The Art of the Sketchbook

The Art of the Sketchbook

The three sketches below are all dated 2001 from the same 12" x 9" hardbound sketchbook.

People Sketching, hardbound sketchbook, © 2012 Nancy Van Blaricom

I used sepia color watercolor in this sketchbook attempting to sketch a person. I wrote, "3 value silhouette ... Value change gives illusion of depth"   I didn't over try like I can usually manage to do.  It was a woman with long hair, she uses her hand to cover part of her face and I just caught part of her shoulder.

People Sketching, hardbound sketchbook, © 2012 Nancy Van Blaricom

 Gesture using a solid mid value tone.

Eyes Sketching, hardbound sketchbook, © 2012 Nancy Van Blaricom

Here I was trying to sketch some eyes.  Kinda spooky looking and the glasses are goofy with the furthest glass rim larger than the front one.  I'm thinking the sketchbook is a great place to practice eyes as well as sketching people .... don't you?

The Art of a Sketchbook

  Sketching tools ...

This week I thought I'd share with you some of the tools I use for sketching in my sketchbooks:

Sketches With Watercolor, 9" x 6", watercolor & pen, © 2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

The cute little bear was first drawn in pencil then watercolored, then outlined in pen.  This particular sketchbook allows watercolor in it without getting all wrinkled.  Aquabee Super Deluxe Sketchbook

Sketches With Lamy Safari Pen and Noodler's Ink, 9" x 6", © 2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

This was from the same sketchbook.  Its an indian Raven Mask on a stand and I sketched it using my Lamy Safari Pen and Noodlers Ink.  It makes wonderful thin lines with this fine tip.

 Sketches With Pencil, 9" x 6", © 2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

The above pencil drawing was a preliminary drawing for a watercolor I was going to paint but never got around to it - yet.  I mostly use a retractable lead pencil, only because I never have to worry about sharpening it, but upon occasion I'll use any pencil I have laying around.

 Sketches in Pilot Pen, 9" x 6", © 2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

On this sketch I did on 9/11 I used my Bic Pilot pen P-500 Extra Fine.  When moistened it leaves a nice smear that can be used for shading.

The Art of a Sketchbook

Landscapes - Seascapes 

I like the looks of landscape and seascape sketches done with my Lamy pen.  Nice fine lines that rely on cross hatching or some sort of shading to indicate a darker value.

Trees in the Sky Line, sketchbook, Lamy Fountain Pen, © 2012 Nancy Van Blaricom

Some trees in a near-by sky line.  I'm seldom happy with my cross hatching.  Probably just need more practice before it stops looking like scribbles.

South Sound & Mt Rainier, sketchbook, Lamy Fountain Pen, © 2012 Nancy Van Blaricom

I think in this one I did do some scribbling to indicate some sand and or shore.  Although you may not be able to tell the near-by water waves, I think it turned out just like it looked that day.

Multnomah Channel #1, sketchbook, Pilot P-500, © 2012 Nancy Van Blaricom

 I like the looks my Pilot pen give with a little moisture to the ink to add shading.

 Multnomah Channel #2, sketchbook, Pilot P-500, © 2012 Nancy Van Blaricom

 I was enjoying what was happening with my pen this day and continued using it for a few pages.

Until next Friday .... keep on sketching.

The Art of a Sketchbook

The Big Cover-up

One thing I learned years ago is that if you are experimenting with different mediums in a sketchbook a cheap sketchbook at that, you will more than likely have some bleed through on the back of the page.  Then in order to use that soiled page you might need to cover it up with something.

 Cover-up with Brown Paper,  Pen, ©2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

The above page was a contour drawing of some potted flowers done with a ball point pen, but, as you can see there is some brown paper in the spine area ... there was a big splotch of bleed through there so I covered it up with a strip of brown paper.

Cover-up with Photo,  Watercolor, ©2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

This was a fun way to cover up a huge big splotch ... I printed off a photo and glued it in my sketchbook then used watercolor to extend the photo.

  Cover-up with Plain Paper, Pencil, ©2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

There was some ugly mess at the bottom of this page and I cut a blank piece of paper and glued it down.

  Drawing of Paper Whites on scratch paper, pen & watercolor, ©2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

This wasn't a cover up really, but, it was a small sketch I had done on the back of a something I had printed and I wanted to keep it so I just glued it in the sketchbook.

 Cover-up printed out e-mail, ©2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

One of my very favorite cover-ups is to print out some of the nice e-mails I receive about my work.  When I might not be feeling very good about some project I'm working on it helps to read some genuinely nice words about my work.

Until next time, keep on sketching.

Pacific Northwest painting ....

Low Tide Off 101

Low Tide Off 101, 7" x 14", Oil on Canvas, 2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

~ Click on the photo to enlarge ~

This says Pacific Northwest to me and one of my favorite scenes off Highway 101 heading into Olympia.  You have a great view of the sky, the distant hills and a farm off in the distance. 

I've read where an artist always has one place in their painting that they like more than any other.  In this painting I love the sky. The sky shows some areas of getting lighter on the left.  Maybe there won't be rain after all.

On another note, I can never get my photos to show the true likeness of my work, with or without iPhoto or Photoshop.  I think I'm going to have to buy a photo tent.  Do the rest of you have this issue?  In this photo, in real life it isn't this bright, *sigh.

The Art of a Sketchbook

Personify People

As a rule I do not draw people.  And I could never do a commission of a person because there is too much pressure to render the true likeness.  But since my sketchbooks are personal and no one ever sees them, until recently that is, I occasionally will make a feeble attempts.

Grampa #1, Sketchbook, © 2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

The first sketch is a contour drawing I did from a photo of my grandfather when he was young.  Love those contour drawings ... or have I told you that already? First I did the standing version and was very happy with, not that it was even close to what the photo looked like, but, that it looked like a human at all was amazing to me.  Then I started sketching some heads to see if I could do any better.  I wasn't able to and yet I was very happy with these also because they still looked like a male person.

Grampa #2, Sketchbook, © 2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

I was happy with the above contour drawing also. It was a full page in my sketchbook and in both this and the one above I used my Lamy Fountain Pen.

A napper, Sketchbook, © 2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

When I'm in the mood to sketch a person no one taking a nap is exempt.  This one was not a contour sketch, although the arm /  sleeve gives the appearance of a contour sketch.  Maybe I started it as one but decided it was going badly and decided not to.  I used a ball point pen on some scratch paper and then glued it into my sketchbook ... More on that in a future post.

The nappers shoes, legs and feet, Sketchbook, © 2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

Hubby stayed still long enough during one of his naps to be able to contour sketch his shoes and legs.

Lounging with my feet up, Sketchbook, © 2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

There are times I know I should be accomplishing something but maybe lack the ambition to do anything, in the hot afternoon heat of summer, other than to sit on the deck and prop my feet up and sketch them.

Until next week ... Keep on sketching !

The Art of a Sketchbook

Spring is in the air

I didn't realize how many flowers I've sketched through-out the years until I started looking through my sketchbook for something to share with you all.

Sketchbook, Flowers in Basket and Rhody, © Nancy Van Blaricom

Both of the above sketches are from the same sketchbook.  I started this sketchbook looking pretty clean and neat.  A little more "proper" if you will ... it didn't end up like that though.  This sketchbook wasn't suppose to be used with watercolor, the pages wrinkled but I found if I didn't over saturate the paper it was acceptable.  This one was dated: March 20th, 1996.

Sketchbook, Graphite drawing & Contour Daffy's, © Nancy Van Blaricom

These two sketches came out of one of my spiral sketchbooks.  The first one was a vase of flowers I had seen in a magazine.  I didn't note that, but I remember the scene and how pretty the vase was.  The next was a contour drawing of a daffodil. 

Sketchbook, Red Tulips & Still Life Watercolor © Nancy Van Blaricom

Flowers must have been on my mind a lot more than I realized.  I don't see a date on these, but it was from one of my earlier sketchbooks.  I think I was trying out different 'loose' styles with watercolor.

Sketchbook, Splashy Mums & Hydranga © Nancy Van Blaricom

The sketches with watercolor are not always neat and tidy as you can see here. These look much better on  my monitor than in my sketchbook.   Date on the Hydranga is 7/25/00

      Sketchbook, Iris Splashy 1 & Iris Splashy 2 © Nancy Van Blaricom

There are times when I pick a subject like an iris from the yard and attempt to sketch it on different days. Both of these were painted / sketched in a very loose manor.  Very whimsical and fun looking I think.  Dated 4/06/01 on the left & 4/07/01 on the right.

There are plenty more flower in my sketchbooks but this is enough for now.

Until next time ... Keep on sketching.

Finished: Almost Home

Almost Home

Almost Home, 24" x 36", oil on canvas, ©2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

I finished this painting mid April and before we are in the full swing of summer I thought I'd better show you how my first large painting turned out. You may remember that I posted some preliminary work for this larger painting here.

Sometimes when I post work on my blog I think it looks good and then other times I think they look better in person.  I like this one better in person.

This painting took longer than I expected it would, but, I took my time so that I didn't  rush it and lose what I loved about the scene ... the sun peeking through the trees falling across the road an into the trees. It took my breath away.

The frame should be ready later this week ...
What color frame would you have chosen?

Summers Comin'

  Since Blogger updated I can't figure out why feed burner is not sending out my blog posts to my subscribers.  Is anyone else having this problem?  Do you know how to fix it?

Green Point Rapids B.C., 6" x 6" Oil on RayMar panel, © 2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

One of my all time favorite places to be is British Columbia.

I love the water, the boats, the wild life, the people ... the great places to explore on and near the water, its all yummy to me. With their renowned and spectacular scenery this scene is typical of what we often see when we are boating in B.C.  Yes, you are right, I could easily be on British Colombia's Tourist Board.

The photo reference for this painting was taken a few years ago on the inside passaage of Vancouver Island at Green Point Rapids.

I thoroughly enjoyed painting this one.  At first I wasn't sure how I was going paint the steep mountain in the background and then it became obvious, it was mostly smokey blues and grays because of the distance and the steepness.  The water that day was pretty calm with the sun sparkling on the water.  But, my main focus was the boat with its poles down to help keep it from rolling side to side too much.

Yes, I really loved painting this one.

The Art of a Sketchbook

The art in my sketchbooks are assorted. I fill them with a variety of information. This week I'll share some pages in my sketchbooks that I used for testing colors, products and different mediums that I may want to use at another time.

Sketchbook, Matt Medium & Tissue Sample © Nancy Van Blaricom

This was a really fun test.  I had purchased some Matt Medium and had heard a lot of things you could do with this impressive  product.  Here I had laid a piece of face tissue on my sketchbook, brushed it with the medium and let it  dry.  Once dry I watercolor  a pear and added color to the back ground.  The tissue had dried with some raised areas and I then added some gold highlights to those ridges. I never used this product again in this manner, but, I really liked the results it produced.

Sketchbook, Pear Stamp © Nancy Van Blaricom

I'm not into stamps but had this one and some gold ink, (the ink doesn't show up here as gold) I tested it on the edge of my sketchbook.   I have seen some wonderful watercolors that used watercolor on the stamp and incorporated it in a still life as a background of wallpaper ... I don't remember ever using it either. 

Sketchbook, Pastel Swatches © Nancy Van Blaricom

Here I was sampling some pastels I had bought.  I'm not a pastel artist but thought they deserved a try. I had used some pastel paper for these color swatches then cut out the square shape and glued them into the sketchbook.

Sketchbook, Funny Brush © Nancy Van Blaricom

This page of my sketchbook I tested three Funny Brushes I had purchased.  A small, medium and a larger brush. It had some thin (medium & larger) rubber strings in the end of the three short straw type brushes,  It was advertised to use with watercolor & help make grass or bushes in your paintings.  I wasn't impressed and never used them.

Sketchbook, Color Samples © Nancy Van Blaricom

Here are some watercolor samples.  I've been thick headed about "warm" colors and "cool" colors.  Reading in my sketchbook I think I was putting some colors down then trying to see if I could tell what was "warm"  & "cool" next to a similar color (?).

Sketchbook, Making black and gray © Nancy Van Blaricom

I loved this sample when I first put it in my sketchbook ... It was the perfect gray and the perfect black. As a rule I never have gone back to my sketchbooks to see what pigments I mixed to make this or that color but before I had made this color combo a habit I went back to this sketchbook many times.  Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine blue.

Until next Friday ... keep on sketching.

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.

Who could ask for anything more...

Early Morning Light, 5" x 7", oil on canvas panel, © Nancy Van Blaricom

The reference for this little painting is from a photo I took a few years ago.  The boat is sitting peacefully at anchor and the sky was getting lighter.  I'm guessing the owners have property near by and moored the boat here so that they can easily row out and use it when they want to go sailing.

I love painting this kind of scene.  Water, boats and land ... who could ask for anything more.

The art of a sketchbook ...

I love sketchbooks.  Love them.  I don't care if they are big or small, thick or thin.  And I particularly love seeing other peoples sketchbooks.  Seeing another persons sketchbook is like peeking into what makes that sketcher person tick... their personal thoughts.  A mystery of sorts.  

A lot of people feel their sketchbooks are private and won't show them to others. Others only show off their 'very best' sketchbooks. The books that are perfect. Work that could be front and center at any art show.  But, the best to me are the ones that have a little of this, a little of that and a variety of subjects sketched, painted or pasted in them.

Here are a few of my sketchbooks. 

I still have my very first one, its the second spiral bound book from the  right.  In it I see notes and drawings (mostly pretty crude) of things that I felt, at the time, needed to be written down and sketched, sometimes just to see how well I could draw them.  Things that were important to me at a given moment.

I usually mix up the style of sketch I put in my sketchbooks.  Sometimes I do a contour drawing.  I'm sure I've mentioned before how much I love contour drawing.  Its never perfect but somehow the unrefined drawing takes on a life of its own and ends up looking pretty good without any formality.  I just love them.

Other times I do a little watercolor sketch in the sketchbook.  I have a couple of small watercolor travel palettes and I often bring along one of them with my sketchbook when we go someplace.

Still other times I am attempting to make a more accurate pencil drawing like the one above. 

In the last photo I've made a pencil sketch and written some information down like it was a personal journal, noting the time of day and the weather conditions.

Because I think most of us enjoy seeing other peoples sketchbooks I've decided to share some of my sketchbooks with you.  Baring no problems,  The Art of a Sketchbook will show up as a regular Friday blog post.

I hope you will enjoy viewing my sketchbooks as much as I enjoy sharing them with you.

Wiped away ...

Tulip field ~ cropped, Oil on canvas
©Nancy Van Blaricom

I hadn't planned on posting again today. I was just going to paint all day and show the fruits of my labor sometime next week. After working on a little 6" x 6" canvas panel for a couple of hours I could tell it just was not going to come together and I did what I'm suppose to do in that case ... wipe it off.  But, I decided to post this small portion of the canvas (the only part worth showing) as a sort of test. When I got up this morning I was surprised that my post about my sketchbooks had not been posted when I had scheduled it at 3 a.m. ( I wanted it to be delivered early so it would be there when you first checked your mail this morning).  Anyway, I hope that this will be sent out when I schedule it for 4 o'clock this afternoon ... as a test sort of.  If you receive this because you subscribe to my blog and did not receive the post about the sketchbooks please check out the blog post before this one.  Hopefully there was just a glitch because Blogger has been updating things.  Fingers are crossed.

Who I am Writing For ...

Recently I signed up for Blog Triage Class with Alyson Stanfield and Cynthia Morris.  I have Alyson's book I'd Rather be in the Studio and also follow her Art Biz Blog. And, although I've been blogging for quite awhile I know my blog needs some positive attention.  Expect some changes!

Lesson #1 asked us to write a blog post describing the type(s) of people I would like to visit and read my blog.

That person is you! My blog readers are someone who is a variety of ages and are interested in seeing my work evolve.  They enjoy my writing and probably live in the northwest or are interested in the northwest landscapes.  They look forward to my blog posts and will interact with me through email or comment on my blog when they want to say something about what they've seen or read.

Also, I'm to write about what I want to get from blogging:  My goal is to write more articulately about my work.  Share how and why I choose to paint what I do.  Also to build a larger audience who like my work.

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Now on to some more exciting news.  After I painted the two shells on the right (in the photo below), I decided to paint some other shells I found on the beach.  A muscle shell and an oyster shell.  All 4 of these shell paintings are small 3.5" x 3.5" x 1/2" and just perfect to set on small easels or hang as a grouping.  One of my collectors saw one of the original blog posts about the shell paintings and contacted me to purchase them.  Isn't the internet wonderful?  Thank you D.B. !  

When I originally painted them I had no thought of ever painting more shell paintings, but now after talking with my collector I think I may keep some of these in stock for people to purchase as a last minute as a low cost gift. A nice small original at an affordable price.  Everyone needs to own original art work don't you think?

Excuse the poor quality of this photo.  I think I'm in the need of a small photo booth.

© 2012, Nancy Van Blaricom ~ 4 Small Shell Paintings~ oil on board3.5" x 3.5" x 1/2"

* SOLD *