Summer Sketchbook Project

Well, it's taken me considerably longer to complete than I ever imagined, certainly more than twice as long as Sian envisaged, but every day has been so worthwhile.  It's been liberating and energising and above all inspiring. 
And now for some personal reflections: I've learnt to look;  I've learned to trust the process, that a little work each day does build skills and confidence, and that success, however small, is a great motivator and reference point.   I thought I knew these things already, and I did, but the SSP has brought them back to the surface and in doing so reawakened my pleasure in making and doing.  For that particularly, thank you.

Day 30

It was interesting to see the difference between my first drawing and the second where, with only a little cheating, I tried to draw only looking at the plant not at the paper.  I hope even with the addition of stitch this looser approach shows.  I had thought of adding some stitch to the cones but could not come up with something I liked or felt could convey the velvety mounds.  I think the straight stitch works well to outline the petals and conveys the first signs of autumn collapse.  The stems I'm afraid have turned into bamboo!  What I need is some stitch to convey their willowy curves.  Several layers of watercolour convey the grasses amongst which the echiacea grow and echo the work I did on Day 19..

Day 29

This is even better -- much freer and done in a trice.  It probably epitomises one of the things the SSP has taught me.

I rather like this print though I can see where my hand pressure was too light.

Putting on the second layer didn't really work.  Maybe the colour was too dark or too thick.  Whatever it was I need to practice more to get to grips with the method.   However I do like the drawing.

Day 28

I've included this monoprint because it illustrates a couple of things I've learnt.  Firstly, what happens when the ink on the glass is a little too thick.  Secondly, and probably more importantly, how a drawing can appear to be accurate but when reversed its weaknesses are distorted.  This cotton reel looks very lopsided especially at the bottom -- I needed to put some guide lines in to help create symmetry.

I've been working on getting the proportions in my drawings right, however, these cotton reels don't look particularly and I probably need to use a softer pencil to create a darker mark.  The monoprint version looks better.