Memory Bank

I didn't mean to spend Friday cleaning out the paper drawers in my studio, but our dear old weimeraner dog, newly deaf but still with a finely tuned nose, had inspected them and smelt a rat, literally.

He started digging and scrabbling, pulling out the bottom drawers with precious sheets of watercolour paper stashed in them and no amount of yelling (he didn't hear a thing) or pulling would deter him. I had no choice but to remove the drawers one by one until he could fit his elderly frame into the space and at last emerge with one scrap of a mouse's Fabriano bed delicately held between his front teeth. I should be grateful... and I am, but it was the start of a long nostalgic graft sorting through 'stuff' from the seventies, eighties and upwards that I'd promised myself I'd get to one day. I've put it all back - with a potion of spices to deter rodents in case the dog didn't terrify her quite enough - you'd think in a way that I could find everything easily again, but no, I have no idea. I found so many memories, sketched, scribbled and painstakingly illustrated, one or two of which I thought I might post here, but I can't find them. I found this ultra quick NeocolorII scribble of our daughter today though, sitting on the couch with her school 'fish' art project in front of her that brings back such a strong memory of a slow, sunny afternoon - one of the few she wasn't off doing... something. Perhaps not my finest sketching half-hour but don't you love it when a few minutes with a crayon/pencil/brush long ago brings back so much?

Sketches on the Move

You may have read by now this post on Katherine Tyrrell's Making a Mark about the new blog A Postcard From My Walk, where a group of us sketching, exercising people a.k.a. Sketchercisers are going to be showing the postcards we'll be sending each other every month over the next year or so. Hand-made, sketched postcards of course. These samples are just me experimenting on different types of card and paper, and trying to sketch smaller - I tend to overflow my boundaries and this small format is quite a challenge. The postcards themselves will remain a secret until we spot an exciting little rectangle in our letterboxes. Let's hope they all get here, and there, safely! I was quite concerned about them staying clean and pristine, but Albrecht Rissler (see his mailart section!) showed us some of his postcard collection, and the stamps, postmarks, wear and tear just add to them, and show the journey they've been on. Watercolours probably need an envelope for protection from rain and snow, but otherwise, anything goes. I'm so looking forward to checking my post box over the next months, I'll probably be getting quite a bit of exercise just doing that!

Splashy flowers

I've been walking and driving past clouds of agapanthus for weeks now on everybody's pavement and curb - in this second half of summer they are starting to go to seed so I finally put idle thought into action and tried to sketch them. I started by dropping blobs of paint from a height onto the paper (I had to work on two at the same time as I've got so impatient with waiting for paint to dry - one in a sketchbook and the other on Fabriano). The drops give a good round shape and a nice sparkly look, but not enough variation of tone. I added some more highlights with a Tippex pen, definitely not good watercolour practice!

Happy, Bright New Year!

Just as I suspected... I sketched these day lilies in our garden for New Year last year too - they're about all that are flowering at this green, green time of year. Painted very messily and feeling out of watercolour practice, they do come with my very best wishes for a 2011 that brings you everything that you'd wish for yourselves and your loved ones. May it be a richly satisfying creative year!
I haven't made any hard and fast plans, I am doing an oil painting course that spans the year in four sessions, though I don't think I'll be blogging about it, because of copyright clauses on the course material, but also because I want to just do the work without talking too much about it or seeking advice or your valued comments this time - maybe at the end of it I'll show the results. It may mean fewer (even less!) blog posts, but I want to try and keep the blog true to it's name, just sketching, when I can. One plan that did come about in 2010 was finding a couple of like-minded sketchers to join me on expeditions, which will help me get out of my comfy cocoon and into the world.
Thank you to all my visitors, and the lovely friends I've made here, for your feedback and time. As with some other bloggers, I have been posting and commenting less, not due to lack of interest but just trying to juggle a way to spend less time on the computer and more in the studio, or out sketching. For some reason it takes me an inordinately long time to compose blog posts and comments - my muddled brain battling to sort thoughts and words into a legible state, so I might be writing less to go with the pictures... if I remember... I can also babble on regardless, which I'm doing right now. So without further ado, HAPPY NEW YEAR, let's get going!!!