of the little tied up booklet 

have become ink swatches

of 5 favorite fountain pen inks in blue: 

Diamine Polar Glow, Noodler's Midnight, Sailor 940, 

Sailor Yonaga, & Noodler's Blue. 

The sentence in the lower right middle, on vellum says,

"Blue, réconforte-moi." Translated: "Blue, comfort me..."

Experimental Sketchbook Class: Time & Space to Create

Some of my work during the weeklong class.

It was perhaps the best art class I've ever taken at University. 

We were encouraged to experiment.

Push out of our comfortable ways.

I started getting scribbly & messy (not shown here)

so it was a relief to do some minimalist drawings.

Zoom grids became an integral part of my experience.

I wandered out of my familiar box.

I cut up one of my watercolor "still life" grids

and pasted fragments into a booklet.

And then, relief, back to the familiar~ 

except with a bit of a grid.

A grid containing The Tiny Fears of Rita

Les miniscules craintes de Rita

We tried a wax resist/ink wash/charcoal layering technique

that Maine artist, David Lewis, uses.

(His drawings are very sophisticated & refined...) 

We collected shadows by tracing actual shadows.

Some of the students turned their results into imaginative

imagery, unrelated to the original subjects, and then 

turned them into handmade books.

I loved my Swedish Ivy design & didn't transform it,

except to put it into an accordion format.

Last class exercise: Do 20 versions of the same object, 

using various papers & drawing materials.

I got 3 done in our half hour allotment...

But THIS is the idea which I most want to continue

at the moment...20 objects? 50? 100? 

Maybe they would be painted and drawn, then,

hand sewn together into a paper quilt that folds 

into a book. We shall see...

The beautiful thing is that I have SO many wonderful

inspirations & directions with which to continue.

Thanks to my instructors & to the class, composed of

young undergraduates, graduate students,

& some oldsters like me. 

So much inspiration,

& this is only the tip of the iceberg...

The Sketchers Get Together (but apart)

The Sketchers went down to the Library Park in Camden

(in separate cars.)

It's been many weeks since we've gotten together

(but apart.)

I usually forget to pack one item.This time: watercolors!

It turned out to be a blessing!

I loved focusing on values, lines, forms!

I would have missed seeing some wonderful qualities

if I had been distracted by paint & color!  

And I would have missed the feeling of my pen

dancing on the paper.

Behind me,
a waterfall, right in town, flows into the Harbor.

Yes, it's almost mid-May 

and I'm wearing a parka and gloves.

And loving it!

Drawing Lesson: The Graphic Mark & Roses

 

I'm giving drawing lessons to a friend. 

In exchange, she is coaching me 

on my organizational issues & unfinished art projects.

We began by looking at drawings of Felix Topolski

in his book Paris Lost: A Sketchbook of the 30's.

We used viewfinders to isolate small sections

to observe the variety & sensitivity of his graphic marks.

 

I'm in awe of so-called scribbles that

are an integral part of many drawings.

We then made a sheet of our own marks using

a chopstick with simple fountain pen ink.

  My friend was interested in creating a card with a rose theme

for her friend Rosie's family. 

I happened to have a vase of roses nearby!

A simple, gestural interpretation emerged 

on my marks sheet.

I cut it out to separate it. 

And added Prismacolor color.

V.'s was beautifully alive, almost shimmering.

A lovely experience, relaxed & focused,

with Andrea Bocelli in the background,

because V. is an opera afficionado.

Thank You, Friend V.!