The End of Summer

There are a few trees in the neighbourhood that have a touch of yellow. Kids are back in school shortly and the school supply sections of stores look as though it has been severely pillaged. The 'F' word is nearly here. FALL.

Not only is it literally the end of summer, but I have gone as far as I can with the summer section of my sketchbook. I went nearly a week without feeling terribly inspired so I knew it was time to move on to a new idea.

Here are the remaining pages from my summer section. I realize I'm not posting these in the proper order, which has either gone unnoticed or is incredibly annoying to my whopping 5 readers (Hi Mom!) Once the sketchbook is fully complete I'll post a link to all the pages in order. Plus, once it's online back at home in Brooklyn, I'll post a jumpy-clap style email.

 The title page for the summer section. Watercolour, Crayola marker and ink.

The right-hand page of the summer intro. Some tomatoes from my garden. Watercolour & ink.

 

The full summer intro spread.

 One of my balloon flowers. Watercolour, ink and marker.

What would summer be without popsicles? Watercolour with ink.

Summer sketchbook

Before receiving my sketchbook I pondered my theme (It Must Be...). When I received the book I was anxious to get started but also felt like I should plan it out first. I started toying with the idea that I should plan out each page and create sections dedicated to themes. This over-thinking and over-planning lead to some creative block. In the end I decided to let it be what it is. It's a sketchbook and I have always viewed sketchbooks as a random collection of thoughts and ideas.

I am in the throws of completing a couple of pages every few days. When I think of a theme, or what 'must be', I create as many illustrations as I can think of under that theme until it stalls, then I move on. Here are a couple of pages from my It Must Be Summer section.

I made a vow that I would not purchase any new materials for this project. Anything that goes into this sketchbook is supplied from the vast amount of bits and bots I have in my collection. I recently forgot my vow and bought some more water colour paint. I rationalized this by noting that I had tossed a load of old, hardened paint and my collection was severely dwindled. Let's be honest though, I could rationalized just about anything. So far the materials I've used are: water colour, pencil, sharpie, pen, markers origami paper and scraps of magazines.

I am getting back into water colour painting and loving it. I think the majority of this sketchbook is going to be in water colour and I'll be going back into it with a fine-tip pen. I'll post more pages as I finish them, probably in no particular order.

The Sketchbook Project

My friend Karin suggested that I contribute to an art exhibit entitled The Sketchbook Project. I was very hesitant at first, considering my regular daily schedule, but I reviewed the site and it looked like something I could squeeze in between diaper changes and meals.

From the site:

Thousands of sketchbooks will be exhibited at galleries and museums as they make their way on tour across the country.

After the tour, all sketchbooks will enter into the permanent collection of The Brooklyn Art Library, where they will be barcoded and available for the public to view.

Anyone - from anywhere in the world - can be a part of the project. To participate and have us send you a sketchbook that will go on tour, start by choosing a theme to the right.

I chose the "It must be..." theme. It was one of the subjects that seemed open ended so that I could finish the sentence and let my tone change from serious to casual.

I've already started a couple of sketches and I'll post my progress from time to time. I always get a 'back to school' giddiness with a new sketchbook, but the true test will be whether I can finish it, something which I'm notoriously bad at doing. I must have a dozen unfinished sketchbooks in my house. Wish me luck, great ideas and time. 

RED

If you were to throw crayons at me and tell me to pick five and that was all I could ever use I would chose blue, green, black, brown and white. My house is painted in shades of blue, green, brown and cream. A few weeks ago I was rummaging through my art pieces from college, looking for a few pieces to frame. [[ Four years into living in our first house and there are still a LOT of blank walls ]] Most of the art also falls into those five colour choices. Where is the yellow, the orange, the RED?

As my garden blooms throughout the season, my colour crutches are also apparent. I have many shades of green with white and purple blooms. Last year I needed to fill in a few spots and bought a few cheap plants late into the season. Two of these were poppies.  This year they bloomed and the intensity of their colour made my heart flutter. Hey now, red isn't jarring and too intense. It's actually quite lovely.

A perky and delicate Poppy

Inside the red is the deepest purple

  From green to red

I have a new art/design project coming up. It's my first non-child related art project I've had since having Eva. Maybe I'll leave my comfort zone a little and use some red.