Postcards from the Lake: The Art So Far

A year or two ago, a blogger friend gave me several partially used and very lovely sketchbooks that had been passed on to her. There was a hitch to it -- She said, "you must use them and fill them up!"

It has taken awhile. The paper is beautiful and the artist who started them was very good and I didn't want to just doodle in them! But I've finally filled the first of them (and worked in others as well)! And I've been rather pleased to open them up and see progress and diversity within.

I've never been a sketchbook artist. I have many and on occasion take them with me. I promise myself I will become an urban sketcher, yet I never seem to take it along, instead using photos I take as my guide rather than live work.

Often I will use techniques like graphite paper or light box to get accurate proportions and I don't have a problem with doing that as the image often changes much from my photo from which I copy. (For those that don't do much two-dimensional art, graphite paper is similar to carbon paper -- you place it on your page and put your photo or a copy over it and trace the lines. You can get as detailed as you like; I used to do them all, but now I just generally do the main features to get the proportions right (or the eye placement). 

A light box is similar -- it goes on a table, you turn the light on, put your original on it and the light shines through and you copy the design on your paper. You can make phony graphite by turning your photocopy original over and coloring in the back with a soft lead pencil, then turning it over and trace. I use this "copying" method for pet portraits, to be sure I get THE animal, not just AN animal.)

Molly's dog, Rogan, done in 2021.

Even using any of these methods, the piece is my own work and just transferred it to another format (Particularly because I use my own originals as a guide most of the time.) The work changes radically as I begin to add the paint. (It's a wonderful way to learn, by the way, as your hand gets used to following line and seeing shape.)

But I've really wanted to focus on working by eye or imagination -- whether it was from life at the moment or from another photo or image, but not using the graphite. That's been the subject of most of this sketchbook. Practice. I've done color charts, workshop assignments and pieces coming from my hand. It doesn't come easily to me! I can't say all the work in this post is my best work, because -- well, it's practice. But it's a good start.

The work I've done at the cottage started with some violas I brought up here from home. The pot is packed with these sweet blooms but I decided to really narrow it down and try to get the flowers themselves as well as I could.

This is a project from the Sketchbook Revival workshops that I didn't get posted before. I'd made the sketch from the photo on the computer screen that the teacher used.

Last year our Camster turned three and we gave him a bubble gun. He loved chasing them. I'd hesitated to freehand a child but gave it a go. I think it turned out OK!

A few days after I fell, Joe (my cousin David's son) and his lovely companion Katie were at the lake. Before they left, they stopped by with some beautiful flowers. So yes, another live subject!

 

This piece is mostly from imagination though I did use a page from a Met Museum calendar as an inspiration piece. The house is way too wonky!

I had bought some kitchen towels some time ago with Parisian motifs on them. They seemed pretty basic so I decided to give some of the motifs a try in watercolor, again sketching freehand. (Oops! Looks like a runaway taxi knocked the Metro sign off kilter!)

I rather like the Arc du Triumph. It reminded me that you don't have to put in every detail, which tends to be a problem I have!

I expanded on this one, adding a tablecloth and a bit of detail.

I leave you with a last painting of my lake, freehanding from a vintage postcard.

 

And finally, the only one I've done on "the good paper." This was a shop in Paris where I bought some flowers on my first trip.

There will be much more to come. It feels like summer is half over (well, actually, it is!). But I'm just getting started!

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