This is the list for this past week.
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
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.
I have previously written about and tested some of my watercolour pencils. Now that I have purchased the entire 126 Faber Castell watercolour pencil range, I have been experimenting with and becoming aware of the range of colours available. I wrote about it initially HERE. I have not made too many changes to the daily sketchkit I carry with me everyday. See these colours HERE. The swatches I have done for some of the colours show the colour on the page and then what it looks like when water is added. Some times the change is amazing – a big difference. This is where is it good to practice and get to know the colours.
I have previously written about
Today’s test colours are pink and purple. Some of these are almost red, but that is for another blog….
I use Pink Madder Lake and Light Flesh in my daily sketch kit.
If you have watercolour pencils at home, have a play, scribble hard, add water see what you own. Most importantly , have fun !
I have just started my 100th Moleskine watercolour sketchbook, since December 2008. I know this because I write in the number in the front page of each one. I use Moleskine watercolor sketchbook 13 x 19 cm (known as Large). I have used these since I first decided to sketch consistently in a sketchbook, rather than on lots of loose pages ad Visual Art diaries that I had. I am sure the Moleskine was a recommendation of Liz Steel, as I was sketching so much with her in Sydney at the time. I was also using watercolour pencils then and ink pens, (but not my current lovely Lamy Safari Joy Ink pen)
I sketch almost every day and so I stock up and buy a few at a time. My usual stockist is Book Depository in the UK as they are a third less price than anywhere else and have free delivery. They were out of stock for a long time so I ordered from anywhere I could find. Just yesterday I checked and they are back in stock, so I ordered ten. That will do me for a while!
I label them . I am a librarian.
Of course, there are sometimes that I use a large sketchbook or whatever paper is at hand. or previously I have sketched in other brands’ sketchbooks. A5 Visual Diary. I had been sketching on and off for many years, Once I started using Moleskine journals I felt a real commitment and joy in sketching every day. If it is not in my sketchbook, it will be on another drawing project. There is so much fulfilment in drawing, see my post (which gets a lot of reads) Why drawing makes me happy . I feel as though I am still continually learning about my watercolour pencils. and I like to have the same paper each time so that I know what to expect. I feel no need to experiment and try other brands. And now I need to sketch every day.
This is the first two pages from December 2008.
and the first two pages in my current sketchbook
Do I ever look at the sketchbooks? yes!
Although I have all the pages scanned and on my hard drive (sorted by date) They are also on Flickr website where. they are by date but also searchable by tags and keywords. They are also sorted into themed albums, by topic or event. Explore and enjoy !
I take sketchbooks off my shelves for exhibitions or to show classes specific pages that are relevant to the class ie travel sketching nature sketching, sketching food. Students also get a lot out of looking through the whole sketchbook and seeing how I put words and sketches on the page, what I sketch and how I use watercolour pencil. There is nothing like turning pages of the real thing! I like to think they provide real inspiration for people. I love to look through other people’s sketchbooks. And sometimes I look at my sketchbook for pure nostalgia, remembering a place and a time as I sketched it.
What’s changed?
I hope this has been useful and interesting.
A conversation with my local Melbourne Service Library librarian, Linda has led to my first display for a long time. The Library has almost returned to normal, after almost a year of lockdown in Melbourne. We still need to check in with QR codes and masks are still required.
Along with Tanya, a Melbourne artist we decided on a display of our sketchbooks to inspire other people to get their sketchbooks out again, be creative, and start getting back into some sort of normal life. We called it everyday Art. It is the art that we do everyday and also of the art of sketching everyday objects.
I have put some of my own books in a display cabinet to for anyone to also be inspired by.
I chose some books from the Library shelves and put them on a trolley to be borrowed.
Tanya and I also invited locals to join us in the local Fitzroy Gardens to sketch. We hope to inspire and motivate people to get creative again. It was a glorious 28 degrees with blue skies and sunshine. The park was full of families and picnickers.
Our display may inspire and motivate people who visit the library to get creative again. Or it may entertain them on their next visit to the Library.