New in my sketchbook....

Cadaqués

This afternoon I was thinking about all the incredible artists that have lived, stayed and painted in this area: in particular Cadaqués, which has a very special place in my heart, as it's where my husband comes from and where we first met, some 12 years ago, one a hot summery night. It's where we lived when we first got married....... so many places with such special memories.

How many artists have walked the same streets and seen the same things? According to Google - loads!  Salvador Dali  lived there, Picasso spent the summer of 1910 there, Miró, etc, etc.......  Now that I've started working on my art again (it's been 10 years!) , I will be sure to always take my sketchbook and watercolours when we visit the in-laws!

 

Dali's painting of Cadaqués

(above left) my first week in  Cadaqués - I sketched the street I lived in - pencil & ink (1999)
(above right) one of a series of little paintings I did for an art market in the town square - watercolour & ink (2000)
(left) For the Sketchbook Project 2012, I did a sketch of the same view as Dali's famous painting (below). Not much has changed... other than the water bearers - it still has the same magical quality I imagine it had decades ago. 

New in my sketchbook....

 

The other day I bought 2 new sketchbooks - one for pencil sketches (I want to work on my drawing skills - got a 4B and 8B pencil to start with) and another for watercolour.  How in love am I with the watercolour sketchbook!  It's Arches' 'Travel Book' - 6 x 10 inch cold pressed 140lbs (300g/m2) .  The way the paint slides onto the paper is heavenly!

Carnival 2012

Carnival is coming early this year (for me anyway - it's actually only in March) and the theme is CAPTAIN AMERICA!  Seems mad to be working on this in the middle of summer, but I'm going 'home' to South Africa for Christmas, so I won't have the winter holidays to work on everything.   There are about 60 people in the group I usually do - so I'm starting off by drafting a range of men's / women's / children's sizes.  This is the women's design (using lycra foil).

Everyday objects

I'm now working on the Sketchbook Challenge.  The theme for August is "Everyday objects".  I've started with something that has very much become an everyday object for me - my paintbox!

And a little realism in the form of a homegrown pear......

'Designs' page

I've posted some old designs taken from my portfolio here.  Here's a peek:

 

The watermark is from my old website, which I no longer use.  Everything's over here now and a lot more user-friendly :)  Go Blogger!

New pics for Sketchbook Project 2012

The latest additions to my Sketchbook for the Sketchbook Project 2012.  Can't believe I only have 1 page left to fill! (and there I was worried I wouldn't have anything...)

Yay!  I'm finished!  Click here to see the whole sketchbook.

Sketchbook Project 2012

I recently discovered a very exciting project called the Sketchbook Project 2012. I joined up, got my little sketchbook in the post and am a couple of pages away from finishing. The pages are really thin and not thick enough for proper watercolour painting (I tend to use 300- 350gsm paper when painting). I like painting really loosely and using huge amounts of water.

So, I decided to work with what I had, challenge myself a little and used sharpie, watercolours and coloured pencils.

Here are a couple of my favourites (all drawn and painted while watching the telly in the evening). It's been a really relaxing end to the day. I must admit I'm itching to work bigger and looser though. I now have another 2 pages to fill and then the final touches to make and I can post it off to New York.

 

UPDATE (19/08/2011): got an email today saying my sketchbook has arrived safely in New York.