Christmas Eve

Absolutely NO sleep Christmas Eve at all but I did manage to grab an hour on the sofa after all the unwrapping while everyone was busy indulging in their new gifts.
Luckily I am used to very little sleep and was soon up bounding around in the kitchen baking Christmas dinner for 6.

Character Building

Quick Imagination sketches in Roberson HP Journal

Fragments

Fragments of my day yesterday include my Son Harry, my own hand, the Christmas lanterns that currently line our drive, glasses and a view of the Fens.

Christmas Notes

Imagination - Roberson Journal - Gouache & Ink

I have little notes to myself plastered all over the place here, on the kitchen table, in the studio, in my handbag.... I find I write them and then forget they ever existed. They are made, not so much to remind me but allow me to get things out of my head last thing at night so I may sleep easy.

On Friday I did THE big Christmas food shop.
Crazy as I may be, I actually enjoy this annual pursuit despite the bustle. Determined not to look as stressed as the miserable faces surrounding me, I sang along with the festive background music the entire way around the supermarket, this helped immensely....fearing I may in fact be 'off my trolley' people actually moved out of the way to let me through and the whole event was a complete pleasure.

From The Sofa

My lounge, looking all festive and raring to go....Not long now!

Midweek Mix

Today's journal page started with this image, sketched in my journal in the early hours before finally retiring to bed. A simple sketch of one of my 'Artline' pigment liners using a Jet Black Inktense pencil and a water brush.

This often happens, I feel the need to sketch one last item before heading to bed and have no idea how the composition of the page will follow in the morning. It can be truly inspirational to wake up to a journal page that is not blank, kind of like a head start to the day, and it can bring about some really interesting compositions and designs.

Other examples of journal pages that started with a sketch before bed can be seen in the following posts:
BUSY DAYS and HOME SWEET HOME

My first entry into my current journal was dated November 16th and I now have just 5 pages left to fill which, by some kind of miracle, takes me right up to Christmas Eve if I keep to one entry a day. I am still trying to decide whether to simply begin another journal at that time and carry on as I have been or whether to dedicate a smaller sketchbook I have to the Christmas period up until New Year....I have never been very good at making decisions. I did have something else in mind for the small sketchbook so, at the moment, a continuation looks most likely.
My current journal is a Roberson HP watercolour sketchbook with 190gsm paper, I have two others the same size ready on standby, one has 230gsm paper and the other 300gsm...Another decision to be made!

Placement Progress

Sketches in journal from imagination - Pigment liner & Schmincke watercolour

I have painted many portraits for many clients but always using a reference and always being rather a slave to that reference, this year I wanted to practice sketching from life, refining my skills and getting as much practice in as possible so that I may one day be able to place those all important features in correct/believable positions when sketching from my mind alone.
I hoped that this would, in time, lead to me being able to capture a true likeness of a person within just a short sitting.

September 2007 sketchbook entries from imagination.

It was back in September when I sketched the facial compositions above after realising the difficulties I experienced drawing features from imagination rather than references. I remember having to think very hard about the whole process, checking off basic rules in my mind as I sketched.
This whole year has been motivated around sketchbook after sketchbook, I am currently averaging a new sketchbook on a monthly basis, approx 50-90 pages a month.
I have enjoyed every moment, it has felt so freeing and my confidence as an artist has multiplied in ways I never imagined it could. I am now able to manipulate an image or scene in a believable way, invent my own characters, add design and it would seem from the top sketch on this entry....Place features from my imagination, quite quickly, directly in ink, with very little thought at all!
Frequent visits to Posemaniacs website has helped to be able to do the same with figures. Of course 'watching' has been a major tool too, I try to spend as much time as I can simply studying with my eyes, drawing with my mind rather than my hands.

Today was the first time I noticed this improvement, my goal long forgotten in all the excitement of filling pages day after day.

While vision obviously remains the most important tool to an artist, in my opinion, I have no doubt that the artist's sketchbook ranks right up there in second place.

*

Related link: A Work In Progress - Posted May 25th 2007

Busy Days

Monday was a busy day, as most of them are this close to Christmas, so before I went to bed I made a quick sketch of our tree and stated the time of the sketch with a small tab. This set the layout throughout the rest of the day as I added images of my to do list, my Son Harry getting ready for school, my eldest Son's dog 'Scoby' and one of my evening cuppas!

I used various media including my Lamy Safari fountain pen, a pigment liner, coloured pencil and watercolour.

One Track Mind

I spent Sunday running through the usual chores and picking up my sketchbook for relief in between. I can't seem to avoid Christmas in my sketching at the moment, excited as I am!

My first sketch is of a latex snowman we have that sings 'Frosty the Snowman' as he wobbles from head to foot, I added a background from my imagination.



My second 'Drummer Boy' is a sketch from imagination as is my third of three ducks overindulging in the Christmas spirit, as most of us do year in, year out.

It simply wouldn't be Christmas without a little over indulgence would it?

Festive Light

Both of today's journal entries depict a light source. The top sketch is created entirely from imagination while the bottom image is created from life, using one of my Christmas decorations as a reference.
I used pigment liner on both sketches today because the Lexington Gray ink in my Lamy Safari fountain pen has ran out and I was too lazy to venture into the studio to refill it.
Oh the shame!

Angel

15Mins - Ink in HP Journal

A quick sketch from imagination.

Productive Day

My day started by quickly sketching my Son Harry as he opened his advent calendar this morning. After returning from the school run I called my friend Diane and, while we chatted, I added a figure from my lounge clock to the page.


A little later and I decided to sketch something from my imagination.


I couldn't decide what to draw around lunchtime so....This is a colour chart I made using my new Schmincke watercolours...The first time I have ever tested paints this way, usually I just guess directly onto a painting.


My new Schmincke set...Soooooo yummy!


Just finished at 1.44am
Usually I use Posemaniacs as a figure reference but this time I worked entirely from imagination/memory.

New

A parcel arrived today, from Great Art, with an order of art materials. Part of the order was a box of Schmincke watercolour pans, my Son Jake is buying me for Christmas. Luckily he let me open them now and what a joy to unwrap they were...better than opening my favourite chocolates!

I decided to tackle one of this week's Wet Canvas Scavenger Hunt items with them...To sketch a fake flower.

The palette will take some getting used to simply because I have worked with the same Winsor Newton brand since I started my art journey in 2003. A couple of my favourite colours so far are Venetian Red and Prussian Blue...delicious!


Other items in my package include a very reasonably priced 230gsm Canson Watercolour Sketchbook and a 12 tin of Polychromo coloured pencils.






I also painted my freshly laid, wooden, porch floor today with clear satin varnish....and then got carried away and re-coated the whole of the kitchen and dining room while I was at it!

The porch is a new addition to our home and I have decided to re-house my PC there in the new year, it is currently housed inside a specially designed cupboard in my dining room and , although there is a window next to the cupboard, most of the time my head is stuck inside with no view. The porch has three windows all of which look out across the Fens for miles. I can hardly wait!

I ordered a rug from rugsellerUK this afternoon to bridge the walkway through the porch from the front door to the kitchen entrance, I just fell in love with the design and am sure it will look fabulous against my dark wood floor and pale smokey blue walls.

Sidney the Singing Snowman

Meet Sidney!

Sidney evolved today from a packet of cherry menthol sweets called 'Tunes'. I purchased the sweets to help ease Jake's sore throat and, after sketching the lettering on my journal page, I decided to get all festive and created bauble designs to hang from it.

The snowman bauble stirred my imagination further and so I continued the 'tune' theme and gave him a microphone.

What a star!
...Much like Jake who I am happy to say is looking a lot healthier today!


Journal page - 10 Dec 07

Pebeo

I purchased this Pebeo watercolour set recently because it was on offer and I loved the shape of the case.
I have a set of gouache tubes that I have enjoyed using once or twice but wanted a case to put them in so I could carry them around in my handbag now and then instead of my watercolour set. I have 10 tubes of gouache and this had ten pans of colour...Ideal!

When they arrived I decided to give the Pebeo pans a try before re-filling. My expectations were not much and as I peeled the paper seals from each pan my expectations were affirmed. The paper seal was the only seal covering these pigments and they wetted up very quickly, turning to thick custard with just a drop of water from my brush.



I tackled my own hand as my first experiment using just the water I had filled the compartment next to the pans with. It wasn't long before the water looked like dirt and, too lazy to move, I continued to paint with it. Therefore, I guess I am partly responsible for the mucky results.

They deserved another shot!



My second attempt came after watching 'Cranford' this evening, a BBC1 period drama serial. As the programme ended, inspired, I turned to my journal and sketched out a period woman from my imagination using my Lamy Safari fountain pen filled with Noodler's Lexington Gray ink.
I then grabbed a pot of clean water and proceeded to colour my sketch using the Pebeo set.
The results were a little less mucky but I found that although the colours appeared bright and translucent mixed in the palette, their character changed dramatically once on the paper. The colour selection made it near on impossible to create a believable skin tone and the yellow had far more power than the darkest of mixes I could muster. It was the simplest of tasks to create MUD!
The only colour that transferred from palette to paper well was the permanent green, which mixed well with the blues to create a delicious aqua.

Experiment over, I shall now re-fill my lovely new case with the gouache for which it was intended!

Worry

Jake woke with the most awful sore throat this morning, he can hardly swallow and has spent most of the day in his bed.

I think it may have been brought on by the stress of worrying about his Brother's surgery midweek, I seem to remember his throat swelling once before when he was worried about something.

Last night he was at a party having fun and I worried about him.

Today he was in bed and I worried about him.

Wednesday Harry was in surgery and I worried about him.

Harry is fit and healthy today and I worried he may be bored.

Today Harry worried about Jake because he spent so much time in bed.

WORRY!

In sickness or in health, I guess families will always worry about each other for some reason or another!

Tanya Branning

Black watercolour pencil in sketchbook - 20 minutes

Another quick portrait from my sofa this evening using the TV magazine as a reference.
This time it's Tanya Branning from my favourite soap 'Eastenders'. That's her character name, I have no idea what her real name is and no real desire to find out to be honest!

I couldn't find a reference of her smiling online but here she is looking rather moody.

The scanner has missed some lighter values here, one of the reasons I rarely sketch in pencil, but you get the idea.

Films and Faces

I've had a lovely day home with Harry watching old films such as Mrs. Doubtfire and DragonHeart.
When everyone went to bed I curled up on the sofa with this week's TV magazine and broke out my gouache for the first time in what seems like ages to produce a quick sketch of Kate Thornton.

Home Sweet Home

Harry had surgery today at Hinchingbrooke hospital where they removed two of his secondary teeth and filled another. It was around 1am last night when my nerves cut in and I sketched him sleeping peacefully in my journal. I then marked the page with various circles that would represent the uncontrollable cogs of the following morning, the small circles depicting the steam they would create, the stress of the day ahead.

Another reason to be anxious today was that my eldest Son Jake was to stay at a friends (quite a rare occurrence for our family) and visit London for a rugby match the following morning, after which he was to go on to Twickenham to watch a match before making his way home via train to stay, once again, at a friend's house before returning home Friday. It was around 3pm when I got his text message to say his friend had cancelled due to ill health and that he would be home when we returned. I was genuinely disappointed for him but it is always comforting to have my boys home.

The staff at Hinchingbrooke are amazing, I really can not speak highly enough of them. The children's ward has so many fabulous aspects including two sit on battery operated vehicles for the children to DRIVE down to theatre. We arrived at around 10am and, while we waited for surgery to take place at around 3pm I made a sketch of one of the electronic beds on the ward because Harry loved controlling his up, down, up, down... and a sketch of the canteen where I managed to grab a latte early afternoon.

I can't explain the relief I felt when we got the call to head down to recovery, Harry was safe and I could relax. I don't mind admitting that we actually broke into a sprint half way down that corridor.
My Son is amazing!
He recovered so quickly and in less than an hour after coming around, he had demolished 4 cups of water, been to the toilet and eaten a ham sandwich followed by a yoghurt...We could go home!
A phone call to our local Chinese take-away and before long we were home, watching Harry tuck into a chicken curry like nothing had happened.

The stress has now been replaced with fatigue, my boys are tucked up in their beds and I am relieved, content and knackered.

Windows and Wishes

This morning I received land mail from my good friend Joan Sandford-Cook. Her words came hand written on one of her own printed cards, of which she sent two!
I decided to cut the blank one up and stick it in my journal, the 8x20" original started a series of long rectangles in today's journal page. I filled the second with a quick sketch of my youngest Son, Harry, sorting through his sketching box, making room for new work and possible gifts from Santa. In the third oblong I decide to work from imagination, rendering part of Joan's beautiful stained glass window painting into a scene of my own.
Harry is going into hospital for surgery on his teeth tomorrow, so I especially like the fact that he is sandwiched between light and a place of prayer on this page.



The second page in my journal today is a personal wish I make every year, sketched from imagination and hope!