Sketchbook Revival Part One

Hello everyone, recently, I signed up to a twelve day course called Sketchbook Revival. The course has finished now, but the material is available until 18th May if you are interested. The course consisted of daily videos created by a group of very talented artists including Tamara Laporte, Kiala Givehand and Kelly Hoernig, and they gave generously of their time and inspiration to show us how to create daily practices in a sketchbook.
I have been so inspired by the material available on the course, and although I have been really busy across the duration of the course, I have pushed myself to create some of the projects that have been demonstrated.

Kiala showed us how to make several styles of journal, including a concertina style journal, a simple journal made from one page, and also a stitched book incorporating lots of different types of paper. I even made a Coptic bound book, something that I had not done before.

Danny Gregory encouraged us to draw something every day, for example your cup of tea that you drink at the beginning of the day. By drawing the same thing every day, you will improve over time, and be able to look back at the gradual improvement. I have two cups in the morning, a proper cup of tea, and hot water with lemon. The glass cup was more difficult to draw, and I can see where it needed improvement. I will get better over time.

I have spent much of my time taking lots of notes as the tutors were full of really helpful tips for good habits going forward, and I do feel as though I will be more observant in my drawing and sketching from now on.

My final photo for today is of a journal page that I made following Whitney Freya's class on how to paint a Buddha. I loved this class, and created my own stencil using printable acetate. She helped us to use colours from the background as highlights and shading on the Buddha's face, bringing in the colours that we liked. We learned how to create layered backgrounds, adding words and stencilling, before painting the main image with black paint. I needed to be brave to do that!

I will be back in a few days' time with more to share from my sketching exploits, but I hope that you have enjoyed this departure from my usual posts. Thanks for stopping by, xx