Sketch Journal February 2023
This drawing of my left hand may be my favorite in the whole sketchbook. Hands are notoriously hard to draw, but this really does look like a hand. It’s got a sketchy quality and a relaxed feel. The darker shading was pure scribble, but doesn’t look disturbingly out of place. The red shading was an afterthought, of course. I think it was an edging of water-soluble chalk that I brushed out with water.
Rabbits and more rabbits. I belonged to Glennis‘s Moonmates circle in 2022, and the final missive I received noted that 2023 was the Year of the Rabbit. She enclosed some Rabbit images that I used as guidance to draw these. I love their simplicity. I kept her sheet of images tucked into the pages of my journal.
2024 is the Year of the Dragon. Hmm, how to draw a dragon.
Experimenting with 1) thumbnails and 2) gouache. I learned a lot about thumbnails in a Tansy Hargan class (thanks to Liz A for mentioning her to me). I made a template that I could use to trace a set of thumbnails onto the page anytime I wanted them. I had played with gouache on brown paper before. Here I made the chalky paint even chalkier by mixing in white gouache. The pale colors jump out against the subdued brown page. Then I had the fun challenge of trying to fill each square with a different motif. Some of the pens didn’t write well on the gouache, but others worked fine.
The paper in the sketch journal was not really suitable for any type of paint. If I do this again, should I use watercolor paper? It’s so thick though.
Someone posted an image of Paul Klee’s painting “Forest Witch” on Instagram. I was so enamored of the artwork I decided to try to recreate it. This was fun to do. It’s missing all the colors of the original and there are issues with the line spacing but it makes a nice page. I think I should look for a used book of Paul Klee’s artwork because I love it so much. There may be more Klee copying in my future.
Paul Klee!!! I have always admired his use of color and subject. It’s fun seeing your drawings .. I’m thinking it’s kinda fun looking back remembering what brought you to paint / draw what you did that particular day and time.
It is like a journal in that way. Brings back memories of what I was doing and feeling as I went through the year.
Wow! I’m really loving this. The hand, w/ the red to make it pop looks great and those rabbits! They are adorable. I love Klee’s use of color – it always grabs my eye. And making your own thumbnails is such a fun idea. My tiny January calendar page drawing could be a thumbnail, eh? I wonder what the group of 12 would look like at the end of the year!
Thumbnails are such a great idea because they’re so tiny. Now that I think of it, a calendar is just a collection of thumbnails!
I love that you connected with Tansy Hargan and created such a wonderful page of thumbnails … each one of these images is special, each in its own way and I’m truly gobsmacked by the range of techniques used in your sketches … imitation being the sincerest form of flattery, I find myself wondering if I could commit to doing a daily sketchbook
I appreciated Tansy’s classes, especially the thumbnail concept. It’s a big commitment, that’s for sure. I cheated of course, and did several days in one day numerous times. It might help to have a collection of themes ready – my biggest issue was “what do I draw.”