Embracing creativity as an Artist, Coach and Teacher
You can find my ink and watercolor drawings and textiles for sale, blog postings on the creative process, information on creativity coaching with me, current workshops I am teaching, and examples of my work over the years.
There was a recent article in the New York Times (May 1st) about drawing and how helpful for one’s mental health it is. I agree 100%. The author, John Donohue, said he draws his dish rack as one of his strategies, so I thought I’d give it a try. Here’s my first attempt. I set up a stool in the middle of my kitchen and drew my dish rack the best I could within a time limit of 25 minutes.
Give it a try and share.
1st attempt drawing my dish rack.
An ink and watercolor sketch of some new art supplies
I am on day 22/100 of daily creating and sharing efforts as prompted by The Creative’s Workshop. For the past few days I’ve headed in a new direction and have been making daily videos of my drawing progress. Every day I try to add something small to my next video so I can keep learning and improving.
What I challenged myself with this video was combining several clips together as well as some photos. I also added some music playing in the background from copyright free sources. I figure that classical music will often be a good choice to go with drawing.
The video has the sketch being drawn, watercoloring it, labeling and then because it needed something more, some splatters. Various parts worked in this video and various need some refinements in my next video attempts.
My YouTube channel where I’m putting my videos is at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuW2C18HZ02vDzBbWV5Xt7Q/
Have you ever made a video of you making or doing something? How did it go? What were the challenging parts for you?
I had an opportunity to lead a 3-hour workshop, “Keep a Daily Sketch Journal,” at the Redmond Library yesterday. I had 15 students and there were 18 people on the waitlist! It’s nice to know that there are lots of people in the community who are interesting in sketching more or at least learning about it. I had a great time and it was very satisfying because the students all seemed to get something out of it. I loved seeing the variety of things people chose to draw from their day. I will do another sketching workshop there in the fall on nature journaling. The date’s not been set yet but the library did promote through Nextdoor.
More from the 2 day Urban Sketching workshop with Gabi Campanario in Bothell. On Saturday after the walk by sketch of the vacuum parts robot casually sitting on a bench, the group moved to Hillcrest Bakery. This is a business that's been family owned and operated since 1934. It's a cute little blue and white shop at the bottom of Main Street. The drawing exercise here was to focus on line work and composition.
Hillcrest Bakery
Line Work and Composition Exercise
Gabi's first sketch demonstration was on the side walk next to the bakery but with 12 or so sketchers that got a bit crowded so we moved across the street to draw. The throw down of sketchbooks was interesting as always and my sketch.
The fourth stop of the day was at Bothell Landing. It was a beautiful afternoon and it was packed with all sorts of people from young ballerinas, family reunions, two or three wedding groups, a girl in her huge puffy quinceañera dress held by her younger brother, and plenty of others. We first got to tour through the Hannan House, one of the three historic buildings grouped there. Gabi gave a demo of three ways to show value when he drew the school house. One was pencil, another was pencil with crosshatching and the final was watercolor. The exercise for us was to practice value. Incorporating the earlier ideas on composition and line work was encouraged - not surprisingly.
Bothell Landing
Value Exercise
Over the past weekend, I was in an Urban Sketchers workshop at Cloud 9 Art School in Bothell, Washington, led by Gabriel Campanario who started Urban Sketchers in Seattle about 10 years ago. It was a great class with plenty of inspiration but also challenges in trying to put the concepts down on paper and have them work out. After every sketching stop, there would be a throw down where everyone would lay out their sketchbooks (or iPad) and we could see what everyone from the group had done. That part was always interesting. Here are some pictures from the workshop and the first two challenges.
Historic Tree in Bothell
An exercise in composition
This exercise was focused on composition. The tree was to be the main character in the sketches. It was then a matter of finding a spot to draw it. The photos show Gabi doing his demo for the tree, the spot I chose to draw the tree from, and then the throw down of sketches. Composition is a tough thing to do well in an urban setting when so much is calling for attention. "Draw me, draw me!", "Include me too!", "Ooh, that's interesting..." It's definitely something for me to think about more when I'm trying to sketch outdoors.
Walk-by Sketch
10 minutes
Gabi gave us ten minutes to sketch this whimsical and creative vacuum parts robot sculpture. And here's the throw down of our sketches.
