and here is the final list, taking me up until Monday.
24 your sketchbooks or a pile of your favorite art books 25 “Towel Day” – a tribute to Douglas Adams – www.towelday.org or something broken 26 something you collected outside – twig, seashell, dried berries … 27 an extension cable 28 your car, any car outside, a matchbox car … 29 a stapler 30 a deck of playing cards (skat, poker, tarot …) 31 your computer mouse
A deck of cards. This one is a bit of a project. These are cards we had when I was growing up. I have just kept the one and had been planning to draw it for a long time. I have been asking my family about what games we played, where the cards came from, and any other stories they remember. I have left the opposite page to write all of this. Over the years I have been working on a Family History Project, drawing objects that were not mine or being cleaned out in a house move. I also want to write the stories behind them, see more on Flickr.
10 a plant around your house 11 a tool 12 a pile of dishes or dishes inside your dishwasher 13 a close-up part of something 14 a pile of socks 15 some medicine 16 a crumpled piece of paper
Sometimes an idea springs to mind straight away and others take a bit of thinking,
3 a helmet 4 “Star Wars” – May the fourth be with you! or a souvenir 5 a pen sharpener 6 a screw 7 weeds or herbs 8 hand, feet, ear, nose, or eye 9 nuts or coffee beans
One of the many online art challenges that you can participate in is Everyday in May (EDiM). There is a facebook ( a private group to join) and a Flickr group. You need to create a free account for either to join the group. Flickr is a photo-sharing site. Or you could just do the list for fun.
(My scanner is not talking to my computer at the moment, so these are photos)
What is it? A list of prompts for everyday drawing challenges. There is no pressure, you put your sketch up online in the group and can comment on others, It is amazing the interpretation and different sketches of the one listed object. I’ve met some international friends through EveryDay in May – some of them in person !
Draw … 1 a lucky charm, a talisman 2 your favourite sports equipment 3 a helmet 4 “Star Wars” – May the fourth be with you! or a souvenir 5 a pen sharpener 6 a screw 7 weeds or herbs 8 hand, feet, ear, nose, or eye 9 nuts or coffee beans 10 a plant around your house 11 a tool 12 a pile of dishes or dishes inside your dishwasher 13 a close-up part of something 14 a pile of socks 15 some medicine 16 a crumpled piece of paper 17 your favorite brushes or pencils 18 an interdental brush 19 the view from your window 20 a corkscrew 21 a spice jar 22 dice 23 a treasure chest 24 your sketchbooks or a pile of your favorite art books 25 “Towel Day” – a tribute to Douglas Adams – www.towelday.org or something broken 26 something you collected outside – twig, seashell, dried berries … 27 an extension cable 28 your car, any car outside, a matchbox car … 29 a stapler 30 a deck of playing cards (skat, poker, tarot …) 31 your computer mouse
Everyday in May challenges began in 2005 by Karen Winters. Below are the links to my past EDiM. Here is a description I found on one of my 2009 posts. “This is part of the Everyday in May challenge – drawing something every day in May. A group of us thought it would be fun to do a Everyday Matters (EDM) challenge each day using EDM 1-31. The list is on Karen Winters website”
I started eagerly wanting to draw all the time. It was such an inspiration and opened my eyes to the fact that anything is sketchable and that everyone has a different style and approach. There is no right or wrong ! These are concepts that I strongly believe in today. Today, I have many art projects that am involved in and keeping me busy everyday (as well as a full-time non-art job) and I am doing EDiM out of nostalgia. Here are my previous EDiM challenges.
I also do this because my mother does it too. She lives interstate and is not on Facebook, but has a Flickr page. Art Observer This is a wonderful way for us to connect and we have chat about what we have drawn. This is one time of the year that she picks up a pencil and draws, and then realises she is quite good, especially when practicing everyday.
I was going to title this “through the looking glass” as a reference to Alice in Wonderland, and then looked up and found out that a looking glass is a mirror. So it is “through the magnifying glass”.
Here is my new magnifying lamp. It has 2.25x magnification. There are lots of other technical specifications on the box. It is a Halo Go Rechargeable Magnifier made by The Daylight Company.
I bought it to look closer at some of the objects I sketch. My drawings sometimes have the impression of detail, and I wanted to be able to see some of that detail, even I can’t or don’t include it all. I am curious as to how things connect. It is definitely not for scientific observation.
We are very spoilt to be able to look at some images online and on our phones and zoom in on the detail. I definitely did not want a microscope – not that level of detail. I could take a photo of an object and enlarge it on the screen to see detail, but I love to draw from an object directly. I feel a sense of connection.
I am not sure what situations I want to use it. Insects are the obvious. I have a little collection of beetles and butterflies. I wonder about feathers and nests. What other natural world objects or other objects that I can fit under the lens?
I love to draw old books, especially the worn and old covers.
Although life in Melbourne is returning to some sort of semi-normal, I am still working from home and staying local in my suburb in Melbourne. On Friday I had few meetings in the city scattered throughout the day and decided it was easiest to spend the whole day there. I did a few sketches during the day. They are all different depending on where I was and how much time I had.
The first is in Bourke Street Mall, It was 10 am and a chilly day. There were a few people about, but the streets were not crowded. I have not been inner-city urban sketching for such a long time, and initially, it was difficult to find a focus. I had in mind to draw people, however, because of the grey day, there were not many about and they didn’t linger in the mall before or after getting off their trams. So I just sat down and started with the Royal Arcade arch and went from there until I noticed I was getting cold.
It was the school holidays and there a few families and teenagers. I saw groups of children with their families lined up to get their photos taken with two brightly dressed characters. I sketched, although I had to look it up online what I was sketching (Maddy and Jimmy – a children’s show at the Melbourne Comedy Festival). They were constantly moving.
Masks are only required in a few places. In between a mask and not moving while texting on the phone, I have the perfect subject – until they get up suddenly and leave.
Lunch in the city. I decided to sit back and relax and have a real meal, not a rushed takeaway. A few others were doing that too.
I had a few hours to fill in until my next meeting. After my leisurely lunch, I settled in at the wonderfully historic Melbourne Athenaeum Library ( founded in 1839 as the Melbourne Mechanics’ Institution) . I took a book off the shelf, sat in a comfortable chair, and relaxed. Oh – and I had to draw too. ,
I added colour at home of the books’ spines. I have drawn this lovely library and its books and shelves previously and I usually focus on the colour of the lovely wooden shelves.
I had not planned to make it a sketching day, although I knew that my sketchbook would come out at some stage. A happy record of my day. A travel journal does not have to involve a plane or train. It can just be getting from A to B and what was seen and heard. I probably could add a map to this and a bit more commentary. I walked a lot and certainly had some legs and feet at the end of the day. However, it is now Sunday and I have already turned the page in my sketchbook …
I was finishing my daily walk around Fitzroy and Treasury Gardens in Melbourne on a wonderful fine weather weekend (last weekend) . I had sat and sketched a lovely couple of ducks and was almost done when I heard some children yelling and playing. Curious I changed direction to see. There were a group of about eight children, girls, and boys between six and twelve (?) playing happily under a very large Pin Oak tree. The rest of their families were having a picnic nearby.
As I watched I saw they were all gathering up fallen leaves to make a big pile under one of the very low hanging branches.
They would then take turns to jump off the branch into the pile of leaves.
There was no fighting or squabbling and I wrote some of what they said on the page. I probably saw and heard them at their best, before they got tired !
It reminded me of some of the idyllic childhood fun I had with cousins and friends, Good times! It is so good to know that children can still enjoy the outdoors and simpler things in life. They were all called by their parents for break and afternoon tea. One children came back for a quiet moment at the tree eating hers. Then they all returned for complete destruction of the leaf pile !
I then added some colour to one of the line drawings.
I took a leaf home to draw. This one was from the tree, as the ones on the ground were all brown and dry.
Each year I draw my hot cross buns with my watercolour pencils at Easter. This year is no different.
I bought some from a local bakery (they must have peel ! ) One hot cross bun has sat on my desk for a few days while I drew it. I tried to remember to take photos along the way. The second drawing was a lot quicker. They are best when toasted in the oven and buttered. These buns were great to draw but did not live up to my ideal bun to eat. But I managed to anyway!
As a work in progress
my table
The basic shapes
Building up the colour
Oops I put one of watercolour pencils in my water bowl. They are also called watersolouble or aquarelles. The pigment dissolves when water is added and that is that the wonderful thing about them. You can see the range of colour and tone that you get from one pencil. Faber Castell Walnut Brown Watercolour Pencil
BUT this is what happens when you leave it in water. Then I touched the tip and it fell off. However, I left it to dry out overnight and sharpened it, and is right to use again.
I have lots of projects over the Easter long weekend. There have been walks and catchups with friends and of course, sketching. Whatever you do, have a safe and happy Easter break.
I have sketched a double page of “things I must take with me when I go for a walk”. It feels like a major expedition and I always forget one or two items. I am now going to put a list on the inside of the door, so that i see it everytime I walk out.
I started this page about two weeks ago and had laid out in sketches of what I wanted where on the page. Today I finished it.
I had to think about the sizes of the different objects. I could not do them all their real size, so had to decide the varying sizes.
Since then, I have bought a new sunhat, with a broader brim for more sun protection, and sketched that too.
I finished it in a Sketch Zoom session today. Since late last year, I have been meeting on Zoom with two Sydney and a Melbourne friend and we work on our own projects and chat and eat. Today went from 10 am and til 3 pm. It is a time to achieve a lot. The four of us used to meet in person once a month when we all lived in Sydney (in the food court of a shopping center ) when we were all working on a project together. Then we moved onto our projects. We only started back together on Zoom late last year and have set aside our date for next month. I have a similar monthly session with some Australian and UK friend. We all enjoy these times.
