Here’s a quick little study. I’ve often thought of doing some paintings of tree tops. They’re some of the most visually interesting sights in my landscape. There’s a lot of movement, and the sweeping curves of this particular tree will probably return again in another study. Sitting under it, there’s a lovely fan-shape to the branches. I wanted to try sketching without drawing in ink first. Compare it with the last SotD. What do you think?
Strawberries and snow peas from an urban Windsor apartment garden: mine! I’ll be needing a new watercolour sketchbook soon. I’m running out of pages in this watercolour Moleskine journal. I’ve lost my little red Hand.Book journal I usually take with me all over town. That’s one of the perils of urban sketching, I suppose. I’ve lost a few art supplies along the way. I opted not to use my waterbrush for these. My birthday present to myself was to load up the sketching box with better paints and get a set of brushes from Currys.
Good day, loyal readers!
It seems that whenever I settle down to work on artistic projects, blogging regularly, my life takes one of its unexpected turns. This time, the turn came in the form of the realisation that I would have to take another term in grad school. (A long story: I finished my degree too quickly having completed the requirements in two rather than three terms). So, I’ve been teaching at the University and taking a wonderful class with wonderful people.
A little sketch from a photo a friend took of me teaching at the university.
Today also happens to mark the one year aniversary of this blog! I have a few ideas in the pipeline. These are in addition to: starting up Sketch of the Day, and linking over to my column Sonia’s Sketchbook at WindsoriteDOT ca.
NEW REVIEWS!
I have to review some of the best art supplies I’ve ever come across. I’m so excited to share these with you! Winsor and Newton sent me some free samples of their Artist’s oil paint, I’ve moved onto a not Moleskine sketchbook for watercolor work, and I have found a work partner in my new Noodler’s Ahab pen. All of these, and more (inks, paints) in the days to come.
A NEW PROJECT!
And I’m starting on a little year-long project. It will involve master copies (studies of historical paintings), which I hope will cumilate in a show here in Windsor sometime in 2013. My goals are to explore materials and styles, but I’m not particularly interested in producing exact copies. I also hope that the process will get a discussion going here as well as on WetCanvas. I’ll be starting in earnest this January. We’ll call it ‘Project X’ for now!
An illustration for my upcoming article on our local history museum. From left: the top of a buckskin “gun-bag” with seed-bead work and tassles, a gilded wood-carving of the Holy Family, and prehistoric vessel and tools.
I’ve always been keen on local history but I learned a few things while writing the article. I knew the museum was a French-Canadian farmhouse that was taken over as headquarters for the British and American armies in the war of 1812, but I didn’t know it was also the site of a battle in 1838!
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
I’ll add a link to the article on Tuesday, when it’ll be live.
Like Parker Palmer, I’m a teacher at heart. I live strangely deep when I’m teaching. I’ve taught children and adults, both are fantastic. I take any opportunity to engage with learning communities. And, so, when the Centre for Teaching and Learning at the University of Windsor held their annual Sumer Series of workshops, I signed up. I signed for them all. And then… I was too sick to go to any but the very last.
I was possibly too ill to be at this one too, but I took the risk. And I made this sketch of the fabulous Michael Potter demonstrating his mad chart paper and marker skills for us. I used Inktense pencils with a watercolour Moleskine and Aquash waterbrush. It was really handy to sketch quickly (teachers move around a lot, don’t you know) with the pencils and add some shading with washes. It’s one of my favourite techniques.
I made this sketch for a special purpose. I’ve just begun writing for WindsoriteDOTca, a hyper-local news blo. And this was my first-ever story.
You can catch my new column here, at WindsoriteDOTca.
My graduate program is drawing to a close. I have little free time, but I wanted to offer this little sketch today.
I play the harp as a hobby, and like to use it to accompany myself as I tell stories. I had just memorised a favourite story of mine: the cat’s elopement, which is a folktale from Japan. I think whenever I play and tell that story, I will be mindful of the great tragedies of the last few days.
Please donate to the Red Cross’ earthquake and tsunami relief efforts.
-Sonia
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Grad school has obliterated my freetime, but I did manage to record this little snippet of the big, scary winter storm which has hit Ontario and much of the US as well. It is being called various things like the ‘snowcalypse’ or ‘snowmygod.’ So far, it isn’t really that bad. The danger is in road accidents. Many people are unused to driving in snow or icy conditions.
Here is a neighbour’s stairs gradually disappearing as the snow came down (it is still falling!). You can see that the snow on the ground has already swallowed the bottom stair.
I’m not looking forward to walking to the buses tomorrow. Snow shovelling fairies do not exist, despite what my neighbours may think. 😉
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Here’s a brief update on my first attempt at a portrait using a layering technique in oils. I bought some new paints from Winsor and Newton last week and am really enjoying them. I started out with an earth tone palette but I enjoy having more scope if I want to get different effects.
This painting is taking a long time to work up, mostly because of my own inexperience but also because I am trying to work with reduced toxicity. To my knowledge, no one in the area teaches this style of painting so I’m more or less on my own. Once I’ve finished this painting and feel a bit more competent, I’ll make a few posts about the process. A little time to approximate, to make mistakes and adapt. To post about the process now seems to be a little like publishing a travel guide before I’ve arrived!
My model can be found here: http://lockstock.deviantart.com/
I have been a little scarce lately. I’ve returned to classes at the university where I’m finishing a Master’s degree in English literature. The first week back is always very hectic and I haven’t had much time to collect my thoughts. But I have been thinking that I should say a few words about my choice of sketchbook.
I use one of these: a large sized Moleskine watercolour “notebook,” as it is called in their catalogue.
If you are not familiar with the Moleskine line, I think a brief summary of the product would look something like this. They are generally a little more expensive than regular sketchbooks or notebooks, the company makes claims about famous writers and artists using them–claims which are of questionable veracity. They have become so popular that, indeed, in some circles they’ve become a joke.
I bought mine for only one reason: I wanted a sketchbook that would take watercolour reasonably well, which this sketchbook does. If I’m honest, I have never even concidered the “other great people owned these” angle. I know now that there are other brands of watercolour sketchbooks out there (Handbook makes one), but Moleskine is the only one I have tried so far. The paper is better than the student-grade watercolour paper I have used in the past, and takes ink better than anything in my current stock. It lays flat when open, and is hand bound.
That said, I have seen reports of pages coming loose, especially if you are rough with the books. I am gentle with mine but one of the signatures (paper folds) is coming loose.
It has one clear draw-back: it currently only comes in landscape orientation. It was designed like a reporter’s flip-up notebook but I’ve found that even using it held as such my hands get tired and sore very quickly. It is a literal pain to use if you don’t have something to rest it on. Russell Stutler has rigged up a support to accomodate this drawback. It is hoped that Modo and Modo will eventually come out with a portrait oriented version before long.
When the day comes that I’ve finished the last page of my Moleskine, I will probably try one of the other watercolour sketchbooks out there. Until then, I’m pleased enough with what I have provided I can brace it on something!
View of the Art Gallery of Windsor, from the bus station.
I’ve returned for my last semester at grad school where I’m finishing an MA in English Literature. I hope to keep up my sketching in the meantime. Painting on the bus is such a fun experience. There’s blobs of colour all over and you can’t quite tell what the colour mixes will look like, at least when using this waterbrush.
Windsor, Ontario, Canada
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