My usual weekly art blog post was on hold for the past two weeks as my life was taken over by Clunes Booktown Festival. It was held last weekend, and this blog post is all about it.

What is it and why am I there? For those new to this blog.  

Clunes Booktown Festival

For two days, the historic main street of this beautiful township will transform, once again, into a spectacular book bazaar. Over fifty specialist book traders will offer an extraordinary range – new and second-hand, antiquarian and contemporary, rare and popular – covering every imaginable topic and theme. Clunes Booktown celebrates every aspect of the book – not just writing and reading but making, publishing, retailing, and sharing. Along with the wares on display, you’ll find conversations with writers and storytellers

You Can’t Draw in Books – I draw in old books that are about to be discarded. I draw on one page illustrating an object being described on the page. I draw in watercolour pencils.

This event was two years in the planning. I was successful in my application for a stall in 2020. But after two years of lockdown, this annual event did not take place again until this year, May 2022.

I had many books drawn in but quickly realised that I would need more for a two-day event where the town is filled with book people – I had a captive market. I was drawing in books up until the day before.

I took over 80 ‘drawn in’ books and loose pages with me and my book-themed greeting cards. In these suitcases were also my display stands and tablecloths and signs and assorted other things. Most importantly  I had a good friend, Louise who has been planning and assisting since Day One of planning. We carried four large suitcases up and back by train. It is two hours from Melbourne.

Having my stall in the old bluestone church was the perfect place for me. I could not have been happier. You can see the grin on my face in every photo ! My stall neighbours were the State Library of Victoria, with a display from their Egyptology collection, Victorian Book Binders Guild and two booksellers. It was just a short walk from the town main street, where all the stalls were, and close to the  Town Hall and other buildings with author talks. I hope that I am giving you a feeling of being there. I was in my happy place and wnt to share it with everyone.

We had lovely conversations with interesting people all day. There were locals, volunteers, other booktraders, day visitors from Melbourne, and further afield. A steady stream of people came through the doors all day. They were of all ages as well as families with young children (there is a children’s activity section in the town). Sometimes we were their first stop on the way in from the showground/carpark. Others were popping by in between author talks and others with bags full, were on their way home. After an initial torrential downpour all Friday night we were blessed with crisp autumnal weather all weekend.

Helen purchased my Poodle drawn in a book and then sent me a photo of it on display in her home. Here is her poodle Rosie giving her look of approval.

Strangely enough, I did not purchase any books. I did not leave the stall often, and I had decided that it was not the focus of my weekend. Every time Louise went into town for a coffee or food, she took a long time to come back and there was always bags in her arms and stories to tell of people she met. But I did pick up two free books (one  to read and one to draw in) at a little library at 7am on a bookshelf at the railway station platform – (you get the idea of what sort of town it is)

Now that I am home, I am putting on my ETSY site everything that I did not sell. So if you were at Clunes and considered a book, just watch this space or contact me. I have about 40 to add to ETSY over the next few weeks as I take photographs and add to ETSY My ETSY site has an Australian postage price. Please contact me about overseas postage as this needs to be calculated and due to some parcel changes has gone up so much.

I have added these today.

The weekend could not have been better. It was a joy from start to finish. It is run by a very small number of people and many volunteers. It had a great vibe from the moment we arrived on the Friday to set up, right through to our final farewells. I will put in an application for next year as soon as the organisers have recovered from this one. The only thing I would change would be to bring an extra layer or two !

Every year I draw my hot cross buns. I buy a few and keep one just for drawing as it sits out on the bench over a few days and is not worth reheating.

This Easter the hot cross buns were not as pretty but they are probably the tastiest I have had in years – nice and spicy and with peel! Bought from Kere Kere Cafe in the Fitzroy Gardens and learned that the hot cross buns were from Dench Bakers in Melbourne, who I had not heard of.

.

This year I drew my hot cross bun and a soft toy Easter rabbit while on a Zoom catchup with some UK sketching friends. There was a lot more talking than I would normally have while drawing. It was lovely to be social. My memory when I look back at this page will be the event, not the bun. The reason I choose to draw some things is to document a place and time. I will remember that my friends all agree that hot cross buns from the Co-Op are the best in the UK.

In previous years I had drawn some spectacular-looking buns – all golden and glistening. This is a less finished drawing. I decided not to continue after the zoom meeting, and just leave it as it is.

As usual, these are drawn with watercolour pencil.

I have started to attend live events again, and of course sketch at them.

Recently I attended two events that threw me back into on-location sketching. One was back in my comfort zone (from two years ago) and the other was way outside my comfort zone.

The first event I attended was a book launch.

A G L SHAW LECTURE: “The Barristers of the Port Phillip District, 1839-1851” at the Royal Historical Society Victoria. It was a talk given by author Peter Yule, to two historical societies I belong to. It was in the evening, indoors, with about 40 people for two hours. The speakers’ stand was at the front with a screen. The seats were all set up. I was in familiar territory. I usually try to sit in the back row with a good view of the backs of heads of people and some interesting room features. I don’t always get all of these but this is what I look for. It is a known time (usually an hour) and nobody moves. You can see how I am in my comfort zone.

At the events, I make decisions on what to include, where to add detail and where to add colour. This is actually two double pages spreads, which I have put together. I usually do the one sketch in this time.

The second event was the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne.

My sketching was over two days, with over 100 000 people each day, all outside, perfect weather, but unknown everything.

I knew that I would not be sketching the cars as they raced. There were display areas with cars I could have sketched – even the pits for some of the support races. However, they were a bit a walk away from where my friends and I had set ourselves up. My sketching on location is all about capturing the moment

I choose people around me. It was still challenging.

The one thing that was known were my watercolour pencils and sketchbook. Once I had these out I knew (sort of) what I was doing. I knew at least, what I could do with my pencils. The hardest part was making the decisions on what to draw. It was so visual, as well as all the other senses !

I had a wonderful time in the midst of it all. The final day I watched on TV and put my feet up. Orange nail polish for McLaren – they have an Australian driver !!!

Last week I showed all of the watercolour pencil colours in the sketchkit that I carry with me every day. Today I will show you the other parts of my sketchkit.

Sketchwrap

I have a customised pencil wrap for my watercolour pencils. It started as a store bought Derwent pencil wrap. Overtime I realised that the style of the wrap did not actually suit the way I draw and the way I use my pencils. I cut it in half and a crafty friend stitched one half on top of the other. I wrote a blogpost about making my sketchwrap at the time in 2013.

I found that the design was great for all of my on the spot sketching, for example leaning up against a wall, at cafes or on the plane.

I can have it out in front of me and see all of my colours at once with quick access to my pencils It takes up less space.  For example, at a café,  I can have my food and pencilwrap and sketchbook on the table.

Waterbrush

The waterbrush is basically an empty tube that you fill with water. It is fabulous for travel sketching and on location sketching as I have instant to water to add to my watercolour pencil sketches. The water lasts a very long time and there is always somewhere to refill it

I use the Kuretake / ZIG brand because it has a little filter that allows control of the flow of water. The Pentel brand ones tend to flood water a bit more. However, it is still something that needs practice to figure out how much water to let flow through the brush part to achieve what I want on the page.

I use the Medium size. To clean the brush in between colours, I squeeze the water through the brush onto a napkin until it runs clear.

Watercolour sketchbook

Since December 2008 I have used Moleskine watercolour sketchbooks (13 x 19 cm) . This photo is from some time ago as I am now up to my 108th sketchbook. I enjoy the way my watercolour pencils work on the page.

Sharpener

A cheap sharpener from the art shop – a Staedler to neatly fit into my sketchwrap. Just check before you buy that the watercolour pencils fits in the sharperner you choose. They are a hexagonal shape and do not fit into all sharpeners. I like a nice sharp point to add detail to a sketch.

NOTE: I do not use an eraser. All of my sketches start with the watercolour pencils.

Lamy Safari Joy Ink Pen

I use a Lamy Safari Joy ink pen. This has a refillable ink well.

I use a Fine nib and De Artrimentis Archive Ink. It is waterproof.

This is a quick review of what I carry with me. I have put this together over time. Please let me know if you have any questions.

This week’s blog has all the watercolour pencils I currently carry with me in my pencil wrap. A few weeks ago I listed the Top 12 I would suggest anyone carry with them. I had a few requests to show all the watercolour pencils I carry. Out of the 120 FaberCastell Abrecht Durer watercolour pencils, I have narrowed it down to these.

I have drawn my pencils with their colours and then pulled the colour out over the page with the water brush (or a paintbrush). You can see the amazing amount of tone you can get from the one pencil. You can get an intense colour with a lot of pigment on the page and also a very delicate colour.

I have previously done a drawing like this just before I go on a big holiday. The last time I did this was in 2018 before my UK holiday. A few of the colours have changed, but most are the same.

Next week I will explain the different accessories I use – waterbrush, sharpener, pencil wrap.

Let me know if you have any questions about watercolour pencils.

Are any of your favourite”go-to” colours here?

Happy sketching

This week’s blog has my sketches from the past week. I have been travelling interstate to see family and am back in my sketching comfort zone. I visited in December when borders had just opened and things were a little different. I was quite anxious when travelling and although I sketched at the airport, I was not as relaxed as this time. It reflected in my sketches each time.

This time it was as if my sketching muscle memory has returned. It all came back to me and was though I had not had a break of a few years.

Sketching planes is always fun, once you get all the angles right and the proportions. This is where holding up the pencil to measure comparative sizes of parts of the aircraft helps! ie in the sketch below, from this angle the length of the wing is the same size as the length of the airplane. I always sketch the wing too short and have to extend it out.

It was great that this plane did not have an aerobridge for the passengers to enter, they had to walk across the tarmac, which meant the front of the plane was not blocked out for me when I was sketching.

I was able to sketch on the plane again – always fun.

Once I arrived home I took part in my Mum’s life. They played Scrabble and I watched, listened and sketched. Very entertaining. There is no likeness in the sketch, but it is all about me capturing the moment of being there.

We went to a St Patricks Day lunch. with lots a green being worn, a silly quiz and lucky door prizes. I did a very quick sketch there and then drew Mum’s badge later that night at home.

These are my feet up relaxing. We had a very big, wonderful but exhausting family reunion lunch on Saturday. Sometimes you need to judge the time and place to sketch and at the reunion was not it. But I could document the day at the end of it with my feet up (and my green nail polish from St Patricks Day).

happy sketching

Alissa

Below are my sketches from this past week. All are in my Moleskine 13 x19 cm watercolour sketchbook with watercolour pencils. I have added water to some pages,which makes it look like paint. Other pages or areas of the page I have left as pencil on paper.

This was my view from the hairdresser as I waited 20 minutes for my haircolour to set. Luckily the car did not drive away in that time. I initially drew the car and then added the background and street.

I walked into the city and was struck by the brilliant blue sky and white clouds. I sketched the city skyline in the blue (Light Pthalo Blue I think) of the sky. I always sketch directly with the watercolour pencils onto the page. I never use a graphite pencil to do an initial sketch. I think this comes from my travel sketching where you really don’t have time to do things twice. There is also energy with those first lines, even (or especially) if they are wonky.

My lunch break drawing It was too cold outside to sketch, so I sat in the library I work in and drew one of the older books from the shelf. It lived a hard life before being acquired by us. All of the issues of his journal are available online, so there is no need to get books off the shelf. However, there is nothing like an old book, let alone being surrounded by them. It is good to be back at work.

This is not watercolour pencil. It is a multicoloured pencil where you have no control over colour It was given to me and is fun. This came from Daiso (a $2 shop in Sydney) and is Niji-Iro Pencil if you are interested

a quick sketch at a coffee shop

It is a holiday today, Here is my brunch.

Have a good week and happy sketching.

I carry 26 watercolour pencils with me everyday in a pencil wrap. I have chosen these colours over many years, but they are still not absolutely fixed. They are the colours that I have decided suit the objects and scenes I usually sketch. They are 26 from a potential of 120 FaberCastell Albrecht Durer watercolour pencils. These are the pencils that you can purchase individually.

Someone asked for my advice on my top colours for them to purchase. I realise that 26 is probably too much choice and most people may just want a handy kit they can put in a pencil case.

I have managed to narrow it to 12. I tried to make it 10, but that was too difficult!

I just love watercolour pencils. You can see the amazing variety of tones that you can get from one colour – from very intense to beautifully delicate and light. That is fun of playing and practising with your pencils and knowing what they can do with them when you are out and about or at home, you can look at something and you can tell yourself “I know what colour is perfect for that !”

Part of the knowledge is the colours and the other part is how much water to add with your waterbrush. My waterbrush is on the far left of the photo. It is basically a tube which you fill with water. You need to play with controlling the amount of water that flows. It is easy to flood the page until you get used to it. Mine has a Medium brush.

I hope that anyone who has newly discovered watercolour pencils is having fun exploring their possibilities. Let me know if you have any questions.

Which colours do you carry? any of these?

Below are two of my on-location sketches from the past week.

“Anything is Sketchable” is the title of my interview with Bethan Burton from Journalling with Nature. It went live last Monday. https://www.journalingwithnature.com/podcasts/episode-78-alissa-duke

I was honoured, excited and nervous to be invited as Bethan has interviewed some amazing individuals. In the end, it turned out to be a lovely hour’s chat

Since then, I have had a number of new nature journallers following this weekly art blog and my daily Instagram account.  Welcome to you! I thought I would write this week on the title of the podcast “Anything is Sketchable”.

For those new here I will introduce myself. I live in Melbourne and work full-time as a librarian. I sketch in my Moleskine watercolour journal everyday, and only use watercolour pencils and an ink pen. I just love to draw! I wrote a previous blog post on Why drawing makes me happy.  https://alissaduke.com/2015/07/why-drawing-makes-me-happy.html

I am an:
• urban sketcher
• a travel sketcher
• a nature sketcher – now I may want to call myself a nature journaller as this is a broader concept
• a sketching journaller

These are all in one sketchbook.

I was thinking as I was writing this blog and I was able to bring together and put down in words some thoughts about my sketching practice that I already knew. I can see this as I look through the list above and see my thoughts distilled and clarified.

My various approaches to sketching and drawings are tools that I choose to use depending on how I feel, the occasion and time available. My approach to sketching is a state of mind –”anything is sketchable” and there is never “nothing to sketch.”

Here are some of my approaches.

Sketching on location

This comes from my urban sketching and travel sketching background and is also used on other pages. Urban sketchers https://urbansketchers.org/who-we-are/   have a manifesto which includes sketching on location, capturing what we see from direct observation. Our drawings tell the story of our surroundings, the places we live, and where we travel.

As a travel sketcher, my key is to choose my subject quickly as I may not have much time to sketch. I sketch what attracts me and what I am curious about. It may not be the most obvious part of a scene I see in front of me.  The idea is to start getting some marks down on the page. If I get a longer time than expected, I keep adding colour and detail and spread across the pages. If I have to leave, it is still a record of me being there and that story.

I have written an earlier blog post on Why I sketch What I sketch

It is about seeing and grabbing opportunities and capturing the moment on the page. A queue is sketching time, in the waiting room, or just filling in time.  I can see that I transfer this to nature sketching as I usually sketch when out on a walk or walking to and from work through parks. Sketching the same trees and birds has allowed me to become familiar with stances and colours. I usually don’t add more to the page at home.

The subject can be unexpected. It is not planned and not always pretty.   You may never sketch that object or scene again but for that sketching time, it is fascinating as you watch how bits interconnect. By observing you see more and see textures and patterns you may not have noticed before. For me, this is the same for nature sketching any other type of sketching.

Unfinished look

It took me many years to realise that the unfinished look is my style and to be completely comfortable with this. It allows me to not complete a sketch – the edges are disappearing I can have details on one part of the page, but not another.  It is a state of mind. I usually do not add further to the sketch at home. Sometimes I add water to the page or extra colour – the joy of watercolour pencil! I also write on my pages, always the date, place, who I am with, and why. Context is important. I leave space on the page and add this at home. The sketch is always the feature.

Everyday sketching

I sketch and draw objects, from my everyday life. This includes food and drinks, events, objects I purchase.

Details

The joy of watercolour pencils is they are portable and suit my quick sketching, The other key importance to me is that they also can be used to add fine detail to a page with a sharpened lead. I usually do detailed drawings over a few evenings, adding layers and detail Objects have a story to tell a story –  whether a childhood toy, nature object or dinner I am eating. And I love books !

Sometimes I like to combine a quick sketch and details close up. The best of both worlds! I like to use this combination.

In the end, it is your journal. The page is yours alone, to look back later and bring back memories of time and place. My approach is one of many sketching styles, and watercolour pencils are just one tool you can use in your art kit.

Happy sketching and let me know if you have any questions.

This is much longer than my usual blog posts !

Hello to new subscribers to my weekly art blog. I thought I would let you know what to expect to see on my blog each week.

I am a watercolour pencil artist, urban sketcher, nature journaller. I enjoy quick sketches and studied drawings.

Some weeks I feature a project I am working on or an event I have been to. I usually provide a bit of background and context and work-in-progress photographs.

I also try to regularly write about my watercolour pencils and how I use them, giving practical examples. I have been drawing daily with watercolour pencils for over ten years and am still learning and getting excited by what am able to accomplish with them. I hope to inspire people to use these and just have fun putting pencil to paper.

And then there are weeks like this, where I show what I have been sketching and drawing during the week. This can be an eclectic mix depending on what I have been doing. I am still working from home full time so my daily sketches do not feature as many ‘out and about’ sketching as they would have a few years ago.

This week I attended an outdoor event: a tour of the gardens at Bishopscourt, the residence of the Melbourne Anglican Archbishop. The house is the oldest in East Melbourne (1853) and the gardens have their history too.

I am very rusty at drawing groups of people as I have not been in this situation for so long now.

I sketched at the hairdressers. The top half is me in the mirror The feet are the person on the other side of the mirror. Iti s like one of those books from childhood.

I had the opportunity to draw some food.

I attended a Zoom life drawing session one night. The theme was the cult movie Blade Runner, with the models dressed and posing as main characters.

I have also been working on my “You Can’t Draw in Books” project for a potential event. This involves drawing in books that are about to be discarded, illustrating the words on the page. I give it a new life. More news on this project later.

I hope you enjoy the blog.