Author Archives: alissa

Everyday in May 1 -13

 
Here are my drawings for Days 1 to 13 of Everyday  in May
 
What is Everyday in May ?
Start on 1st May and draw one item on the list from the flickr or facebook group  every day in May until you finish on 31st May with number 31.We don’t stress if we miss a day – just go on to the next one and catch up . combine a few, or to jump around if it suits…but the ideal is to do the right one on the day like everyone else….but most importantly have fun! A great fun community of EDiM sketchers has grown.
 
Have a look at the Flickr group and have a look. Add a comment (just join to get account to comment) as there are a few people who are using Everyday in May to get into or back into drawing and would love a comment !

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Drawing on envelopes – 8 weeks to go (and other travel drawing)

This weeks drawing on an envelope (in the countdown to our holiday to London) is a squirrel. The previous three weeks envelopes (on my blog) have had iconic scenes and buildings in London drawn on them.



This week is more “up close and personal” – a squirrel. It is drawn from a photograph I took in the UK in 1994! I know that they are pests in the UK and do terrible damage to the environment and other animals , but I still think they have so much character and look so cute . My travelling companion has been to London previously, but did not see a squirrel. I saw lots when I lived there, but I am still fascinated by them.

 I drew this on a heavier thickness of envelope, and one that is cream/yellow in colour. The watercolour pencils worked really well on this paper. I could have  sat and sketched on envelopes all day after I did this one. It worked out just how I wanted it to !That is a good feeling

AND
 

 my travel sketch this week is my NEW suitcase . It is actually secondhand. The suitcase has a few too many pockets for my needs, but that’s ok .

AND  
 

in it I found a  EURO coin .A good sign for my 5 days in Barcelona ! Today’s Everyday in May challenge was “draw something you got for free” , and my coin fits perfectly to that theme.


Urban Sketchers Sydney – Cockatoo Island

Today was an Urban Sketchers Sydney event. We went back to Cockatoo Island , n Sydney Harbour, as the last time it was cold and rainy. Today had beautiful blue skies throughout the morning. There were about 20 sketchers. We all went off in our different  directions alone or in groups and met up at lunch time to show and discuss our drawings and paintings. There are so many styles and mediums and it is such an motivation and inspiration to be involved in days like today. Sketching can be as sociable or solitary as you wish. Most of my friends in Sydney are sketchers.

 
 
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But first I sketched a boat at the ferry terminal as I had arrived early (on purpose – to sketch a boat or scene)

 Once on the island it was hard to know where to begin. This is the usual problem at Cockatoo Island as there is so much to see.  I had decided to sketch in my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook (13 x 20 cm) as I just did not feel  like drawing  “big” today.

 
The old industrial cranes and the sandstone cliffs of the island have such wonderful colours – stains of age and time. I have become familiar with the colours of my watercolour pencils and the marks they make on the paper and the way their colours change when a little or a lot of water is added. These two drawings are a combination of :
pencil directly on the page, with water added after
colour off the tip of the pencil added with the water
pecil only on the page – great for fine lines and details
 
They were all sketched in ink first .

The colours I used for rust and stains are :

Faber Castell
Light Yellow Ochre
Burnet Ochre (turns very orange when water added)
Burnt Umbre
Cool Grey IV

Drawing on Envelopes- 9 weeks to go (and other travel drawings)

 Only nine weeks to go until we leave for London (and Barcelona) . I am drawing on envelopes and posting my travelling companion a letter each week. They live interstate.  This will keep the enthusiasm building (as if we needed that !!)

On this weeks envelope I drew some iconic images of London. We are definitely doing a London bus tour. I have been to London a few times and lived there for a while, and never done one. I still have not been on one at home in Sydney!
 
 
And this weeks major purchase was my shoulder bag for travel. This is a very important item for me, as it also carries my Moleskine Watercolour Sketchbook and watercolour pencils. So I had to find one that would suit the way I use my pencils and sketchbook.
 
 
Thank goodness for Hedgren brand. The style is  InnerCity – Fanzine. It has two pockets on the front that fit my sketch tools perfectly. I can access them easily and work with the pencil pocket open and access my pencils. A sketching friend who also sews (and who loves a good project to work on) is reworking my pencil wrap prototype, with a few added extras.
 
Everyone seems to have their own methods and equipment , or looking for the perfect bag!
 
This bag also has a large inner pocket that hopefully will fit everything else I will use on a daily basis. ! bottle of water, purse, sunglasses, other glasses …….

EveryDay in May

Everyday in May starts today

What is Everyday in May ?

Start on 1st May and draw one item on the list (see below) every day in May until you finish on 31st May with number 31.Don’t stress if you miss a day – just go on to the next one and catch up if you can. It is ok to combine a few, or to jump around if it suits…but the ideal is to do the right one on the day like everyone else….but most importantly have fun!

May 1 challenge is to Draw something bubbly. Many thoughts went through my head –  champagne, soap, detergent, bubble wrap …. I chose a glass of Sparkling Shiraz !! I drew this at breakfast – I had an empty glass and made up the colour and fizz !

As I put this up online is not even the 1 May in some places in the world, but I wanted to get this image online early and start everyone’s creative juices flowing. Join us ! there is always something to draw !

The list of what to sketch is up on the EDM Every Day in May facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/groups/296443287101735/
and on the Flickr Group page also.
http://www.flickr.com/groups/edmeverydayinmay2011/discuss/72157633360551266/
and …yes…..the 2011 name is the correct one. Technical reasons

As everyone in the group adds their own interpretations of each object daily to the flickr and/or facebook page a conversation begins to build as people comment regularly on each other’s drawings or paintings. A lovely community of Everyday Matters artists grows.

When I first began EDiM in 2009 I was not doing a lot of other drawing and spent a lot of time on each one. This year I will do less rather than more. Maybe I might even give myself  a time limit of 15 minutes only. Then I have no excuse to keep going. By the end of May it is sometimes hard to keep the momentum going, but worth it !

I usually look at the list in advance and plan what I am going to do for each one but I know of other people who don’t look at the days challenge until that day !

I participated in 2009 and 2010 and 2012. You can go to my flickr page and see my them.

Every Day In May 2009 my holiday souvenirs
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alissaduke/sets/72157617527986436/

01May09 Everyday in May

Every Day In May 2010 – from the list
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alissaduke/sets/72157623841326295/

01May10 EDM in EDiM 01 Draw a Shoe06May10 EDM in EDiM Draw a childhood toy07May10 EDM in EDiM Draw a jar from the kitchen05May10 EDM inEDiM Draw your bed

Every Day in May 2012 – from the list
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alissaduke/sets/72157633362562425/

1May12 EDiM draw a landscape21May12 DRaw an ear#121May12 Draw an ear #223May12 Draw a souvenir

24 May12 draw something cold

Everyday in May originated in 2009 by Elena (frenchtoast girl) on flickr. With aa commitment to create something Every day in May. Recent years the list of daily inspirational themes has been based on the Danny Gregory Everyday Matters yahoo group list of challenges.

Illustration Friday – FAREWELL

Illustration Friday (IF) is a weekly illustration challenge. A topic is posted every Friday and then participants have all week to come up with their own interpretation. If you go to the IF website, you can see how people interpret the theme and all the different styles and mediums they use.

This week’s theme is Farewell. It is the beginning of Autumn in Sydney and we are saying our final FAREWELL to Summer. I was going to draw an autumn leaf. However, I decided to take the opportunity to draw one of the objects from my nature collection that I was given for Christmas. So here is a lovely butterfly I have… a little sad to see it dead next to me, but don’t fret, Summer will return  with lots of lovely butterflies in the air

watercolour pencils in Moleskine watercolour sketchbook. The colours on the butterfly wings are so intense and velvet-ty, and I decided not to even try and make the black really black, but try for a softer look.

Have a look at a sample of my previous Illustration Friday in the tab above. ALL of my previous responses to challenges are on flickr

drawing on envelopes – ten weeks to go (and other travel things)

 
My page from last week on Drawing on Envelopes described a upcoming holiday to London (and Barcelona). I also showed some of my previous drawings on envelopes.
Today’s page is update. It is 10 weeks to go ’til we go on holidays. Each week I am posting my travelling companion (who lives interstate) a letter and drawing on the envelope with London theme. They will know to expect some mail, but always be surprised by what is on the front.
 
I will put each week here and on my flickr site. This week I wanted something bright and strong. I thought of this straight away!
 
 
 
 
 
What will next week be ????
 
After my last page on drawing on envelopes, I have had wonderful comments from people about the concept of drawing on envelopes and the art of writing letters. Maybe the postal system has received an increase in  mail art this week ! A friend also commented on the joy it may bring to a mail workers day .
 
 
By co-incidence I found my Australia to UK travel adaptor in the cupboard last night .So I drew it . That counts as trip prep too !
 


Watercolour pencil in Moleskine watercolour sketchbook. This took about half and hour, while the television was on in the background.

Fabercastell Cool Grey VI
Fabercastell Cool Grey III
FaberCastell Light Yellow Ochre
Faber Castell Light Cadmium Yellow
Derwet – Ivory Black

Cockatoo Island

Cockatoo Island is in Sydney Harbour and a wonderful place to spend a day.
 
It was a convict settlement from 1839. It was also the site of one of Australia’s biggest shipyards, operating between 1857 and 1991. The first of its two dry docks was built by convicts. Many of the original sandstone convict buildings and the dockyard and shipbuilding complex are still in place and you can explore them. There are also many, many cranes from its shipbuilding years. Sketching heaven !!

Now you can also camp overnight in tents as well as catch a ferry there for the day. It is a favourite place of my sketching friends to visit and we have been there often.

I caught a quick 10 minute ferry ride , but had time to fill in first at the terminal – by drawing !

 

some tanks
 
pipes on the side of a large beautiful old sandstone building




a very large crane and some tents for camping
the same crane that I drew on my coffee cup

There are so many buildings equipment and views to sketch on Cockatoo island. I had my watercolour pencils and Lamy ink Safari Pen with me and my Moleskine watercolour sketchbook. Last time I was here I especially brought large sheets of paper with me and some inks to experiment with . I had felt the need to sketch these cranes LARGE one day. I did a few, but it was raining, which does not work well with watercolours and ink . I can try again next weekend as it is the place for the Urban Sketchers Sydney next event !

I also found a sketch from my first visit to Cockatoo Island in Jul 2008. It was for an International Sketchcrawl and the first time I met an sketched with Liz Steel !
It was my first Sketchcrawl and I had only just begun drawing watercolour pencil. I am not sure if my drawing style has changed – but my confidence in use of colour certainly has !

drawing in books

Drawing in books !

I am a librarian, and although today my work is dealing with information and database, I spent many years handling books everyday– shelving them, checking books in and out. I still have a referential place in my heart (and head) for paper and books. I have not yet joined the Kindle or “i” device  movement- I am still  a  Luddite when it comes to books . I enjoy holding the book, its weight in my hand, the turn of the page, the sight of books on shelves. 

However, in the last few years I have been intrigued by the concept of drawing in a book . However it has taken me a while to do it.

I had decided that on my next holiday (in July !!) I would take a published book and draw in it. I decided that :
  • It would be a book on the place I was going to (London)
  • It would have to be an older book – so that it would have glossy pages. The paper would need be able to take the watercolour  and ink .  
  • It would be better to have a light layer of gesso on the pages I want to draw on to allow the drawing to show on the page
Here is my book – Boswell’s London Journey, published 1958 . It’ is an old paperback , I am not sure where I got it. I had bought some other books previously, but didn’t want to draw in them as I liked the book so much that I wanted to keep them as they were. 

book with tub of gesso , ready to paint onto some pages

Why didn’t I want to draw in books ??

Writing in books was a BAD thing ! a big No No ! For many years I worked in Public and University libraries and saw writing in books: underlining, scribbles, notes, in the margins and throughout the book. These were books that belong to the public/community ie everyone.  Still riles me to see it!

BUT – does that make a difference if it is your own book? Surely I can write in my own book…  And yet I could not get over that boundary. Even if I bought it for only a few dollars, or it was free.  It is purely  a mental step and attitude on my behalf. I still have not made that step  

I have been building up to it by…
drawing on notepaper, catalogues, on music, on a map – these were breakthroughs
part of my family history project , the watch has meaning, but the music does not have significance

another family history drawing. The music has no special meaning

 

 

drawing in the catalogue  at an Exhibition
drawing in the catalogue at an Exhibition


at an exhibition – drawing in the catalogue

 

 
 



sketching on the run sheet at the choir Christmas concert warm up
On a map. I am very pleased with this one as this is the map that was actually used on the day in Hawaii, when my boots fell apart. I drew them from a photograph. I think that this piece of paper really tells the story
 
 

 

drawing on envelopes

There are many sorts of “mail art” projects out there in the artworld.
Mine are my drawings that I do on the front of envelopes.  Most of them are for posting letters to my mother who lives interstate.
We are going to London and Barcelona in  11 weeks time. Here is the first of the “countdown envelopes” , posted this week. I am lucky to have few more weeks to go to will do this to keep up the excitement (as if that is needed!) .Maybe I will draw a red telephone box next week (do they still have them in London??)

I draw directly onto the envelope , using watercolour pencil or ink or both, the same as I use everyday in my sketchbook. The “heavier paper ” of the more expensive envelopes takes the watercolour better. When I use the everyday cheaper envelopes, I just make sure that I don’t add too much water so the envelope paper doesn’t buckle. And amazingly enough , they have all  survived the journey though the Australia Post system without the colour running .
They are a joy for me to draw, mostly because of the surprise that the person who receives them will get when they take it from their mailbox!
Of course, drawing on an envelope means that I will have also had the joy of writing a letter. I have a lovely fountain pen that I use. Unfortunately, my handwriting does not live up to the beauty of the pen.  However, it is the intention behind the letter that is important.
Before I post them in the mail, I scan them and put then on flickr (with the address blanked out) but have to wait until after the person has received it, otherwise the surprise is ruined.
Sometimes my drawings have a theme  . For example
In the lead up to a fun run that we were going on
To friends visiting Sydney
And sometimes the drawing has no reason at all..
gumleaves

beans from the markets

a magpie
to my nephew  – he had only just discovered how the postal system worked and was fascinated to get a letter just for him. He then posted me a letter (with Nana’s help)

And finally my special project  – SNAIL MAIL– to be printed and sold one day.

see all of my drawings on flickr