Because I've been bemoaning the fact that I haven't been very productive in the art department recently, my lovely friend, Sandra, suggested that I have a go at simply sketching things. Not big fancy bells and whistles productions with a whole ensemble cast of pencil (and his very important sidekick, eraser), pen, ink, an array of brushes of varying sizes together with the whole spectrum of paints, no, just a simple sketch with a cast of one - the ink pen (thus removing the safety net of rubbing out any pencil marks that I wasn't happy with until I'd reached an approximation of "perfect" or more likely "that'll do") and instead having to concentrate that bit harder on getting it right-ish first time round, what with ink being permanent.
She even pointed me in the direction of Brenda Swenson and her 75 day challenge. I realised that I rarely, if ever, just sketched or practised drawing and decided this would be just the ticket to help me feel like I was doing something creative during these days of limbo before the Great Scottish Adventure begins.
Then of course I realised that the only sketchbook I had was packed away and, wanting to do it properly and not just on random scraps of printer paper, I took to Amazon to search out the perfect sketchbook for the task. The reading of many, many descriptions and reviews later, I discovered a little gem. A Royal & Langnickel A4 sketchbook with 80 pages (allowing for the removal of at least 5 really atrocious sketches when they inevitably occur) & the cherry on top - the cover is made of blank canvas inviting you personalise it!
It only arrived on Monday however and as we're getting the ferry to Scotland on Wednesday to begin the 8 hour drive to Thurso, it seemed silly to start a consecutive day challenge until we got there and got moved in.
Anyway, as the blank canvas cover was just crying out to be doodled on, I decided I could make a start on that, at least. Having decided that our country cottage requires patchwork quilts strewn across the beds in a shabby chic stylee but quickly being relieved of that notion on Googling said patchwork quilts and discovering how expensive they are, I decided to patchwork my sketchbook cover instead! I think I'll add some colour to the cover and then next week I'll get started on that challenge!
Next time I post here I'll be in Scotland!! So excited!
Next time I post here I'll be in Scotland!! So excited!
