Art House Coop Sketchbook 2011 Project

I've prepared all the spreads with watercolour washes and collaged bits. I'm still not sure how I'm going to interpret the theme "your name here" except that I know it's not going to be about me, per se. Perhaps a series of spreads on famous (and not so famous---perhaps even fictional/made-up---) namesakes, with images and quotes. Something like Lynn Perella's altered portraits might work for this project.

Here's a sample spread from the Moleskine ready for more to be added. This is how my desk usually ends up when I'm really getting into it!

Direct painting

Popular painter Fiona Peart uses this term to describe watercolour sketching without prior drawing. The idea is to focus on one shape at a time, starting somewhere in the middle of the picture, and build outwards from there, fitting shapes together in the manner of a jigsaw puzzle and leaving a little white space between the shapes. I have been experimenting with this approach, eg, in my Kirrie show and croft sketches, and find that it forces me to slow down, look carefully, and really think about colour, shape, and proportion before I even touch the brush to the paper. It also forces me to apply paint more deliberately, and to take time to observe how the paint spreads and dries. This is exactly the kind of practice I need, as I tend to be slapdash with watercolour, rushing in without thought and always overworking the paint.

Working from photos

A photo flattens shapes so that you see line, as opposed to volume---2D rather than 3D. In addition, the camera with its one eye erases depth and warps perspective by compressing depth of field into a very shallow plane. In my Highland pony sketch, the length of the pony's foreshortened barrel is lost and the pony thus looks too "punchy". I am at a loss as to how to fix this because I have no live drawings to refer to. The lesson here: draw from life where possible and by default, instead of relying on the camera. Sketch live to record the essentials--shape, volume, gesture---and use the camera to collect details that will be filled in later.

Meanwhile, I'm thinking this pony would make a lovely subject for a linocut.