Sketch-In and Sketchbook Practices

Since The Sketchbook Challenge began last January I've been thinking about how I use and don't use a sketchbook. What is a sketchbook? How do artists use them? How is it different from an "art journal"? These are questions I've pondered over the year without forcing any answers.

To express your thoughts on the topic, click here to take a brief survey.

At Ink About It over the weekend, Sue Bleiweiss and I conducted a Sketch-In. We did lots of drawing exercises:

Then worked with watercolor, experimenting with materials:


And working from still life:
On the second day we painted papers:

Using various brands and types of acrylic paint:
Look at us all having FUN!
Here I am demonstrating something brilliant, I'm sure:

And this is Sue Bleiweiss with Lori, one of the owners of Ink About It.
Then Sue gave us a great little tutorial on making a quick and easy hard-cover book. She brought book kits for everybody, and people used their painted papers for covers and end-papers. What a creative and productive weekend! Check out Sue's free projects to find this book tutorial and many others.

Friday Drawing Practice

I am going to postpone the Drawing With Values exercise because I want to share an easy and fun doodle exercise that Sue Bleiweiss and I did in our Sketch-In at Ink About It. It begins with Diana Trout's Doodle Game, which is on the Sketchbook Challenge Tutorials page. I urge you to watch her video and try it! I took it in a slightly new direction in honor of this month's Sketchbook Challenge theme: Branching Out / Out On A Limb.



To see my results, click here.

I hope you have fun with this. Thanks for visiting! Take my survey about your art practices and preferences. THANKS! It will help me with my Friday Practice series.

Workshops in Westford

Just back from workshops at Ink About It in Westford, MA. What a blast! On Friday evening we made fanciful spring bird ornaments; Saturday was Unlocking the Secrets of Color, and on Sunday I co-taught a Sketch-In with Sue Bleiweiss, who blogged about it on the Sketchbook Challenge. Without further comment, here are some photos from my bird and color classes:

This is Raine's bird. Raine comes to all my workshops at Inky's, and serves as my personal laugh track.


This bird got great head gear as well as tail feathers:


This one got a glittery wing and sequin eye:


Two types of tail feathers adorn this one's behind:


Same with this one:


We got out the Angelina Fiber to add glitz to many of the wings. This one has imaginative feet:


The crown really MAKES this bird, as well as the skeleton leaves for a tail, sprinkled with Angelina Fiber.

This bird project is in my new book, Adventures in Mixed Media, which is available on April 26.

Now, for the Unlocking the Secrets of Color class. After painting color wheels, color gradations, and value scales, we put our skills into practice to make collage-paintings. We focused mostly on collage-paintings in one color (monochromatic) or closely related (analogous) colors.







Thanks for visiting! And thanks to Ink About It for hosting the workshops. Don't forget to go to the Sketchbook Challenge blog to see pictures from the Sketch-In.