12. Weekly Round Up
A week in my sketchbook
Hello fellow sketchers!
Welcome back to another edition of my weekly round up! A little late this week as we are in the midst of renovating our house, plus I squeezed in a camping trip in between the bathroom and kitchen works, so it’s all been (and still is!) rather chaotic!
However, I did of course still manage to find some time for my sketchbook practise. From my camping adventures to exciting draw-alongs, I’ve got plenty to share. Let's dive in!
Camping Trip: River Dart Country Park
Last weekend, we packed up the car and headed out on our first camping trip of the year, which provided the perfect backdrop for some camping sketches. Armed with my trusty mini sketch kit, I was ready to capture my camping trip in the pages of my sketchbook.
My Mini Sketch Kit Essentials:
Sketchbook: A compact, travel-friendly sketchbook - an inexpensive A6 ‘studio sketchbook’ from Jacksons Art
Pencils: A graphite pencil and 3 colour pencils for quick sketching (a blue, yellow and pink).
Pens: a couple of fountain pens, one with a black ink and one with a green ink for variety. A grey and a black brush pen. 4 Ecoline brush pens - a green, blue, brown and grey.
Watercolors: A small, portable watercolour palette - my Schmincke retro travel set
Brush: Pentel waterbrush
I had hoped to be able to spend time sketching more of the campsite and surrounding landscape… however, camping with 3 boys and 2 dogs does not generally involve a lot of sitting down, or indeed downtime at all!!! Here are the sketches I did manage to make on the trip. I also took some photo’s and plan to capture a bit from these now I am home.
Experimenting with Ink
Back home, I have been inspired by
to experiment with ink. There’s something incredibly satisfying about the boldness and permanence of ink on paper. I enjoyed creating this scene from a photo of a field on my farm using Rohrer and Klinger SketchInk (Emma) with various dilutions of the ink and a dip pen. I think it could benefit from more contrast and variation in tone, but really fun to play and see what happened.
WildSketchClub Challenge: Rivers and Canals for July
July's challenge theme with The Sketching Sisters is "Rivers and Canals," and has been an absolute joy to work on so far! The Sketching Sisters is my collaboration with my sister
. Here are my sketches for week one’s prompts - Swan, Common Reed, Water Vole and River Dart:
Draw-Alongs with Emma Carpendale and Lucia Leyfield
This week, I had the pleasure of attending two fantastic draw-alongs on zoom:
Emma Carpendale: Experimenting with Art Materials
had us exploring various art materials, encouraging us to step out of our comfort zones. From dip pens to pastels, we experimented with textures, layering, and blending techniques drawing from the fabulous reference images Emma had pulled together for us.The focus was on the process, not the outcome, and it was a great reminder to keep experimenting and push out of our usual and familiar art styles to see what comes of it! Thanks Emma!
Lucia Leyfield: Wonky Line Drawing Club - Still Life
’s session focused on how to capture the beauty of our every day lives, through still life sketching of our everyday objects and scenes. I am always inspired by Lucia and never fail to come away with lots of new ideas and tips from her to refresh my approach to sketching. I particularly loved how she spoke of the humble pencil as being the perfect art supply to conquer overthinking of which art supplies to use! I have been using a pencil more ever since, and am really enjoying it!Lucia also recommended a wonderful book by Laura Pashby - Little Stories of Your Life, which I am currently really enjoying! Thanks Lucia!
Both sessions were inspiring and offered new perspectives on sketching and creativity.
Until Next Time
That wraps up this week’s update. I hope you find some inspiration in these experiences and continue to explore your own creativity. Feel free to share your sketches and thoughts in the comments – I’d love to see your work and hear from you!
Happy sketching, Emma x
Delighted to have inspired you, Emma!
Lovely round up! I love your camping sketches - the simplicity of just line is lovely x