The Art of a Sketchbook

Happy Birthday Casey ...

Welcome to The Art of a Sketchbook.
Because I am writing this on Monday, April 23rd and today is my cats 15th birthday I thought I'd share with you some of my many sketches of Casey.

Casey Sleeping, sketchbook,© Nancy Van Blaricom

I'm not sure if its because I am so fond of him or because he's so handsome or more than likely because he's always right here by my side when I'm looking for a subject, but I have sketched him many, many times throughout the years.  In the sketches above I used a regular #2 pencil. Although I don't' always date my sketches, I did on these, January 5th, 2001.

Casey Portrait, sketchbook,© Nancy Van Blaricom

From the same sketchbook ... not made for watercolor, I attempted to splash some color on a pencil sketch I did of Casey.  The pages wrinkle a lot, but I don't mind, after all its just a sketchbook. I think I had previously sketched a cartoony looking cat in ink on this page but just went over it like it wasn't there.

Casey Contour Drawing, sketchbook,© Nancy Van Blaricom

Above I used a whole page in one of my spiral bound sketchbooks to do a few contour drawings of Casey in ink.

Casey Napping, sketchbook,© Nancy Van Blaricom

Here's the big boy sleeping on my lap as I sketched him using a common #2 pencil.  January 12th, 2006

Cats Paw ~Casey, sketchbook,© Nancy Van Blaricom

On another page of the same book as above it looks like I first sketched the paws then outlined in ink and added a touch of watercolor.  Outlining the two paws together like this helped make them more of a statement.

Ears of the Cat, Casey, sketchbook,© Nancy Van Blaricom

Same sketchbook as the last two photo's, I guess this was a study of Casey's ears.  I think cats ears are so interesting don't you? I used my fine tip Lamy fountain pen for this one.  I love sketching with it because of being able to get such fine lines, and no, I don't worry about mistakes.  I never erase when I sketch ... its a rule !

Casey, Cat Nap, sketchbook,© Nancy Van Blaricom

And last but certainly not least is Casey laying on a cushion that was placed on an ice chest. This sketchbook is unlike most of my sketchbooks.  Its made of recycled paper that looks like brown paper sack.  In this book I usually use charcoal to draw then add some color with pastel chalk, once in a while I will use my Lamy fountain pen to outline, but not as a rule.

Thats it for the sketches this week ... I hope you enjoyed seeing them.

Before closing off this blog post on sketching I wanted to share with you an interesting article I read in the (free) weekly on-line subscription of Outdoor Painter newsletter. The article is about  Katharine Norris, written by Steve Doherty. Sign up for the free newsletter while you are there visiting this article.

Heres to sketching.