Early Morning Mark-making
When you’ve been up since 4am and can’t focus, simple repetitive movements in left over paint are just what the doctor ordered.
I usually sketch a bit when I first settle into the studio - it helps warm up my fingers and arms (ESPECIALLY when it’s 58 and the space heater hasn’t quite caught up yet…) but every so often the entire day ends up being spent in those pages.
Days like today, where I found myself wide awake at 4 am - and now there’s not enough caffeine in the world to get me out of this haze.
So, marks in leftover paint it is.
I’ll use work in a few different methods; occasionally I just close my eyes and let the muscles of my arm pull the brush along the page, or I’ll pick an object and use it for some blind contours, other times I’ll just focus on the brush pressure and placement of the bristles, which can make for calligraphic-esque marks.
Either way, the point is to disconnect from anything analytical and just let the brush make it’s marks.
This is also where having multiple sketchbooks or sheets of sketch paper come in really handy. As one set dries, I can move onto another.
When I’ve decided I’ve finished with these it can be helpful for my process to lay these out and look at them for a while. I’ll note moments that call for more attention, lines that jump out at me as something to work with more (or to ignore), transparencies that I want to explore… etc. Scribbling these down somewhere, or sketching out what is interesting can set me up for a much more productive session the next time in the studio.
Outdoor Sketches
The weather shifted a bit this week, trading the frigid wind for hints for sunshine.
In celebration of not having to wear 16 layers to go outside I thought I would take a little sketchbook, a stick of water-soluble graphite and the pup, and head out into nature.
As we were walking in the woods I kept an eye out for interesting forms and textures. Having the dog with me requires I make these sketches quickly, so I worked with mostly blind/semi-blind contours.
I’ll take these back into the studio and add water and color next. Follow me over on instagram to see the final product!
Materials Used:
Contour Sketches at the Arborteum
The Nichols Arboretum is one of my favorite spots here in Ann Arbor. Aside from being a beautiful outdoor space to walk, run and paddle - it's also one of my favorite spots to sit and sketch.
The first week of June is the best for viewing the Peony garden in bloom, so I headed over there for an afternoon of flower-watching and flower-inspired drawing.
I started with a few blind contour sketches, letting my pencil follow the curves and ridges of the blooms without looking down at the page.
By playing with placement and variances of petals/leaves/negative spaces I draw a sort of "map" of the way I see the flower. Sometimes the resulting compositions are interesting and worth exploring further, so I transfer those to a canvas or a larger sheet of paper. And of course, sometimes they are just a mess of lines that don't seem to tell a story or impart any truth of the plant and those just stay in the sketchbook.
(I used these Derwent pencils from Amazon for the contour sketches - I really enjoy the freedom to create lines AND washes from the same tool, less to carry with me and easier to quickly get sketches down on the paper.)
What about you? Have any favorite places to sketch outside?
Sketching in South Pointe Park
I'm in the middle of a few ongoing projects, and have been feeling a little bit out-of-whack recently. Just a bit unorganized, a bit cluttered in my headspace, a bit anxious as I make work.
To combat this I decided to take all of today off. I know, it seems totally counter-intuitive to block off an entire day off from making work, when I'm growing increasingly anxious about my timeframe to make said work - but it's exactly what I needed to get back to baseline.
I packed up my usual travel supplies (sketchbook, camera(s), watercolor pencils, graphite sticks and ipod), slathered myself in sunscreen and hopped on my bike. I had no idea where I wanted to go, just that I needed to go somewhere.
Intuitive biking.
I rode over to the beach, taking turns when they felt correct and going straight if I didn't feel like turning, literally no goal in mind and happy as a clam. Eventually I ended up at South Pointe Park before I decided to lock up my bike and walk around. The whole trip out there was mirroring very much how I felt about some of the work I was making: starting out with no clear picture of the end goal. However, on the bike it was freeing and not anxiety-inducing. The moment that analogy popped into my mind I immediately felt a sense of calm return. I could fix this.
Focusing on that, on allowing myself to meander (both in my work and on the beach) I found a nice quiet spot to sit down and sketch. I watched the boats come and go, watched rollerbladers and kite-flyers and soaked in the beach vibes of the park.
I'm not sure if anything could have been as helpful as taking that full day out of the studio. When I returned home I made a nice big slooow dinner, careful to stay mindful of the peace I found while navigating the beach on my bike.
I’m not going to pick up my brushes tonight either, but start fresh in the morning.
<3
Can't be stressed looking at this.
Sketching from our apartment lounge.
We're in the final days of our studio renovation adventure! The whole place is getting painted, new tile and baseboards - just a general facelift to make better use of the South Florida natural light.
And so, to avoid the incredible amount of dust, noise and all sorts of crazy machines that live in our space now, I've been working out of the 'business lounge' in our building. The first day was spent mostly going back and forth with the building about the wi-fi connection, but after ironing all that out it's been a nice quiet space to get a bit of work done. (But NO eating, as I informed by a smartly dressed member of management.... whoops).
As we near the end of the renovations, I've just about finished everything I can possibly do on a laptop and am positively itching to get back to my paints and canvases.
Seriously, the next time I am strapped for ideas of things to paint, I'll just lock up all my canvases. Not being able to paint has been a huge source of inspiration for when I'm able to work again.
<Ignore that croissant, I certainly wouldn't eat up here.>
Only a few more days until we can get back into the studio and normal life can resume!