Virtual Sketchwalk

During a sketchwalk you walk around a certain place and stop here and there to make a sketch on location. Often people meet somewhere to do this together. But drawing on location is not for everyone. You often don't have a convenient place to sit down. Not everyone can stand for longer periods of time. Or you just are not comfortable drawing in public.

With a virtual sketchwalk you use photos or Google Street View and do your 'walk' from the comfort of your home or studio. You choose a certain place or topic to explore and draw from (copyright-free) photos you find online or make some from Street View. Of course, you can also include your own photos.

Like the 'real thing', this is even more fun when you do it in a group. You can provide your own photos to the group and draw from the photos other members provide. There is a Facebook group I have joined not long ago. We work on a different topic every month. Last month it was Ireland. This month it's flowers. The group is organised by Kate Powell. If you feel like this is something for you, come and join us.

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New Sketchbook Syndrome

This is a phenomenon you often hear about when it comes to drawing in sketchbooks. Sketchbooks are not only a tool these days. They often are a piece of art themselves. People want them to look good. And they especially don't want to start a new sketchbook with a bad page. So there is advice out there about how to overcome this fear of ruining a new sketchbook with a bad first page. One tip is to start somewhere in the middle. If you then ruin your drawing it's at least not on the first page. For me this doesn't work, because I date my drawings and want them to be in chronological order. And then, sooner or later you have to tackle that first page and still don't know if it will turn out good or not. Another tip suggests to use the first page to paint your colour palette or the tools you are going to use or something like this. Well, if this is useful to you, why not. I would simply say, chose a subject that is familiar to you, something you know you are good at. ...

Gouache

I have bought some Schmincke Designers Gouache and some Hahnemühle watercolour paper. I need to start practising with the good stuff, because my older niece has asked me to paint something for her 16th birthday in October. So I have done this little painting in my mixed media sketchbook today. The paint is great, so much smoother and easier to handle than the cheap stuff I have used so far. After getting to know it better and practising a bit I will also test the new paper. I‘m looking forward to more painting adventures.

My style

I have a style. I didn‘t chose it. It just happened. It‘s the result of how I like to work and what I like to work with. First, I sketch out my drawing in pencil. Then I go over the lines with ink. Finally, I colour it with coloured pencils, whereas I don‘t spend many hours on a drawing. My sketchbook has many more pages to be filled. I don‘t know if my style is good in any objective way, but it‘s my style and I like it. It would be great if other people really liked it, but in the end it is what it is. And I do my drawings for myself in the first place. Anyway, if I don‘t overdo them, I think the style of my drawings is somewhere between realistic and illustrative. This is how I like them best and I would love to deliberately persue this more.

Sylvia‘s Art Journey

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