Bex Hall

Exploring Creativity

Bex Hall > sketchbook revival

sketchbook revival

Whimsical watercolors messy but fun

In one of today’s Sketchbook Revival sessions, mixed media artist, Toni Burt, shared her world of bold color, “messy” lines, and whimsical imagery.

The goal is to practice loosely creating a perfectly imperfect, vibrant sketch of an old building full of charm.

She suggested sketching first with pen instead of pencil and so I did. She was right. When you use a pen, you kind of commit as you go.

She used water soluble pens for shadowing as (I think) a third layer and that was messy. It was all messy. But by the time I made it to my third drawing (on nice paper, even), I felt more comfortable with the tools.

Practice, practice, practice!

xoxo

Advice to my inner beginner artist

Early yesterday I wrote in my morning pages “…what do I want to work on art-wise?” A little later, I took a class from the Sketchbook Revival/Tamara Laporte about painting in an unfamiliar-to-me style. It was wildly uncomfortable and far from my comfort zone.

This morning I wrote about how yesterday I did something scary (art related) and it turned out to be one of the best experiences I’ve ever had with painting.

I drew a line in the journal across the facing pages between the two comments, connecting them with a note about how if I had not put into action what I had been thinking about, the painting and experience would have never happened. 

It’s in the doing the fear dissipates and miracles occur.

A respectful salute and nod to the legendary Dan Wieden and his iconic tagline “Just do it.” 😊

I gave myself the grace to practice some more today, knowing the results would be amateurish and look like a beginner’s work. But I AM a beginner with this technique and I’ll only get better with practice.

So I did it. 

Keep practicing. You never know what will come or what you’ll find. Be open. Just do it.

💕

Note: The watercolors here are not my designs; I used reference photos.

This was wildly uncomfortable

Mixing colors I would never have put together on one page. Splattering things. Letting go of convention.

But thanks to mixed media artist and teacher, Tamara Laporte and her lesson on painting an expressive animal face, here we are.

Even though the rubber bands of my comfort zone stretched to almost snapping, I found this style of painting exhilarating.

She also shared a lesson on sketching with a grid and basic shapes.

So far, this was my favorite class with the Sketchbook Revival.

Happy Friday everyone. 😊

The color blob experiment proves fruitful

The sketchbook artist, Koosje Koene hosted a workshop yesterday about color blobs. Or rather, turning them into recognizable drawings. 

I used watercolor and color pencils on both the sketchbook and a piece of watercolor paper, to experiment. Orange you glad I did? 🙄😬

See you tomorrow! xoxo

To participate in the Sketchbook Revival, sign up here. It’s not too late!

It’s a revival in my sketchbook

It’s not too late to sign up for Sketchbook Revival 2023, brought to you by Karen Abend. Sign up on her site here. Or read the FAQs here.

I participated in the first pre-recorded lesson yesterday with Jeanne Oliver and painted alongside her with watercolors. 

Had to dig out an old Moleskine sketchbook I hadn’t touched since 2018. You can use any kind of book, though. Or paper. And from the previews, there’s more than just watercolors and each day introduces new artists.

These are creative workshops to help you feel inspired, energized, and revived, and after the first one, I felt all three.

Bonus: The workshops are all free and run through April 1st.

Happy creating! xoxo

P.S. When was the last time you heard the song Jump In the Line by Harry Belafonte? It popped up on my oldies station, and I can’t help but smile. And dance a little. 😃