Yesterday was a groundbreaking day. I get that a lot, where solutions to age long problems come up out of the blue, and they are so simple, really. So obvious. There are things that I like to do, but don't do quite as much because of logistics. One of them is sketching outside because the material, for how light it is, is still too heavy for me to carry in my bag - unless I am specifically going out to sketch. What dawned on me yesterday is that I could make tiny books, A6 or smaller, and just carry a pen, take a photo reference for the colours and add those at home. This way, wherever I am, I can sketch quickly. Here are two quick challenges: #35, Draw a bicycle or part of one:
And this is EDM #41, Draw a landmark of your city:
Both sketches were done in less than 15 minutes. The bike took longer because I don't know how to ride a bike, so I don't even really know what they look like. Also because I could perch on a bike rail.
For the second one, I was lucky that I have a landmark of London quite local to me, Alexandra Palace. I had nowhere to sit for this, the view was blocked by trees, there was a busy ice cream van with screaming children, so I drew really quickly, not more than 3 minutes. And then I put some watercolour to both sketches at home, the bike from memory and Ally Pally from a quick photo reference on my mobile phone.
I used recycled paper for this square(ish) sketchbook, scraps of different colours, bits of envelopes, etc. Every page is different, and because I ignored the grain direction, it is also kind of wonky, but it gives me a lot of freedom to draw quickly, make mistakes, experiment. Here are the small books I've made so far, the wonky book is the blue one. I also create my own printed cover paper, and that is a lot of fun:
The moral of this story is, when you have a problem, or face an obstacle, identify it and be open to finding a solution. There will be one.
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