Thinking and Starting Small
Hi, Martin here.
I've been on a bit of a journey over the last couple of weeks.
I set myself a challenge from a photography perspective to try and post and write about a photo a day all around a central theme, which in this case was Water.
This was all designed to drive new habits and processes, to approach things with more consistency and structure. It certainly has been a learning experience and you can see the progress here
At the same time though, I have been dedicating time each day towards sketching and my own art work.
I have said it before but I have never been any good at art, at least not in my mind. However I have been finding myself drawn to certain media types on social media, especially those based around inks and the play of shadow and light.
So I decided to start trying it out a little bit.
My main inspiration was an Austrian gentleman called Martin Lachmair, who in his own words is "All about ink and watercolor, architecture drawings"
I also wanted to ease myself in, so I started with just a simple little tree and a sign. Just a sketch in pencil.
and from there tried to do a couple of sketches a day. I realised quickly that I had a short attention span.
More than an hour or so at one time and I was getting tired and distracted.
So I decided to focus on smaller items and scenes. Maybe a small forest scene, or the view from my window, or that from the table my allotment one morning.
All were quick rough sketches, that did not really take more than 45 - 60 minutes.
Now 2 weeks on I am able to spend longer putting pen to paper in one go. I am more ambitious, more adventurous and less afraid of trying something new.
And it shows in my sketch book as I leaf through the pages - here are the last couple of weeks worth in chronological order:
These were quick sketches of windows, trying to get shadows right
This was a longer piece which became quite relaxing
This was the view form my allotment on morning - there were lots of different foliage types that I had to try and distinguish
More Window Studies
A view from Durham of Elvet bridge
This one was a copy of an artist on instagram called Matty Burnham (@mattyburnam_art)
This was done over an evening with the TV on in the background - It took a couple of stints
This is me trying a different approach to foliage
Playing with adding watercolour
Some studies of every day objects - again small little things for a bite size approach.
You can see that the bottom light is already MUCH better than the top one
Finally some botanical sketches, one from an actual sketch (the mushroom) and one from a photo (the rose)
I would say my key lessons learned in the last 2 weeks are:
- Draw or paint something you are interested in or want to rather than what you think you should
- Start small - think about trying out component parts. I will be continuing with smaller studies of things like lamp posts, signs, ducting, windows, doorways, rooftops, bushes, trees and any more. When I feel comfortable enough I can start to combine them to make larger landscape images
- Take your time. This is a skill and takes concentration. Resting with a cuppa while waiting for the latest additions to dry can be all you need to come back refreshed and enthused
- Consider starting with a sketch book - I have already gained a lot of satisfaction from leafing back over the last few weeks to see progress and improvements.