I attended a Real life Life drawing session on Saturday. It was at The Art Room in Footscray in Melbourne. I have been twice in person in previous years and a few of their Zoom sessions in lockdown. This session involved me catching a tram and train, so was another big adventure. It was so special to do something normal. I had such a wonderful time. It was also a great atmosphere to be a room full of creative people.
There were 20 people sketching. We all wore masks except the model (by general agreement) .
I was able to purchase A1 (big) paper on the spot – For the quick sketches, I used thinner newsprint and thicker cartridge paper for the two long sessions. This is a wonderful service as I don’t have this at home and don’t want to be storing it there. There was also a variety of art materials to use on the day – different thicknesses of charcoal and different colours. For the last two longer sketches I used my watercolour pencils.
For the first time over two years I have met with Urban Sketchers Melbourne.
They did not meet up in our year of lockdown in Melbourne. In normal times I have my art classes on Saturdays and I rest on Sundays to refocus and revitalise for my working week. This means that I do not get to attend events.
There was the added bonus, in that the event was in my local suburb, so I did not have to catch public transport. I am still uncomfortable with the level of non-mask wearing on public transport even though it is compulsory. It was lovely not to have to wear a mask outside.
There was a sense of normality with a sketch group. It was 15 degrees, chilly but not nasty weather. We had been advised it was on a crossroad and could get cold. By the end of the morning, I was chilled to the core.
We met at 11.00 am . I set my phone timer for 30 minutes. We were at the corner of Gisborne and Albert streets East Melbourne. I spent 30 minutes at three corners, capturing what I could while chatting to Evelyn Yee. The 16 of us then had a ” throwdown” and photoshoot and chat catch up at 1.00pm.
As I said, It was wonderful to feel normal again !
1-7th June 2021 is International Nature Journaling Week! “Nature journaling allows us to open ourselves to wonder and explore with joy.”
It has an amazing website with so much information – links to free podcasts, interviews, articles, for students, teachers, beginners, those who want to explore ideas and learn more. The depth, breadth, and quality of the whole website is something for all involved to be proud of. It is only the second year and word is spreading to the importance of nature journaling.
One of my “sketching hats” is nature sketching, along with urban sketching, food, objects and whatever else I see. This week it was a wonderful to read and hear other people from around the world share their knowledge and experiences. I have only watched and listened to a few of the podcasts. I will continue to dive into these and be inspired.
And there are daily themes. This blogpost includes my responses to those themes. 1ST JUNE – WORDS 2ND JUNE – PICTURES 3RD JUNE – NUMBER 4TH JUNE – I NOTICE… 5TH JUNE – I WONDER… 6TH JUNE – IT REMINDS ME OF… 7TH JUNE – MINDSET MATTERS
Words
I always write on my pages so that is not new. Today I had hoped to expand my use of words. it is a little more descriptive. I tried to find a poem about winter, but nothing matched the scene before me. I was trying to hard.
Pictures
After the news of continuing lockdown in Melbourne I walked out to the nearby Fitzroy Gardens for relaxing, focus and enjoyment in the natural world. I had hope to find something extra special to draw. At first, I was disheartened to come across a dead possum, but realised it was a treasure of nature. So I took a few photos and drew them at home. Yesterday’s prompt for International Nature Journaling Week was Pictures. i usually sketch on location, so this more studied drawing at home challenged me. I had to think about format and how long to spend on this.
Numbers
I learned today that numbers are another language for describing the natural world. adding new resources to the way to think and record. They focus you to be specific, think differently. This can be done through Counting, Measuring, adding Metadata (date, time, temperature, tides ) Estimate (flocks of birds) or Graph/chart to visualise. I chose COUNT to include as part of my daily walk-in lockdown. However, I could go out for this walk without sketching. The crow is below. He landed next to me on the ground when I was counting the birds around the pond. I grabbed a black pencil and got some lines quickly on the page.
I notice
By noticing we pay close attention to what we notice around us. I learnt that observation is one of the key elements of nature journaling and it is a skill that we can exercise and develop. One of the suggestions was Magnifying tools . This jumped out at me as an opportunity to use my new magnifying lamp that I purchased and wrote about recently, This is a tiny (about 6 cm) wrens nest that was attached to a geranium outside of a window. It was give to me a few years ago and today I was curious about how it was attached to the plant, so I focused in on that. The threads are like spiderweb, built up. There are some very fine threads. Incredible. I am going to spend more time on this.
I wonder
When I am nature journaling, I slow down enough to wonder, I always ask myself question “I wonder” but rarely follow them up with research online or answer questions in my journal. It is a rabbit hole that you can go down and go in all sorts of directions. I am not sure how far I want to go, my joy is always on the drawing.
I also realise I need to decide WHO I am adding the information for. MY sketches are always for ME but who I am writing that information to share? To international readers – ie do I need to write that possums are nocturnal or rainbow lorikeets fly in large noisy flocks. Or do I only add new things I observe or learn?
I am usually returning to the same places and sketch the same plants/ animals. I have been slowly, subconsciously building up my knowledge about them and asking myself more questions.
There are still some prompts to complete and more days to go. Learning new things is always challenging and takes time. I am going back to the website and the sessions and am going to watch and read more. I encourage anyone who has the slightest curiosity about any of this to look at the wonderful website. Nature Journaling Week
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 …
