Today’s post has a few pretty things to look at and not many words.
The 2 pm photograph of our sketchbooks and some of the food.
This is my dilemma.
I have drawn a beautiful old book with yellowed pages, brown spots on the page (known as foxing) and a worn spine.
The book is open , inviting you in to read. However I do not want to use the original title page of the book as it is Ecclesistical Cases law reports published in 1703. I have drawn this on a loose sheet of A4 paper and may want to have it printed as a card or print in the future. I would like to have a wider audience than lawyers.
I ask for your suggestions on what you can visualise written on the opening pages of this mysterious book …
The thoughts so far – please comment and makes suggestions
I look forward to reading your ideas and will let you know what happens in a future blog post .
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September is Spring. a time of growth, renewal, looking for with new momentum to what can be achieved. In this post I am looking back at sketches done in the first few days of September over the past few years. It was interesting to see where I was at the time and what I was doing and also how I was sketching. I began sketching in my Moleskine Watercolour sketchbooks in December 2008 and sketching in Sketchbook Number 52 at the moment. Before December 2008 I was drawing on loose sheets of card and different sketchbooks of various brands and qualities.
These are all sketches from life. They are part of my adventure and growth in sketchbook journaling. I have drawn from photographs since high school (remember those days Janet Mayes (colour pencil artist)) . However drawing from real objects and scenes is very different although many of the skills were transferable (especially measuring relative distances).
The following sketches are from September 2014 going back to 2007.
A year ago I moved to Melbourne – Looking back it has been an eventful and productive year.
I looked through lots of old sketchbooks in cupboards to find earlier sketches. I found many drawings. Many were not dated and had no notes on the page. I write a lot more now and the pages are more of a journal.
I can see a BIG difference between the 2009 and 2007 sketches and how I would sketch this now. In Jan 2011 I started using the Lamy Sarafi Joy ink pen. It is a calligraphy pen with a fine nib and refills with ink. (I use Noodlers Bulletproof ink). I feel as though my pen travels across the page smoothly. It replaced my Micron, Pitt and Staedler pens. My skill with using my watercolour pencils and my especially my pen has increased over the last 6 years. I draw daily and that helps a lot ! I have become a lot more confident in drawing people and crowds and scenes and buildings…. and everything.
This was completed over three sessions. I finished the final marks on the page during a lunch hour when there was a classical music recital in the library. I sat up in the shelves drawing old books and listening to Debussy played on the piano. I cannot think of a better way to spend my time,
Here is a close up
and as a work in progress. ( with some strange colours because I took the photos on my phone.
![IMG_0836[1]](https://i0.wp.com/www.alissaduke.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/IMG_083611.jpg)
Of course, I have started drawing another set of books ……
and my drawings of the library and its books are available Greeting Cards on my Etsy site https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/AlissaDuke
In my watercolour pencil wrap that I carry with me everyday I have 26 colours, three are blue .
(Read more about my watercolour pencil wrap here)
Over the last few weeks in the evenings I have been creating an entry for a local art show and have been using every blue pencil I own. These are pencils that I have been given, or acquired.
Almost all are watercolor pencils (except Bluish Turquoise, which is a coloured pencil).
I have added water to a paintbrush and dragged it across the page to show the changes in colour that occur when water is added to the pigment. For this particular project it did not matter, but usually for my drawings I am trying to get the colour right . Over the last eight years that I have been using watercolour pencils I have become familiar with the colours and how they can be mixed and the effects. This is how I have chosen the three (above) for my everyday use .
Just to throw in something extra to the mix., the project is on brown card not white watercolour paper. The brown card changes the way the blue appears and it also soaks up the colour, leaving a dull surface, and making it difficult to draw fine, hard lines.
Here is a hint. More will be revealed on Opening night in September
Travelling provides so many opportunities for very quick sketches as well as longer ones. A lot of time is spent waiting, sitting, standing and queuing. Some of it is unexpected and some you will know about in advance. Each opportunity can also provide its own challenges and issues.
My bus ride to the airport (above) was very bumpy. I think I was sitting over a wheel! I sketched with my Lamy Safari Joy ink pen and my hand seemed to bump along with the bus. It seemed to happen when I got to drawing faces – some big noses here. I have drawn on this airport bus previously and am used to where people are positioned and the perspective.
The taxi ride back to the airport was a lot smoother. I don’t catch many taxis and don’t often draw in them. The subject doesn’t move much!
I always arrive early at the airport and enjoy the time that I can spend sketching planes. I don’t always get to draw the plane I am travelling in. Sometimes I start to draw a plane and all of the landing crew, mechanics and vehicles suddenly move away and the plane leaves. Sketched with my watercolour pencils in Moleskine Watercolour sketchbook (13 x 19 cm ) .
Fellow passengers across the aisle can be ideal subjects to draw . (Sometimes the seats are just to close together and I don’t feel comfortable sketching with my passenger right next to me looking over my shoulder ).They sleep, have interesting hairstyles, lots of creases in their clothing to sketch. The sketch above was in ideal circumstances. This was before take-off and all the people stayed in place for me. I sketched this with my Watercolour pencils, but with no water added. (and I received lovely compliments from the flight crew).
But passengers also move a lot in their seat and unexpectedly change positions. The lady below moved a few times, but stayed in each one for a while. She also sat with her legs crossed on the seat (how did she do that?) but I missed that opportunity to sketch her.
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and then there are the REALLY quick sketches as people hurry to leave 
The SEATBELT sign has been turned off at the end of the flight and everyone scrambles to standup, retrieve their belongings and then ….wait and wait. (and sketch)
My first solo art exhibition. It is small but it is all mine.
My local East Melbourne Library provides display cabinets for residents to book for a month at a time for exhibitions. With the encouragement of friends, I booked a space for August. Then, with the incredible guidance and assistance of my good friend Louise, (curator and exhibition designer) we planned and then set up my display.
THE PLANNING
This took many hours and the time that we spent planning paid off. I learnt that there is a lot involved in finding a theme, keeping focus and using the space of the glass cubes that make up the cabinets. I cut 12 squares of 30 x 30 cm paper (the number and size of each shelf) and spread them out over the floor at home . I then decided what should be placed in each shelf. We took it all down to the library last Saturday, making slight alterations on the day .
All along, I had visualised how I wanted my feather and nests sketches to be exhibited, and the final display exceeded all of my expectations.
The theme of the exhibition was based around the drawings I have had printed as Greeting Cards and envelopes (which are available for sale on my Etsy site). They include feathers, nests, library books and ladders and snails.
BOOKS
There is one display cabinet featuring library books and ladders.
I tried to add as many relevant sketchbooks as possible to the display as well as the finished drawings on loose sheets of A4 paper as I am really a sketchbook artist.
FEATHERS, NESTS AND SNAILS
I also wanted to include some of the original objects that the drawings were inspired by.
I have already received some lovely feedback from the library staff.
I hope that you have enjoyed strolling through my first solo exhibition with me today. It is very big event for me and I very proud of my exhibition.
There were events on everyday. It provided a chance to listen to individuals talk about their book passions and share their knowledge. It also provides the opportunity for me to sketch ! (You may notice – there are no actual sketches of books in this blogpost).
I attended six events and sketched at four of them. I sketched using a graphite pencil or my Lamy Sarafi Joy ink pen.
before the talk on The Joy of Books. A few of the audience looking at books on display and talking to the presenter
I deliberately chose a seat at the back and to the side of the room. This way, I can look over the audience and practice sketching crowds. The people stay still as they listen and I have a captive audience. In this time I can practice sketching the subtleties of slumped shoulders and tilted heads of people as they listened, entranced by the speakers. I really enjoy sketching groups of people and sketch instances like this often (and am therefore comfortable with it).
talk on Samuel Johnson’s Dictionary
The other opportunity the Rare Book Week talks provided was time to practice drawing the faces of the presenters. This is more of a challenge for me. I find that capturing the personality of a person is a skill that will take me a lot of practice – which is why this was a great opportunity.
Reading letters from 84 Charing Cross Road
While I am sketching I am also listening to the presenters. Drawing does not distract me, rather it helps me focus. This is hard to explain. The presentations were all talks, and not pictures or visuals on slides, so I did not need to look up all the time. My sketches do not look like the actual person but it was good fun.
I watched over the past two weeks as people in various countries around the world received their copies. They tweeted, instagrammed and facebooked their joy and excitement. And now I can join in. I hold my copy of Uppercase in my hands and savour each wonderful article. (frequently flipping to pages 11 and 59 to look at my drawings and pinch myself that I am in this amazing magazine)
How did I get here? 
Looking back through my flickr photos I see my first snail drawing was in my first Moleskine Sketchbook in January 2009. (Flickr is a an online image sharing platform that I have been scanning and tagging my photos to since December 2008. I use it as a searchable database of my sketches.) I drew this shell for an Everyday Matters drawing challenge of “draw a shell”. It is drawn with a lot less detail than I would do now, as I was only just new to watercolour pencils. At the time I wrote, “I came across this shell in the garden. It was empty so I took it home an drew it. Snails can be really beautiful- well, their shells are!” 
I also drew some “snails in action” in the same year and my comment at the time was “he actually moved around quite a bit, and I think we were both pleased when his modelling session was over”.
Then came my entry for the Toowoomba Mail Art Competition in 2011 featuring snails on envelopes. The photo below displays all the envelopes I drew on, pinned to a corkboard.
SONY DSC
These snails are the drawings that I have used for the Uppercase submission. I then chose five of these drawings to print on my snail mail envelopes that are available for purchase on my Etsy site. https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/AlissaDuke.
Of course, there were some printing blips along the way (below) as I figured out how to place the snail on the envelope.
But I am so pleased with the result 
The snail journey is not over yet. You will be seeing more snail adventures in the next few weeks as they venture out in Melbourne.
A friend & I visited Kyneton for a long talked about long weekend. Kyneton is a thriving country town 85 km from Melbourne in Central Victoria and is just over an hour by train. It has become renowned as a country destination for good food. It has Art galleries and lovely shops for home furnishings, craft, books, nurseries, gifts, food, wine and clothes.
These are my drawings from the weekend.
I started in my sketchbook the night before, drawing a map of the area and listing the train stops along the way. Then I sketched at Southern Cross Station.
Our cottage was newly renovated, stylish and also cosy and warm on a chilly weekend.
I sketched inside and out.
Exploring Kyneton
Kyneton Museum
Unlike a majority of towns in the area, Kyneton predates the Victorian Gold Rush having been established in 1850, and gold rushes started the year after that. Some of the finest Bluestone buildings to be found in Victoria are a main feature of the town and date back to the Gold Rush era when Kyneton was a major supply town for the diggings.
Food from the farmers markets
The food at the farmers markets. Delicious to look at and draw. The stallholders were delightful to talk to and we had some lovely conversations. A place to return to.