Sketchy Sunday

I was rummaging around for some of my old sketch books, to use in a project, and thought I should share some of my doodles with you. I may even start a mini series of occasional sketchy Sundays! Who knows what I'll do when I'm in this kinda crazy mood?

These sketches are from a trip I made with a group of fellow students on a residential course to Allenheads, a village in Northumbria. We were studying illustration and this was a field trip to refine our observational skills, lead by our tutor and a half Navajo Indian called Zane. He was a little bit (a lot) New Age-y in some of his practices. But the trip was really amazing and my work definitely improved a great deal.

Some of the exercises were too 'out there' for me, we had to sit in a pitch black wood, all alone, trying to draw the 'spirits'! However, others really taught me a lot about drawing. For example on the very first day there we did a circular walk, stopping at various points to make quick sketches. After once such stop Zane asked 'Who had drawn the wind, or the song of the birds?' In a sketch, you have to not only capture what you see, but, what you feel too. To be able to convey to the person viewing the finished piece, that it was windy or eerily quiet, is an art that takes a lot of practice.

It really brought a smile to my face to dig out these old sketches, and a tinge of sadness too. My friend Gretel and her lovely partner Andy were part of our group, Andy sadly passed away earlier this year and coming across a sketch I had made of him was bittersweet.

I definitely need to do some more sketching as it sharpens your creative muscles and really makes you  appreciate the landscape, so much more than taking a picture with a camera, which can sometimes remove you from what you are viewing.

I hope that you have enjoyed this trip down memory lane as much as I have, and look out for more sketchy Sundays coming your way!

xxx