A New Book - A New Start

Fiddlehead Red Violin

The start of a new sketchbook is always exciting. Inside, the white watercolour pages hold the promise of lovely sketches and paintings. The book will become a collection of memories, ideas and images that mark the next several months. I must admit, a fresh book can be intimidating. I always resist starting, for the irrational fear that the first entry will be lousy, and somehow spoil the book. But, bravely, I started this new book and ended up with a nice painting of the fiddlehead of our beloved violin. So then of course, I hesitated about adding anything else to the double page spread, for fear of ruining it. Damned if I make a dud, damned if I make a gem! So I channel Roz Stendhal, with words of wisdom about being prolific and not worrying about perfect pages. And so I'm off to the illustration races……but I think I will leave this one to enjoy some white space around it.

Urban Sketching Off Grid

I have been going on various sketch crawls with the Vancouver Urban Sketchers. I might go so far as to call myself an urban sketcher. I think I adhere to the guidelines in the International Urban Sketchers' official Manifesto as quoted below. 

1         1. We draw on location, indoors or out, capturing what we see from direct observation.

2.   Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live and where we travel.

3.   Our drawings are a record of time and place.

4.   We are truthful to the scenes we witness.

5.    We use any kind of media and cherish our individual styles.

6.   We support each other and draw together.

7.   We share our drawings online.

8.   We show the world, one drawing at a time.

It did strike me as funny though, to call my practice Urban Sketching, as I worked away this past weekend up at our snowy shack in the woods.  Other than intermittent cell phone reception, this cabin is fairly off grid; no electricity, nor running water, just wood stoves and propane lights. We park the car at the local ski area and walk, snowshoe or ski to the place in just under half an hour. Not really very urban at all. But what's in a label anyway? I was in bliss drawing and painting from direct observation while telling the story of the cabin, one drawing at a time. 

Snow water pot on the wood stove. Japanese cracker tin inset. 

So many small details to study.

 

The cabin is full of relics -  fertile ground for sketching!

Vancouver Urban Sketchers at Lonsdale Quay

A Second View

Warm Up Sketch

This weekend , I joined the Vancouver Urban Sketchers at Lonsdale Quay. The cold weather outside kept most of us indoors. It was a very convivial group and we had fun swapping intel about art materials, books, online courses and inspiration. I never feel like I do great work in a group. I end up being draw into conversations and get distracted but I sure enjoy touching base with other people who enjoy urban sketching. My first effort lacks a bit of depth. I do like the  gap view through the shipyard to the hill behind. The second view was a bit crisper, even if the BC provincial flag looks like a tie dye. How very west coast!

From a Hotel Window in Paris

Paris, summer 2013

Here is another fast sketch with a 9B pencil a la David Rankin. This is from a photograph of a certain girl, looking out a hotel window in Paris. Exciting effects of light and dark on each side of her head.

Self Portrait #9 - Wipe Out!

Self Portrait Project #9 - Eeegad!

Here is one for the experience file!

Fast Sketching and Afterimages

From the Province Newspaper

I came across the work of David Rankin online and was taken with his approach to sketching and travelling. David is an accomplished artist and painter, capable of very precise and detailed landscapes as well as portraits. But it's his fast pencil and watercolour sketches that really caught my eye. In the introduction to his book, Fast Sketching Techniques, he described how his classical approach to drawing had not served him well as he travelled around India. At the time he wanted to capture the vibrant and active scenes around him in images. Photography was always an option but he wanted the immediacy of sketching from real life. So he developed a fast sketching technique to capture the essence of what he saw, rather than the precise details.

David Rankin works with 9B pencils and a smudging tool. He tries to see his scene in terms of simple shapes and 3 or 4 basic values. The really exciting "discovery" for me is his afterimage practice. Afterimage exercises have the artist trying to look quickly at a scene (or photograph) and actually remember the shapes and their relationship to the other shapes. It's like the scene burns a mental print in your mind's eye which you can look at and get down on paper. I know that artists are constantly looking at and referring to their subject as they sketch. It never really occurred to me that I could actually remember the image for more than a fleeting second. Practicing and developing the ability to remember what something looks like must be an essential part of being able to capture quickly changing scenes and sketch on the move.

So as I sat at the White Spot and waited to pick up my teen musicians from a gig, I practiced from photographs in an old newspaper lying on the table where I sat. I also practiced from real life in my garden, moving my stool around to different vantage points.

From the Newspaper and David Rankin's Fast Sketching Techniques

Our Fish Pond

Our Front Door

Self Portrait #8

Self Portrait 8 (from life, straight to pen)

I continue to be my own willing subject. Proportions are getting better. Maybe I will try a range of strange colours. This one certainly qualifies. I'm trying to get the values correct. I do have a range here. And I'm striving for looseness and fresh colour. The lines and paint are definitely loose but the colours got a bit muddy. Next!