Pub Sketching

click image to enlarge

Pub sketching is not usually my thing, but Scottish Dave's Pub is right next door to the Clinton Art Gallery, the home of the Shoreline Sketchers, so a night sketching at the pub seemed a natural thing to do.

Working quick among noise, music, food, drink , bagpipes and kilts yielded some interesting results.

click image to enlarge

People are a challenge for me, yet once I begin and get comfortable I get addicted. I'm working here with a Lamy Joy fountain pen and some watercolors in a Stillman & Birn Zeta 9x12 sketchbook. I've cropped the images so you can get a good look at them.

click image to enlarge

I love the sketch on the left the best. the over the shoulder glance, and the solidity of the body posture capture the gesture of the piper as I saw it.

click image to enlarge

Colorful costumes are fun to sketch no matter what the setting or context.

click image to enlarge

Simple shapes and lines are always best when sketching a subject that's likely to move any second.  It's so important to trust your eyes and hands. Sometimes scenes are so confusing that we really don;t even know what we are seeing. At that point it's important to stop and ask yourself  "What do I actually see?", and then record that, however unlikely the shape seems. That is infinitely preferable to making up something or putting down what you "think" should be there.

click image to enlarge

Here's one of the pages I completed during the evening.

Durham Fair Sketches 2015

click image to enlarge

It is now officially fall, now that the Durham Fair is over. This wonderful agricultural fair, the largest in Connecticut always ushers in the autumn for me.

I've gone to the fair many, many times in my twenty-seven years living in Connecticut. However, this is only the second year that I have sketched at the fair. Children and sketching at the fair don't really mix well. but now my children are all grown and I can take an entire day to enjoy the fair through my pens and paints. 

click image to enlarge

A big sketching outing like the fair takes some preparation to make the day really successful, I like to arrive early when the gates open on Friday to avoid the large Saturday crowds. Friday is the day for school field trips to the fair, and I think it's good for kids to see someone sketching in public.

click image to enlarge

Wear the right clothing and shoes. I stand to sketch at the fair and our fair is on very hilly terrain so a good pair of light hikers is a must for me.  ( also Advil before I leave so my back is not totally screaming half way through the day) Light weight sweater which I can roll up and stuff in my sketch bag, and vest with lots of pockets to stash pens, brushes watercolors etc. for easy access while I'm sketching. I clean out my sketch bag and travel with a minimum of carefully chosen supplies.

click image to enlarge

I've learned over the years that a big "in public" day of sketching is not the time for me to be experimenting with new stuff. That said I ordered a totally new sketchbook to use at the fair, one I've never used before. I had every intention of testing it out first but I was just too busy with other projects so I went in to this not knowing how the paper would be.  Fortunately, the paper was fine, not outstanding, but fine. Although it's 140 lb. hot press paper, I was surprised that it buckled a bit, not enough to be very concerned about and it flattened after drying I was just surprised and didn;t expect that to happen.  In case you're wondering the sketchbook was The American Journey Journaling Sketchbook from CheapJoes, see it HERE

click image to enlarge

The journal is 9x12 and one of my intentions for the fair was to work large. I've been working in small sketchbooks since the beginning of the year and I really felt it was time for a change. I'm glad I did , as working large at the fair was very freeing and I think contributed to the bold character of the sketches. I also decided from the get go that the sketches would be large two, possibly only one per page. I didn't want to cram the pages with lots of little sketches, because then I might as well be working in a small sketchbook. So it felt really good to spread out and draw large, 

click image to enlarge

My usual method for sketching at big events like this is to start with a loose, quick light pencil sketch, just to get my bearings on the page and get the basic shape and gesture of the animal. then I switch to a Tradio Stylo pen. This is not a waterproof pen and I use it for exactly that reason. I can very quickly get tonal washes, areas of shadow, and deep ink blacks as well as interesting fluid inky areas n my sketches. The black ink also mixes with the watercolors toning down things a bit which is perfect for earth, natural subjects like farm animals. That ink mixing in with the colors in every sketch also brings a consistency to the look of each page of sketches from the fair, so they work as a whole series of related images.

click image to enlarge

Using non-waterproof pen also reminds me to only use minimal washes and not get caught up trying to do complex many layered paintings, and it reminds me to leave bits of white for sparkle. When sketching at the fair I always try and remember that less is more.

click image to enlarge

I took along my QoR watercolor set, and a brown Sharpie ultra fine point to write in the animals names, breeds, farms and any other information I could gather.

click image to enlarge

During the rest of the weekend at home in the studio I added the borders, backgrounds and the stamped lettering.

click image to enlarge

All in All after sketching for 6 hours I had filled eighteen pages with thirty sketches!

click image to enlarge

Keep scrolling down to see all the rest of the pages.

click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge

click image to enlarge

Chester Fair Animal Sketches

click image to enlarge

Last year Roz, from Roz Wound Up, who is constantly an inspiration to me, introduced me to the idea of sketching at the fair.  We both share a love of sketching animals, and especially chickens. Crazy right? I sketch in public a LOT, but the fair did seem a little intimidating. However, with all of Roz's great "how to get ready for the fair" posts I knew I could do it.

click image to enlarge

I had a wonderful time last year and treasure those sketches. Love every one of them. Last year I prepared by sketching from photos the animals I knew I would sketch live at the fair. I may do some of that again this year too.  For the big fair I mean. Today's sketches are form a little fair. Here's what I mean. Connecticut doesn't have a state fair. New England has the BIG E in Massachusetts ( aka the eastern states exposition) which is way too big and crowded for me.

Here in Connecticut many towns have their own agricultural fairs. Some are very small, some are larger, The largest, the Durham Fair, is just 30 min form me, and that's the fair we typically go to every year, and then occasionally we visit some other smaller ones too. Last year was my first year sketching the Durham Fair and that for me is "the BIG ONE".

click image to enlarge

Yesterday I did live animal sketching warm ups at the Chester Fair. When all three of my kids were very little but old enough to be walking and wanting to get out of the stroller the Durham Fair was just too big to reasonably do so we switched to the Chester Fair for several years. I have some really fond memories of this fair, including my oldest when he was 7, winning a giant blue ribbon, the Superintendents Award, for his peanut butter fudge.

click image to enlarge

The sheep are my favorite sketch of the day, even though I had the most fun talking with the goats. 

Sketching at the fair requires a fair (see what I did there? ) amount of thought and pre-planning to have a really enjoyable, successful day. Yesterday I learned a bunch of things that will make sketching at the big fair better,

click image to enlarge

First I realized that for the Durham Fair I'll need to work on hot press watercolor paper for the best sketching experience. That will mean a new or different sketchbook. For the Chester Fair I decided to just use my current sketchbook which is one I made that's filled with Nideggen paper. I've been using the Nideggen paper since the beginning of the month and it has many qualities I like but quite honestly I'll be glad to get back to watercolor paper. 

So now I have a couple of choices. I can make a spiral bound sketchbook out of my favorite watercolor paper. I have lots of hot press Fluid watercolor paper on hand and I have a binding machine. I just have to check and see if I have chipboard for the cover but that's easy to get. OR I could use the brand new 6x8 cold press watercolor block that I have and bind the sheets into a sketchbook after the fair. This has the advantage of letting me toss out any sketches that are really bad, I could also design the cover after the fair, even using sketches from the fair on the cover itself. Downside is that it's cold press paper, which I don't hate, just prefer the hot press. The other question is how do I keep the loose 6x8 sheets safe from getting bent or dinged after I take them off the block. I have to say I'm leaning towards this approach, and even though I already have the cold press block I may just go buy a hot press block.

The next thing I learned is that no matter how appealing it seems to work in monochrome with a single watercolor maker I'm never gonna be happy with that. That's how I started the day at the fair and why there's all that writing on the first spread. I began with the cow just using a W&N raw umber watercolor marker. Hated the results. So I just turned the page and switched to my fountain pen and watercolors. When I got home I rescued the sketch using watercolors and pen and used the rest of the space to journal,

What I realized is that for big sketching events in public (where let's face it there's always some amount of pressure because people will inevitable want to look at what you're doing. Then there's the fear that they will want to look at the exact moment you are working on a sketch that has gone completely wrong) it's best for me to work with materials that I'm very familiar with and very comfortable with. Sketching at the fair or any big public venue is not the time for me to be experimenting. For me that means hot press watercolor paper, light pencil sketching first, fountain pen and watercolors.

The other big thing is focus.  Yesterday I felt rushed at first and wasn't able to slow down enough to really "see" with my artists' eyes for the first several sketches.  This was partly due to the fact that the fair is small and wasn't that crowded. At the big fair I have some amount of invisibility and anonymity...basically lost in the crowd.  At the smaller fair the other visitors are moving along moire slowly, and strolling along and have the opportunity to notice me sketching instead of passing right by me shuffling along with the crowd.

Also, I should start with my most familiar subjects first. That means chickens, rabbits, and the sheep.  I should definitely save the cows with their bony hips and bulky heads, the goats with their sloping profiles and bony skulls, and llamas with their funny "Y" shaped noses and rubbery lips and big eyes for after I'm in the seeing groove, and relaxed.

So, just some thought on making fair sketching the wonderful, fun, exhilarating experience it should be for me.

Sketcing at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City

 Click on the image to enlarge

I've sketched at our local natural history museum at Yale University many, many times but never at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. It's someting I've always wanted to do. After seeing Tommy Kane's brilliant sketch from the AMNH a few weeks ago, and buying a print from his Etsy Shop, (see the print I purchased HERE)  I knew that I'd have to make a trip there, and soon!!!

Just like the zoo I knew I would need to pack light.  Zoo trips and museum sketching days can be exhausting especially if you're not prepared mentally and packing a very light kit.  For me the museum was a 2+ hour drive into New York City. I went early on a Sunday morning to minimize the traffic situation. The museum has it's own parking deck so that's great, no need to walk half a mile just to get to the entrance.  The down side is that the museum is typically crowded on a Sunday, and it was. Really crowded by the afternoon.

With that in mind I knew that a sketching stool was out of the question. I would have to sit on seating that was already there or stand.  Most of the time I ended up standing. Comfortable clothes, and shoes are really helpful !  I  also packed a very light kit.  A mechanical pencil, a Pentel Stylo pen which has a cool kind of tip/nib kind of like a felt tip in a fountain pen nib with a little flex.  It makes a nice bold line but also is water soluble so you can soften and create tonal washes and combine it with watercolor, which is what I did. I like that because you can get a lot of volume and form to your sketches with just the tonal wash and then add just a smidge of watercolor to indicate the local color of things, and in a very short time your sketches come to life through value and color.  It's a good quick way to work and you get a lot of bang for the time spent.

The museum is ginormous...so how did I decide what to sketch???   This trip could have gone lots of different ways in terms of what I sketched. Here's how the day unfolded. We entered through the Hall of African Animals and I immediately knew that I wanted to sketch some of the more exotic ones, when else would I ever have the chance??  Then we proceeded to the Hall of African Peoples. As we wandered about I spotted the Masai man wearing the lion's mane headdress.  I was immediately drawn to it. What must it take to acquire an item like that, and what powerful symbolism is enacted by the one wearing it. Also, what a direct way to enter into the larger unity of living things. Many ancient and "primitive" peoples have rituals that entail wearing animal skins, helping them to tap into the spirit and essence of the creature.

Once that sketch was done, I began looking more closely at other African headdresses and ritual costumes. Fascinating. This was not something that I previously had,  any special interest in. But that first sketch opened me up to a whole new area of interest. Once the costume page was finished we took time to look at lots of other parts of the museum, have lunch and then I returned to the Hall of African Animals to complete the two page spread.

Click on the image to enlarge

We ended the day by viewing, what is probably the, most iconic installation in the museum, the blue whale.  Magnificent.  Then a nice long time in the gift shop before heading for dinner and the drive home.  I spent a lot of time figuring out the most direct and shortest way to get to the museum and wrote out the directions below the blue whale because I know I'll be going back! 

Sketching at the Zoo

There's nothing more fun than sketching at the zoo!  It's important to keep it simple and loose as your models are unlikely to hold their pose for long!

Usually when I'm sketching live animals I like to start with a mechanical pencil and get a quick sketch for  proportions and gesture. That makes it easy to erase if after just a few lines the animal has moved or gone off into a shelter.  If I get a complete or near complete quick pencil sketch then I'll switch to pen or marker to refine. For the kangaroo, deer and giraffe I chose a burnt sienna waterproof  marker because it made a statement about those animals and their coloring so right form the beginning the sketch was capturing something of the subject.

(It's also a good idea to wear a hat, sunscreen and a vest with lots of pockets to hold pens and what not.)

The rhino above was done with a fountain pen (Pilot Falcon Flex nib) and Noodlers Bulletproof black. That seemed like the right tool for all of his leathery wrinkled skin.  The primates, who were constantly on the move were done with a Pilot Varsity fountain pen, which you can pick up in most stores for about $3, it has water soluble ink and can make beautiful tonal washes when you add a water brush.

Here's another recent sketch day from a different zoo.  Aside from the camel it was sobering to see that all the animals I sketched were endangered.

 The wolves moved around a lot and I was glad I had my stool because I had to spend a lot of time just watching them, and waiting for them to return to a similar position so I could continue the sketch.

The red wolf was my last sketch of the day and his head gave me fits. I finally had to look at a photo on the internet and use gouache and markers to get it right.

Sketcing a Dragon

Sketching live animals is always thrilling for me. I just simply love the interaction and bond you can form with your subject.

This is Dusty, the bearded dragon, he's from Australia and currently lives with his mate, Matilda, in the Discovery Room at the Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in New Haven, CT

The Big Brown Bats above were taxidermy specimens also in the Discovery Room.

But back to Dusty.  A reptiles skin is really fascinating. The frill, the folds and all the scales and patterning were incredible beautiful, subtle and varied and that's what I wanted to focus on.

I started with a Gray Ultra Fine Point Sharpie which is a pen I've grown to like a lot over the past few months. Of course it's permanent and waterproof like all Sharpies but I like it because of its color. A soft, subtle gray that's perfect to begin a drawing with if you plan to work over your initial sketch with other media, which is what I often like to do. It's great because the line is a line that you can see, but it's also light enough so that it can disappear and blend into what goes on top of it. This is good because it allows you to correct and refine your sketch along the way, making incorrect lines disappear into further restatements of other media, in this case watercolor and brown marker, or keep the correct lines and they continue to have a presence in the finished drawing.

Your Sketchbook as a Mobile Art Lab

It's good to experiment! One of the functions of a sketchbook is to function as a mobile laboratory, for experiments, and to record trials and errors, and to record results.

This particular day one thing  I was experimenting with architecture, a subject I find challenging. I've been experimenting with using a pencil grid as a guideline to help me plot out the basic architectural structure of a building before getting caught up in all the cool little details.

That's a change from the way I usually work. I most often just pick a spot and begin to draw working out from that place. The problem with architecture is that I often can't fit the whole thing on the page, or because I'm focusing on the detail I actually miss whole important parts of the building like leaving out a window or an entire floor!!!

My second experiment was with the writing style. Normally, I write in all caps and create neat blocks of text which play an important role in the overall lay out of the page. On this day I wrote in funky colors, with a Faber-Castell Brush Tip Pen in cursive.  I've been trying out several looser more expressive writing styles to see if any of them fit me. So far I haven't hit on one that would be my default font, so I'm pretty much back to block lettering. but that doesn't mean I'm not going to keep experimenting with writing styles.  Because the neat part is that I now have a couple of new ones I can use now and again when appropriate to the page and I have a few new ones that look good as headlines.

Third experiment for the day was sketching people a little more slowly.  This is another area I find challenging. It's more of a fear thing than a skill thing, though my people drawing skills will always need improving. I actually get pretty nervous sketching people in public, so I rush my sketches which really doesn't help me improve my skills. For the experiment I picked people in the lunch shop that were far enough away from me that I felt pretty OK that They wouldn't notice that I was drawing them and that helped me slow down a bit. The woman in the beret was the most successful because she was engrossed reading the newspaper and I felt the safest taking the time to really look at her as I was drawing.

Foodie Sketches

Foodie sketches make me happy. Here, at last, is justification for needing to go to a bakery, cafe, or adorable restaurant. It's also an excellent reason to order dessert. Clearly, you need to do this for sketching practice.

Beyond the fact that it's a reason to enjoy some yummy treats, sketching food is enormously fun. The colors, shapes and textures of food give you ample opportunity to use line, color, and a a variety of materials.

This sketch was made using a fine point black Sharpie marker and some quick watercolor washes. Notice the white gel pen used to create the glossy shine on the drizzle of chocolate sauce. Works every time to create the illusion of shiny surfaces, that's why I always keep a white pen in my sketch kit.



Sketching your meal at a restaurant is also great if you're eating alone and need something to do. I will warn you that it's usually a conversation starter and you're likely to have a few admirers, unless you're somewhere very crowded with people coming and going too busy to notice what you're doing.

This sketch of a lunch with my daughter at the Olive Garden restaurant ended up being photographed by the staff so they can print it, frame it and hang it up in the restaurant! That's why I hastily put my name and website at the bottom. Happy stuff like that happens when you're sketching in public.

Sketching at a restaurant of course means that you'll need whomever your eating with to be tolerant of your crazy need to sketch your food.  My family is used to it by now. If you go out to eat with fellow sketchers that's  perfect and usually a really fun time!


Of course sometimes you don't want to be bothered with on lookers or even bothered to get out of your jammies or yoga pants and get dressed to actually go to a restaurant.

In which case you can sketch food at home!

Here's a fast scribbly sketch of breakfast right in my own kitchen.

A word about fast, and  fast food sketches. No pun intended ;-D  First, usually I'm hungry! Second, often there's a non-sketcher with me and I don't want to drive them entirely crazy making them wait to eat until I'm done sketching. Third, there are so many complexities to food sketches, cups and plates with ellipses, the shape of spoons and forks etc. that if I slow down I'll get all hung up on getting those drawn "perfectly" and that will take far to long and ruin the spontaneity of the sketch. Occasionally, if I have the time and the main object is something like a tea pot I might sketch in pencil first, but usually I just take a deep breath and dive in using a pen and focusing on the contours of things. 

Sometimes with this approach the placement of things gets messed up. If that happens I just continue on filling the page and creating a montage. Better for a sketch to be pleasingly inaccurate than annoyingly perfect!