Paper

Today’s #bandofsketchers prompt was paper. I realised I’m surrounded by the stuff. Sketchbooks, newspapers, cards, envelopes, etters, books, novels, paperbacks, calendars, magazines, print outs. I’ve tried to represent them in a sketch. The image is imagined, but my house is a mess at the moment so it is littered with paper things.

Almost full

My lovely soft covered sketchbook is almost full. The paper in it is thick enough to stop most ink getting through and slightly shiny. I really prefer it to ring bound sketchbooks because you can draw across two pages without the rings and perforated paper getting in the way.

It only has a couple of pages left fir me to draw on. I think this sketchbook won’t just be put away in a drawer but will be treasured (until I start a new one)! ❤️

Movement

I do odd doodles in my sketchbook. This wS a drawing of someone falling, then I added stick figures of jumping and handstands and other movements. Why not? It’s a good mental exercise to try and think what the positions of limbs are when the body moves. It’s a bit scruffy, but I’m trying to get the shapes right. I think the falling one was hardest. Positioning of hands and arms from a memory of someone falling is not easy!

Magnolia sketch

I sat and drew one of the magnolias while we were there at Bishton Hall. It was just a black and white sketch so I coloured it in when I got home. The curved edges are because I can’t get my sketchbook page to lie flat. I don’t think I’ve got the colours right, but I have only got a limited range of colours in the set of felt pens I’m using.

Structure

I never waste things if I can help it. These castellated bits of paper are actually the off cuts from the ends of perforated sheets of paper. It’s where I have cut pages out of a sketchpad. One of the bits has black ink on it. The image was then mirrored four times in the Layout app I have on my phone. I don’t think I had glued these down, but I used some off cuts like this to turn into a block of flats (apartments) for a college project.

Back to life

In January I started a back to life sketchbook for my college course. This was day ones drawing, a falcon on my mouse at, pens and my computer mouse. I continued drawing every day from then on, I have done all sorts of drawings and I’m still doing them (today was some ice cubes). That effort has been interesting, sometimes confusing, difficult to maintain if I could not find something to observe and draw. But it has been rewarding. My imagination has been stretched and expanded. My ideas generation has improved. I would recommend drawing everyday to anyone who is interested in art.

Cat helping me draw!

Oh yes! She tried to get my pen and rubbed her head along my sketchpad. I took a blurry photo and then drew this. Sometimes the paw comes up and she tries to grab my pen. Eyes staring at the tip of it. What fun… Maybe she was an artist in a past life!

Last day of April, almost the end of this semester, but I think drawing something every day has really improved my skills. Looking back at last year’s work before I started college I can see how my mark making has changed. Practice is definitely good for Art.