My Sketchbook Journey Summer 2024

I am hitting some walls. I am repeating some bad habits. I am going to share all about it and walk through my sketchbooks and what exercises have been helping.

Anybody else hitting some creative block?

I KEEP GETTING IN MY OWN WAY!!!! I had to text my good friend Hannah today and told her I couldn’t have lunch with her next week. 

All I can think is what a weirdo I am and how grateful I am for friends like Hannah who I can be honest with and when I freak out they know it’s going to be ok. I will figure it out and they will eat lunch with me when I am not so frantic. But I hate having to sequester myself away to get things to stick. I need a better way to make habits stick. 

Ok ok, this is sort of a messy middle part of my summer I suppose but the work has taken a great turn and I’m figuring things out and am SOOOO excited! 

But at the same time I am overwhelmed with not feeling like I am settled. I get home and then get my supplies out and finally get into a rhythm then I have to leave again. 

It shows me that rhythm and consistency is a really important part of my growth journey.

Listen here

I hope you will join me for Episode 474 talking about how I use sketchbooks and how this summer’s sketchbooks are progressing. Episode 474 is LIVE on Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at 7:30pm BST / 2:30pm ET / 11:30am PT / 8:30am in Hawaii. Signup here to get the link delivered to your inbox. https://creativesignite.com/signup

Links shared

FB group: https://www.facebook.com/share/tuagEeiKrRXR2Bv4/
Summer art party list sign up: https://creativesignite.com/summer-art-party-2024/

Eric Carle video: https://youtu.be/S0INNN6jh74?si=NdulXCn68bhq5PBB

Transcript

[00:00:00] Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of Creatives Ignite. Today we are doing, um, I have taken kind of the summer off and am working on patterns and doing a lot of art, making some just for my help. And it’s just fun to do, but I’m trying to do it more in a strategic method to work on creating some art [00:00:30] and patterns for potential licensing or to have, create something to sell wholesale or sell, um, on my site.

[00:00:42] So I’m kind of, um, looking at some different income streams and. It can be overwhelming. And if you, um, Hey Jesse, if you wa or read the email, like, I had a freak out on my friend Hannah the other day and I was like, I can’t [00:01:00] meet for lunch. And I was like, I am just overwhelmed. And I don’t know if this is just, you know, me, if it’s, uh, creative, if it’s, you know, other things.

[00:01:12] But I don’t wanna be someone who’s full of excuses. I don’t wanna be somebody who you took this whole summer off. Well, from June and July you took off and what have you done? And I think, gosh, today, just today, I, we had picked a bunch of [00:01:30] purple whole peas, which is like black eyed peas sort of. And um, I don’t like them, but I.

[00:01:36] Grow them and shell them. And I like doing that part, but I don’t like to eat them. But John loves them, so I blanch them. So put them up. So you boil them for a little bit and then you put ’em in cold water and then you freeze them. Have this freezer thing. Anyway, love it. Love stuff like that. Did that, did some other stuff this morning [00:02:00] and, um, am working on a, I I’m doing a conference.

[00:02:05] I’m not doing, I’m just attending a conference this, these two days and I really was like, I have too much going on. I can’t get this done. But the other thing in my head that I’m battling with is that I haven’t done enough and it’s the end of June. And I do often have, I say I have a really big, um, Hey [00:02:30] Jen, I have a really big.

[00:02:32] Like appetite, but I don’t, my stomach isn’t that big. Not really with eating, but I’m talking about with all the things that I wanna do. So I’m really bad at, um, the ability to judge my time. And so I think, well, I do think I get a lot done, um, uh, but I feel like I’ve been getting in my way and I’ve let other people like, um, come [00:03:00] in and say, yeah, I could do this for you or no.

[00:03:03] Or, um, and, and it’s like you could, you could do some of these things, Diane, but those aren’t four patterns and they’re not you making art, so maybe you should say no to everything else. And I literally said that to Hannah because I was like, I gotta, I gotta be a hermit during July because I had an idea of what I was gonna be able to do.

[00:03:29] And [00:03:30] it’s. I haven’t done enough. And so I, so I’m ho holding back and I am, it’s, I’m having very few meetings and I’m excited about some of the work I’m doing, thankfully. Hey Jen, I see the other Jen. Jen with a G in Mobile and Jen with a J in California. So I’m gonna start, I’m just gonna jump in. I’m gonna show you the things, the [00:04:00] books that I’ve been working on.

[00:04:02] I don’t know if anybody even cares what sketchbooks these are. I’ve tried out a bunch this, uh, this time around. So let me just share my screen and it’s been. A little tender, uh, to be honest. So I am, and my legs just bouncing like this, shaking. My mom would’ve told me to stop bouncing. Okay, so this is what I work on all the time.

[00:04:26] I don’t know. This is just a tiny little Wacom tablet [00:04:30] and it has a pen, and this is like your mouse. Okay? So, um, absolutely. Paul says, being enthused about what you’re do doing is so important to our development. Way to go, Diane. Thank you. I appreciate it. But I, this is the cheapest one. It doesn’t have a screen, but it, I never get carpal tunnel.

[00:04:50] I really, really, really like these little, this setup. My last one lasted 22 years. 21, [00:05:00] 22 years. So this one, I don’t remember when I got it. I tried to, oops, I was gonna show you this, but it just knocked off, but I’ll show you in a second. Anyway, I just keep this to the side and this is how I use the mouse.

[00:05:13] This is how I control the mouse on my screen, just so you know. So I’m putting the little thing in. Um, I wanna tell you, I, I still take notes and I did a few order. I got some things from Temu, which I’m not really [00:05:30] sure about Temu, but, um, some of them are very, my dog’s making a weird noise. Um, very cheap.

[00:05:38] But I do have just, um, books that I just take notes at. And I started this one. Um, this was May of 2024, so just started. I was like, this is what I’m gonna do. Here’s some of the PE May 15th. I see. Here’s some things that I just wanted to do. May 6th was, [00:06:00] I don’t know if that’s when these were, but, and then I buy these little tabs, um, I get ’em in packets and they come and, I mean, they, these are just two that I’ve, were on the end of a sheet.

[00:06:15] They have different colors, but I really like these so that if I’m looking at this, I can see, I mean, obviously I have to turn it over, but there’s something in here that I want to get to and I can go to it quickly. [00:06:30] Um. Really, this is gonna be the one that I feel like is for just this summer. So this conference that I’m attending, these are some of the notes that I’ve taken, taken today.

[00:06:39] But like, this is just me taking notes. This isn’t really a lot of design, but there are some old sketchbooks that have a lot of something just like this really basic and a lot of notes. And I still take a lot of notes. And what I found works for me is that I just, you know, um, I take notes in one [00:07:00] and I carry it with me.

[00:07:01] I don’t want it to be so huge. I’ve, um, I start, I have some of these little ones and I’m just gonna start doing quotes. ’cause things that I think would be clever or funny or something. Maybe it’s a story that I put in here, but I wanna be able to carry this with me all the time. It’s just dot grid. I don’t, I don’t, I don’t really love drawing on, um.

[00:07:23] Books like this. So this is good for sketches. Uh, it’s really soft. I think it’ll probably tear up later, [00:07:30] but, oh, well. And then I usually flip it and do something else on the other side. And so I just have some of these in the back. And so those are just some of the things that I was looking at. So I really try to use both sides.

[00:07:44] I will finish this by the end of the summer, but I just wanted to, to let you know that I do have stuff like that. I think this one is the one that I have finished and I’m gonna go dark so that I think you can see it a little bit better. Um. I think you just have [00:08:00] to keep playing with it. Jen, she said she never got used to her welcome tablet.

[00:08:04] It’s pretty dark for me, but I think this, you can see. Okay. Um, I just put some stickers. I, I mean, I put stickers on everything. Okay. So I always put my name and my phone number and the day I start sometimes put my email address in too. This is, I think this is, um, Jerry’s Art Orama maybe. Um, I think I’ve [00:08:30] already shown these, so I’m not gonna spend a ton of time.

[00:08:32] I’m just gonna go through, this was some Omar Wynn on, and I don’t really think this was three, I think this was five 11. And I think that I should, I think I have this weird thing with threes and fives. Um, I don’t know. I mixed them up a lot, but this was something that was on YouTube, so just watching how she drew and then.

[00:08:56] Painted quickly. Doesn’t have to paint every, every [00:09:00] shape. Don’t think a lot of this is really working. Some of these are the worst things I’ve ever seen myself do, but there’s something nice about this, but obviously unfinished. I, I’m just taking you through. Um, I have certain things that I take with me when I go to my dad’s and um, I take, uh, this little gache, I have two of these really, like these artist art toolkit.

[00:09:29] You [00:09:30] can, um, uh, it’s really stuck ’cause ’cause of that. Um, but there are mixing thing, mixing wells, and then there are small little containers and then there are bigger ones and, and they’re replaceable. So you can take ’em out and do whatever and you can mix. And then this is a whole mixing well as well as well.

[00:09:51] Um, but I also use. A lot of, um, draw pencils [00:10:00] and the majority of stuff probably in here. Some of this looks like, um, these kosh neo color twos and then like this I think is probably a, um. A pen that I use. So I have certain pens that I’ll bring with me, um, that are just like light grays or something. Um, I have washy tape that I bring with me, not just this one, [00:10:30] but I know which pen I used for this.

[00:10:33] But of course I can’t find it. It’s probably in another bag, but sometimes I’ll use some of these, uh, Ecoline. I really, really like these and here’s why. So my black one ran out and I use water brushes. Uh, a lot of water brushes. I have ranger ones that I really like. I can leave links in the description.

[00:10:54] Oh, hey Megan. Um, thanks. I, the peas are okay. [00:11:00] Um, I need to keep working, but like, I know I was with my dad and we were at Cracker Barrel because that’s where this was. Um, and. I have this little book of birds, and so sometimes I try to draw birds really quickly. It’s not the color of the bird. This was not, I mean, obviously, but I’m just really, I’m really working on simplifying shapes.

[00:11:23] I like the pears. Don’t really like that. These are from my brain, not very good on there. I also [00:11:30] take it to church, not that I’m not paying attention, see notes, but then I also do other things like how could I simplify things or could I draw a rose or a cat? I’m sure the preacher was not talking about, uh, a cat, but I drew it and sometimes I’m like, I don’t feel great about this stuff, but.

[00:11:51] I think it’s important to what you remember. This is like Tom Ro, you know, like he always says draw it, look at it, [00:12:00] draw it, and then don’t look at it anymore and then draw it again from memory. And I really like that. I know I, I’m pretty sure I’ve shown these. I really like these little guys. There’s something I don’t like that they’re hanging off the page.

[00:12:13] I don’t really, I don’t draw a lot of cats, but I like that little guy and I really like this guy. And if I draw something similar to someone else, I try to, um, write their name. So these, I was just drawing, [00:12:30] um, I think I drew this stuff outside. I don’t think I drew this at church. ’cause this is guash and I usually don’t take the gache to church.

[00:12:39] I know I drew this one outside. I wasn’t looking at anything. I was just drawing. And the color is not exact because I don’t know if it’s just this, there’s clearly more detail, but, oh well this thing, there’s limits I guess. And maybe it’s the height. Come on, [00:13:00] come on. Now there’s my wrinkly skin. Come on. I don’t know.

[00:13:08] There’s this thing that comes with this and I don’t know if you’re supposed to keep this down here. So it’s ’cause it’s maybe black and white or white. Strathmore does a series and if I, if you don’t know about the series, I will put a link in the description. Um, and I can find it, but Strathmore [00:13:30] artists, you know, Strathmore paper.

[00:13:32] The paper people. The paper people, you know, Strathmore. I just got some of these from Jerry’s Aama because my Ecoline pin, there’s, I mean, I have a whole set of these. I love these because I don’t really love all the colors. They’re just some basic colors, you know? But if you don’t like them, don’t throw them away because they’re refillable.[00:14:00] 

[00:14:00] So this one is empty and has two brush tips. So there’s a brush tip on the inside, lemme show you. So you just pull the cap off. This one is dead. Well, it doesn’t look good, but, ’cause I’ve been sitting with it upside down and I’ve been filling it, but I thought I’d show you. So I ordered from Jerry’s Artura.

[00:14:20] That is the best place to get the refills. And they come in this and they don’t all have whatever this thing’s [00:14:30] called eye dropper. I’ve gotten a whole set I bought from someone. Um, but see they match the number here matches this number here, 700. So I was just gonna show you. So you open this sucker up and now you have to do this quite a few times.

[00:14:49] The other nib is here and you have to take like pliers and you don’t know pliers and do it, but you squeeze a little, you get it out. And if you don’t like the color that it [00:15:00] came, you can put, you can mix colors and you can make your own. Like the greens are a little too green for me. Now at first, in the beginning I just squeezed a whole bunch in there.

[00:15:10] But if you notice, I don’t know if you can see, but I’m having to drip it in because um, I’m at the point where it’s not letting me fill it up a whole bunch. And so I just fill it up a little bit and then I turn it upside down and I’m just letting it sit on my desk like this. [00:15:30] And then I’m gonna close this sucker up so I don’t spill it.

[00:15:32] But I love that, that I could actually mix my own and then I would just could turn on off auto. I dunno how to turn on auto off, auto focus on this. I probably need to read more about this thing. Um. I’ll have to go through back, I can’t see all the chat. Sorry. Anyway, Strathmore has a series and it’s free.

[00:15:58] It’s quarterly. [00:16:00] I cannot wait for the November. Maya, you’re gonna love the November too ’cause it’s landscapes. Maya likes to do landscapes. Um, and she, the first one was this toned paper. I love the toned tan. I’ll show you that in a minute. Anyway, I got three different sizes ’cause I’m really trying to work on layering and work on, um, which I know seems pretty general, but layering.

[00:16:28] And I can’t think of [00:16:30] what the other one is, but I’m, I’m working on it. So this was just something from like a real simple, and I was like, well, I’m gonna try and these, some of these, there’s a little bit of gold in there on this one, but this is the first exercise. This is the second exercise. Like, anybody can draw this, these leaves.

[00:16:47] If you know what these leaves look, you can just start making it up. And this was like, wow, you can make something really pretty quickly. More geese. I am always turning my book. I [00:17:00] like books that I can do that. So when I’m sitting outside, um, and this is probably gache, this isn’t watercolor, but you can really, um, water down water squash so that.

[00:17:12] Mine. I like the whole line. Uh, designer washer, whatever. The designer grade. Pretty sure I’ve shown this. This is definitely how I work out pieces. So, um, my friend Woody likes meat and um, he, [00:17:30] his dad did a lot of stuff with, uh, he has a big butcher, uh, block in their kitchen. And, um, so I made a, a bookmark for his wife and Nita, and then I made a bookmark with some meat.

[00:17:46] And this is me trying, this is with watercolor and gu trying out some things. This one didn’t make the bookmark, but, and I don’t even think that Bacon made the bookmark, but maybe it did. But sometimes I’m like, I’m not real [00:18:00] confident, so it doesn’t matter really what’s on this page, but this was how I was thinking.

[00:18:04] And then when I didn’t have my, um, maybe I did this at. Cracker Barrel. Um, this is just me cleaning up a page. It doesn’t matter to me that it’s messy. I could probably put something over it. But I use durwin ink tints. Of course, that’s the only one. It is ink tins, but I use these a lot and you use them with a water brush.

[00:18:29] And [00:18:30] this is, this one is poppy red. So if I draw here and I can draw really dark, but now look, let’s see if I can zoom. I can’t ever remember which is, I think that’s the light. No, that’s the light. Okay. Now I know I’m not anywhere near where that thing was, but let’s see if I can show you how to use that.

[00:18:57] How to find my water brush. [00:19:00] I know is in here. This isn’t one of my favorite, but the key for water brush. I like the Ranger the best, but the key for the water brush is having this black thing in here, this reservoir, um, I don’t know what it’s called, but it stops the flow of it coming out really fast sometimes.

[00:19:19] Some of ’em you have to turn counterclockwise to open, but you want some sort of boundary. Now there are some cheapo water brushes that, um, [00:19:30] have no black thing, and it just goes straight and you squeeze the bladder and it water comes out all over. It’s not, not good, not recommended. Okay. So then I just, I’m squeezing this reservoir.

[00:19:45] I don’t know if you can see. Yeah, there’s water coming out on my hand and I’ll just grab a napkin and then do you see how I can’t see because the chat is on top of where I’m painting. Sorry about that. Uh, okay. [00:20:00] This isn’t a painting exercise, but, but you can see how easy it is to brush it up. This the thing I love.

[00:20:10] I don’t know. Yep. That’s ink intense too. Um, the thing I love about, and that’s what I end up doing, I just kind of squirrel a little bit around. Um, what I love about ink tints is that once it gets, um, dry, once it dries, it doesn’t [00:20:30] rewet. So that’s the difference in watercolor out the outline’s the only one that doesn’t.

[00:20:36] So I have lots of these, I don’t know if I love these colors, but once they go down and they’re dry. I can do what I did with that other one. I can add something. I can add the opposite. I could add a little bit of green to this one and have more of a not so vivid red. I do like red though, but maybe this pink is a little too pink for me.

[00:20:58] And so I decide, oh, I’m [00:21:00] not gonna use, I’m gonna adjust this. So then I would probably put another piece of tape over and I’d say 3, 3, 7 plus whatever color. Now I am only using Ecoline to fill because I think that’s important. Real quick while I’m out, so I’ve been doing stuff watermelon. So what I did is I just grabbed, maybe I should pull this up just a little bit.

[00:21:22] Oh golly. Miss Molly there maybe. And I never, I can [00:21:30] never remember. Oh, maybe that’s focus. What is not focusing? Anyway, so the Woodys, I think, um, maybe Paul, did you get some of these? Um. I don’t know if they’re cut. I, I think I’m just looking on, um, Jen asked if they were Cutco knives. I think I was just looking at Pinterest for knives, but woody’s are also water soluble, so I really like working [00:22:00] water soluble.

[00:22:01] Um, these are the neo color too. They’re also water soluble, which I believe this has that color. Um, and then I also like these, these are water soluble for like the first minute, but then they’re acrylic paint. And man, these things are, I know, well, you can see me a little, I think you can see a little me.

[00:22:22] These are like potent, like sniffing a Sharpie. Um, but they’re really vivid [00:22:30] and, but if you’re using textured paper, they’re awesome. I was trying to see if there was anything else. Sometimes I even use. Um, mild liners. Have you guys used these? These are like highlighters. Some of them are, I mean, this one I know you can’t see really.

[00:22:44] Um, neon things through the computer, but whew. These are really neon. But what I love is there’s two tips. There’s a bullet tip or a, yeah, it’s a bullet tip and then a brush tip. So you know, it helps. And then I have some [00:23:00] lira crayons too, which I have some then that I’m gonna show you later the lira anyway, but those are some, I’ll just put the ones that I’m using in one of these little zipper things and I deal with that.

[00:23:13] And I try to have that. Of course, it won’t close. Um, I try to have the one that has like black and some, um, like an eraser and some just neutrals. Um. And some graphite [00:23:30] stuff as something that I carry all the time, but I thought I lost this one. This is the other thing that I really like to do, and if this was my regular durwin one, I wasn’t already working on a specific color palette.

[00:23:43] Um, I usually have everything like this and I have them marked out. I mean, this is just me drawing and drawing a black mark and I use a water resistant ink or pen. And then, because sometimes they’re water soluble [00:24:00] ones that I do this with. And so I thought I had lost all of these and I know, um, that Oh, hey doc.

[00:24:09] Um, I know that. Oh, hey Amy, that everybody came. Thanks. Um, anyway, these are luminance pencils. I’m pretty sure Maya knows how, um, how awesome these are. And oh, I was going to show you my new. Oh, well, I’ll show you in a different video, but I thought I had [00:24:30] lost all of these, but I didn’t. Luckily they’re right here, but this helps me to see what I have in there, but I also can see what colors are in here and then I can hunt through and pick the ones.

[00:24:42] And they’re, I, there weren’t drawing pencils are these terracotta ones, which I really like. They’re just really good and soft and they work really good. Okay, back to this thing. This is, these were not part of the sketches that were from, um, you know, the [00:25:00] Strathmore thing or probably past the Strathmore thing.

[00:25:04] They weren’t this, but I was like, okay, these are just leaves. Can I do this with my ink tent? Can I do this with the Karen Dash? I’m gonna see, um. And I, I’m trying things out. This isn’t part of the draft more, but I was like, these are leaves I could get. Hey Hannah, the one I had to tell I couldn’t eat lunch with in July.

[00:25:28] Um, thank you for [00:25:30] loving me anyway, I’m just trying to make, this was like the cover of a, um, southern living or something and I was like, okay, I’m gonna really work and I love this one. I just need to keep practicing. This was inside a real simple magazine and you know, this was, this was a countertop, it wasn’t a tabletop.

[00:25:54] And it’s like, well, I really simplified these. I don’t even know what they were, but it’s hard to draw [00:26:00] white. And so I’m trying to practice on things. I think having a limited palette like using greens, um, using my, this, um, gache limited palette. I know this is what I painted these with. Um, I mix colors. I use this brown a whole lot.

[00:26:20] I know you can’t tell it’s brown. And I use these blues and they make this, which I love. Um, and sometime obviously this [00:26:30] moss green I use a lot. And then just mixing and like these grays, sometimes it’s not this, you know, I may add something to it, but I do really like this artist toolkit and I have two, so I have Gibb squash on this one.

[00:26:46] You gotta be able to tell something I do. I’m still proud of this one. And then these were the next day or the next week. I think they go for a month, the Strathmore, so you got the, that [00:27:00] this one week one or whatever, and then week two was this. So in between I’m trying to work, I’m still like, do am I good at drawing glasses?

[00:27:13] No perspective sucks, but I’m okay with it. I’m really trying to work on, um, landscapes. And this was maybe, um, something in a, you know, just in a magazine. I know I don’t have the rights to it. I can’t sell this, but this is good. This is in a sketchbook. [00:27:30] It’s for practice. And what I’m trying to do is get the land because the land is not solid, you know?

[00:27:39] Um, I, I hear you Jen. I’m gonna work on being nice to myself and then the wake doesn’t look good yet. And I remember one time, Paul, don’t, uh, I, this is ’cause I appreciate you so much, but Paul was like. Looking at a piece that I had done and it was in the middle. We’ve done the summer art party thing before.[00:28:00] 

[00:28:00] Maybe it wasn’t in the summer, but it was art group or whatever. And I remember Paul was like, Hmm, that hmm Diane not so great. And I was like, okay. And I actually hated it. Also, he didn’t say he wasn’t that mean at all. ’cause you weren’t, you aren’t not mean, but you were like, wow. The thing around the edges, which was the washy tape, which I didn’t make the washy tape anyway.

[00:28:20] I think it’s funny. So this is maybe the next one, but I actually think I just took, I kept finding images on Pinterest and then I kept drawing it. This is [00:28:30] like another plant. It looks very flat and like it’s made out of paper. And obviously it kind of got integrated into a sermon, not a sermon I gave, but it’s something like this.

[00:28:42] Okay, so this is a good example of what maybe Paul saw and it was like red and. Whatever. And it was really bad. At this point, this is not good, but this is where they all start and this is like, this is still not good. So remember I said I was working on layering, so this is [00:29:00] one of the things. Now the other side, I started drawing, doing another exercise, and then I’m just trying to clean up my stupid brush.

[00:29:07] Probably from the ducks probably somewhere, right? I’m trying to clean up my brush or that, ’cause I’m just using a water brush. I’m just working outside. Maybe there’s some of that dark here, but this is terrible. You can just, that’s all you do and you’re never gonna come back. And then everything is always gonna be terrible.

[00:29:29] [00:29:30] But I remember when I kept going. And then I showed Paul and the rest of the group and Paul was like, wow, that’s great. I was like, Paul, this is that same piece. And I don’t know if he believed me or not, but it was because I didn’t give up. I’m also not working super big. Right. And just so you know, I did what I’m, what I’m doing.

[00:29:51] I have a new, always trying something new. Um, but, so I went really small here, but this is the [00:30:00] same thing. Can you see kind of, I mean, maybe a little, um, clearly not good, but I, I was like, okay. And again, more washing tape here, but I decided to keep going and I don’t care about the clouds as much, but I was like.

[00:30:19] John of course was like, the composition of these is terrible. I was like, okay, thanks. Um, John’s my husband. It’s okay. I appreciate him telling me truth and honesty and that’s why I appreciate Paul [00:30:30] also telling me the thing around the edge is nice, which was the, was tape, which I didn’t mind, which I thought was, but, but it just goes to show I did this first, this was five 19 and then I did this the last time off of a photo, um, on my phone.

[00:30:45] I hate working off my phone or my iPad, so I have now subscribed to Chatbooks. I’ll put a link at the bottom. It’s not, uh, a affiliate link or anything, it’s just a regular link because there’s these small books that you can [00:31:00] make prints of photos that are on your camera, and then I can just carry that little book with me everywhere where I carry everything else and then I can keep painting.

[00:31:10] I could keep working on this piece. My goal is to come back to this, but I did wanna, I do think I’ve improved, so I’ll show you that in a second. This is just mess. I don’t know what I was doing. I don’t even know what, this doesn’t even look like gu. See how it’s so shiny? It looks like [00:31:30] acrylic. I don’t know what this was, but I do this sometimes when I’m, I don’t know, thinking that this is all I can make.

[00:31:39] Did some more. This is my cute little watermelon that really exists. I have a picture of it. Maybe I’ll send it to Chris and he can edit it and it can be there. Um, I’m also sometimes if I’m using those ink tents, pencils or a pencil that I actually need to see what it looks like, um, before, so I [00:32:00] know which ones to use.

[00:32:01] Over here. I thought I, that sort of looks like a thistle. Um, but, so I just wrote which ones they were. I’ll get better at that, but I mean, that one sucks. But again, I’m just figuring things out. This is when I went with, uh, I went to the beach. Um, yes, absolutely nice solution without the phone turning off because that it keeps going black and you’re having, I like having something to look [00:32:30] at.

[00:32:30] We’ll have to see if I have to adjust the color too much, but I just, it was like, you get one every two months, 60 pages and I’ll show it to you next time because I think that is helpful to see. This man was throwing a Frisbee or something and I kept drawing him, but he kept moving so he wasn’t very good.

[00:32:53] But there was like a little truck in the sand and one of those chairs and a pail, which I’m actually kind of [00:33:00] happy with the sand around the pail. I don’t know why. It wasn’t striped and then this is, the water looks terrible, but whatever. But this was Anne’s sister’s Nancy, her bathing suit. And then I kind of did it in a blue.

[00:33:14] I still like the green better, but again, just trying some different things. Then I was taking this Danielle Donaldson class that I took forever ago, but I was just trying again. And so whenever I’m drawing like somebody else, I try [00:33:30] to write it, um, like Daniel Donaldson. So then I know that it, this was not me doing this.

[00:33:36] And then I really do like, um, Mason Jar, which those do come up. That’s my bird that’s similar to Daniel Donaldson. Again, I’m turning things backward and forward. I don’t really like working on landscape, so I really work on this page and then I flip it and I work on this page. I don’t mind this. I do think that’s terrible.

[00:33:57] I think the thimbles okay, [00:34:00] the bearings, I’ve. Let’s see. They’re okay. I, you know, I picked a lot of blueberries, so I’m trying different things. When I’m at church, I have limited supplies. So sometimes, like here was a, they, I think we were talking about, um, going across the Sea of Galilee or something. I don’t know.

[00:34:23] Um, but there was something here. And so again, the Tom froze thing dropped from [00:34:30] memory. Um, all of this is always from memory. I’m trying not to go back and forth and I don’t use my phone when I’m at church to draw from. Sometimes I’m drawing with graphite. And then I started doing all these, um, I went back to basics with Amarillo, who’s one of my favorite teachers.

[00:34:50] Skillshare, but she’s also been on the show a lot. She was a camp teacher. Um, she did this thing, you mask it out with. Was tape or [00:35:00] artist tape. Obviously I didn’t do this one as good, but then I could draw something inside here. And I think that’s, again, maybe these are good creative blockbusters ’cause they’re just something good to start with.

[00:35:13] But for me it was really helpful to go back to some basics. So some, I’m using other books in between because when you’re doing exercise and you’re doing it all day long, you really need to have multiple books because they get wet and you can’t turn the page. Um, [00:35:30] this is one I did really like this. She didn’t have stuff here and her trees were a lot better, but I really liked the clouds.

[00:35:37] Um, again, this is part of Amarillo’s Watercolor Core. I’ll put a link. This was like a very abstract landscape, which again, it’s not awesome, but for me very loose. And there’s something that I do really like about it. This one I hate. But you gotta know what you do and what you don’t like, and I don’t like [00:36:00] that.

[00:36:00] And then this one was Gache, and this is working in the negative, so, um, I’m not sure if I, oh, I did, I used, um, like this, there’s a pen that’s just pencil that’s just blue. I dunno, it’s like this, but it’s not, it was this one. Um, so I could kind of draw and in a lot of illustration, um, Joey Ellis, things that I’ve [00:36:30] learned, um, just being, I keep doing the wrong thing, uh, every single time.

[00:36:35] It’s the wrong one trying to get, oh, okay. I think that’s as far as I could go. But you can see maybe, nope, there is tiny blue lines that of course you can’t see unless I at a certain angle. Oh, ugh. You can’t see them. And that’s the reason they use [00:37:00] this blue. Let’s see. You can see ’em now. Um, because when you scan ’em, they’re really easy to get rid of.

[00:37:06] But this was totally a, um, Amarillo exercise about painting. If something white or something clear, you don’t paint it, you would paint the outside, which I thought was good. And then it was about what colors go together, non-photo blue pencil. Thank you. I appreciate it. Um, and then these were just like, oh, whoops.[00:37:30] 

[00:37:30] These were, again, I’m working on this side and then I work on this side. These were just different kinds of layouts. Again, I always just think it’s good. Um, yeah, I guess the blue pencil really works. Um, I think it’s just a good idea to go back to some basics sometimes. So like having a dense cut again, these are upside down.

[00:37:51] I know, but. I just think it, it was really good for me. And then she did this whole landscape, which I thought was great. And then [00:38:00] we just made a lot of messes and that again, was okay. The one thing I do like about this one, I don’t mind the texture of this book. Um, I did make some little bitty, um, these are from Jackson’s Art Supply, these little pieces that are from Kadi, whatever.

[00:38:20] But I mean, I just made that up. It wasn’t like it was real. And that one I think I made up too, but just based off of, because I had done so many other drawings. But I like that as a little [00:38:30] pocket, and I can stick those in. I do. Keep those things so that I can order them again if I like or which I did, I wouldn’t mind this.

[00:38:39] This was pretty good. I don’t always put my own stickers, but um, but there you go. This is one of the ones that was a Stillman and burn the beta series, and this is one that I’d gotten from that girl who sold me. A whole bunch of, uh, sketchbooks that were blank that I don’t know if I would’ve [00:39:00] gotten Amarillo uses these, uh, wire O binding ones all the time.

[00:39:05] I’m not a fan really, but whatever. I turned it upside down, obviously. I don’t know why, but just to let you know, this is my dad’s driveway, my parents’ driveway. Um, and this is how this one started, but this is me starting and this is me not giving up or going back to it. And again, since I’m working on layering, it’s really important that I keep trying.

[00:39:28] I’m can’t [00:39:30] exactly, but one thing I like is that I. I had all this one color and then I, there was kind of a darker where the sun was coming in. I don’t like that I put detail in the middle, wrong, bad idea, not a good thing. This was me and my dad are riding around going to Cracker Barrel I guess, you know, and I’m just putting my window down and I just take pictures.

[00:39:55] So this is where John’s like your composition is not so good. Yeah. ’cause I’m driving, my dad’s driving. This [00:40:00] is as good as we get at 70 miles an hour or 65 or whatever. But one thing I do like is the texture of the neo color pencil that I didn’t, um. Put water on. So there’s something really nice that’s happening to me that I didn’t really incorporate in some of the others.

[00:40:20] And this one I might have to put too much white on to be able to do that. That’s all that’s in that one so far. I don’t have anything else in this room. Oh, and I do keep a [00:40:30] picture of the thing. If there’s not a pocket, I just, so that I can remember if I really like it, it’s more smooth paper, which I do like.

[00:40:37] And I mean that girl, I was like able, I made a steal. Now I don’t know if I’ve shown you this. Have I shown you these? Um, um, my students made these stickers for me. These are all things I say in class. I don’t know about [00:41:00] this one ’cause I like the beaver. Uh, but I like this. You’re strong. Look at his tiny little arms, but.

[00:41:06] I had four kids in my web design class, and this is, and I wear this green puffy coat all the time ’cause it’s freezing in there anyway. And I do say this all the time, I say I don’t, ’cause when I’m coughing, I don’t have covid, I have asthma. Um, yeah. So anyway, I thought that was super sweet and I love that they did that.

[00:41:27] This is also the driveway not [00:41:30] finished. Um, don’t know if I’ll come back to this one. I am not. This is the cadi, uh, the, did I put it in the back? Nope. Anyway, I know what kind of paper this is. I, I’m not sure I love this paper for, um, wash. I would’ve thought I would’ve, but I’m not, not sure I really do. This is some scary girl.

[00:41:55] This is me trying to do layering. I do like this little bird, [00:42:00] like the little bird. That’s just from memory. And then sometimes I’m just using, um, again, I wrote three and I know it’s not three. Like, I don’t know what is wrong with my brain when I, anyway, um, this is, this is this one thing, and this was like, um, a house that was a, maybe it was a drawing of it from Janine Van Go’s [00:42:30] new home of Uppercase Magazine.

[00:42:31] It was in the magazine. I just drew it. And this is just me trying to get something. Um, I did this one first. This was like from Better Homes and Gardens. It was an ad, so I know I can’t, but it was a good practice. Good practice. This one not so good. Um, it was all with the, uh, neo color too. So I’m working with something that’s like a crayon that doesn’t have a, um.[00:43:00] 

[00:43:02] I don’t, it doesn’t have a good tip. I mean you can sharpen it, but then you’re just waist. This was, um, at Cracker Barrel. It was, my dad told me what size shoe he wears. I don’t know what the D is, but it’s not wide. He just wear 11th shoes. And then this is me trying, this is with a neo color too. I had a picture on my Pinterest, you know, so, um, oh, I’m glad you tried the [00:43:30] uh, please don’t stuff your bra back story.

[00:43:34] I’ve not heard you say that. I talk about it when I am teaching kids not to make the image. Um, you can’t just make an image in Photoshop. Oh, it’s 72 DPI. No problem. I’ll just make it 300. I say it’s like stuffing your bra. Oh, you want me to make my bra bigger and I just start stuffing tissues or toilet paper and my bra act in class.

[00:43:58] I made my, my [00:44:00] boobs bigger and they’re wonky. You know, that is exactly, uh, what I say, and I know there’s ways around it, but I don’t like to tell ’em about the ways around it. Paul, I know, I hear you. You’re like, there are ways you can do it anyway. Sometimes I’m just trying to draw things really quickly that I could cut out of paper.

[00:44:20] I didn’t ever cut anything outta paper, but I did this exercise and some geese or ducks came in and scary person. [00:44:30] And then I was doing some stuff with this. Um, I really liked this zebra. I think it’s zebra optic easy. It’s a. A highlighter, but I really like it. Um, color-wise, it’s not really coming across, but I was just thinking about things that I could make and make patterns with just simple shapes.

[00:44:53] And I did a lot, maybe some of these will come into something, probably not. The glasses, and again, I’m turning [00:45:00] it back and forth. This looks like Chick-fil-A sort of, to me somebody was like, oh, is that the thing you put in your toes when you get your nails done? I don’t know. I don’t get my nails done, but, um, I hate my feet touched, to be honest, but I think it was just this and I just put it in a box.

[00:45:17] So, but whatever it is, then more of those sort of thistles, this is what I do when I am having trouble birds and, [00:45:30] um, this is my cat laying on me while I’m trying to draw. And he starts attacking me, and that’s his paw. He doesn’t really let me. And then Amarillo does this thing with. I don’t know which, whatever her community is, I know you can’t see again.

[00:45:47] So this was like in a live thing every, the last day of the last Thursday of the month, she does a live session with her group. And so we drew a box and then we made a [00:46:00] pattern over top of it. John was like, that looks like wallpaper from the eighties or something. I was like, that’s exactly what it’s supposed to be.

[00:46:06] And then there’s gold. I added some gold. I don’t know if you can really see that. And then I started another one, which I don’t mind this, but I do think I need to look at something. These are all in gold. It was genetic and solace. These are all upside down. Again, I’m turning my sketchbook back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.

[00:46:24] I did this first. This is a Amarillo Watercolor bold core. I’m writing where it is when I did [00:46:30] it. And this was, this is much bigger than I normally work on a flower, and this is what I like about doing an exercise at somebody else. I may, I may, um, really like it and I may have to just come back to it. I do, I didn’t mind this in this book.

[00:46:50] Um, like so it could have been then these are like how she kind of broke down color palettes and these, this is a color palette that I [00:47:00] go to. Like I was pulled out my little gache palette, what colors do I tend to gravitate towards? And then I started making some other things that were like, this is very similar to the color.

[00:47:13] This is maybe, but what’s a take off of? So add more pink to that red and add more maybe brown to that yellow, and then making the main color something else. So. It. This was really good and I will continue to do this because it helps me to work in [00:47:30] different color palettes. If color palettes are your thing, then you might not need to do that.

[00:47:34] And then I just, this was an old piece of paper, a thick, I think, super cheap. And then I just did this little pen cushion and that was all, that was in the, that’s where I am on that one. And then, um, this one, I don’t remember. I think these are both, but I don’t know. Somebody could have given me this at Creative South.

[00:47:58] Here’s the thing, I think [00:48:00] your name should be on everything. Every PDF you should have it where your name is. I know This is April Hallett. Um, Mon Monkey Minta. Anyway, she’s gonna be on the show in August talking about her sketchbooks. Love her. I see how bright it is. I. I’m gonna turn down the light a little and see if it helps.

[00:48:22] Um, but I think your name should be on your sticker somewhere because I don’t know who did this one and I love it. I think it’s super [00:48:30] fun. I don’t think that was you, doc. Right? Anyway, so this one is, I didn’t write, oh, this is a watercolor artist. They gave me this for my 50th birthday. The Gullets, um, Tara’s parents, they’re artists.

[00:48:49] So I started at six 10. I thought that was just fun. This is like a piece of bread. Um, these are probably me looking at. Magazines and just drawing things [00:49:00] from there. I think it’s good to just practice. I had one, maybe two colors until my cat comes and lays on me. And then this is gu. I’m just taking what simplifying this was, I don’t know if you can tell what that is, but it’s a piece of pie.

[00:49:16] This was painting the negative, so this was a tea kettle I didn’t finish, but tea kettle. And then a lot of these things that I kind of like that little, I like the, whatever the clock. [00:49:30] This was a wreck. So in Amarillo’s she talks about translucent and granted I was using gouache, not watercolor, but I didn’t let it dry.

[00:49:47] Clearly. I didn’t let this one dry. And I do like doing things like this, but this isn’t working. Um. This now looks like [00:50:00] your shower drain to me. I think it was supposed to be a something else. I like this. I think that’s kind of fun and cool. Don’t like this. I really like this. This looks like the command key on the Mac.

[00:50:15] Um, like a weird command key, but there’s something I really like about what’s going on here. I tried to do that flower again from the Strathmore thing in a different, um, color. I didn’t go back to it, didn’t rework it, [00:50:30] but whatever brush. I also think when you’re in your sketchbook, if you’re using something new, like I know I could have written what colors I was using.

[00:50:38] I know I was using my GU palette, but I don’t remember what brush I was using. And I wish I did because there’s some really nice, really tight lines. I just wish I had written it down. Uh, another blueberry. And this was an exercise on [00:51:00] contrast, I didn’t really like that one. And then I drew Amarillo, she was drawing herself.

[00:51:05] There was a cat. These were all exercise. I said, yikes, your neck. Um, hopefully she won’t see that. Um, and then just doing colors in color palettes. And I thought, okay, well there’s something there. I don’t like how they’re blending, but, and then, um, I liked this color combo. It was a new combo for me. And so then I [00:51:30] was trying to make something I didn’t finish.

[00:51:34] Um, I don’t know. I don’t know what I was, I was thinking, I was looking at a sketch when dad and I are watching TV sometimes and there’s no cats on me. I can draw a little bit more. And I was using a big chunky lira pencil, kind of like this art graph. Um. But it’s the Lyra one, which I like a little bit better.

[00:51:59] And I don’t think it’s [00:52:00] in here, I think it’s in a different one, but it’s just like a big chunky and they’re water soluble. So I can put water on ’em if I want, but I like, it forces me to work in a different way, um, because it’s so thick of a thing. I would like to draw Spider Lily. This kind of just a note to myself.

[00:52:23] Um, I like how fat this bird is. Not, these are [00:52:30] just people from a magazine. I have not, I did write Lira Graphite here. I think my shadings terrible there. This is more exercises with Amar. This was me sitting down with dad and I’m just drawing from a magazine and I just redrew letters and then I put instead of.

[00:52:52] Arms. I’ve made the alligator have wheels. There’s this turtle, uh, that is on a skateboard on. Have you all [00:53:00] seen that on, um, Instagram or wherever? Um, I did this one when I, we were sitting, getting ready for lunch, so I had limited tools. I think this is a stability all, it’s really, really black. It gets even blacker when you, um, put your, um, water on it and then, you know, is it exact?

[00:53:25] No, but I’m okay with this style. And then this one is a little [00:53:30] bit different. I think there’s a little bit more overlays. I’m not sure I like it, but at least I gave him a place to live. He is. So I’m trying layering, um, this is a mess. I have no idea what this was. Maybe it was a flowers. This was look. Says like Blanca Gomez.

[00:53:52] And I just liked that she was using different shapes and then she kind of made a little scene. And then maybe this is [00:54:00] Blanca Gomez also. She did have a whale, but it wasn’t on top of circles. But I really liked this. I was like, okay, maybe there’s something there. Really like the little whale. We went to a barbecue place and they had a whole bunch of mason jars.

[00:54:15] I ate a barbecue sandwich that was supposed to be a cloud. These are just from memory. Um, we’re talking about a camel. I don’t know what a camel looks like. Good enough, I guess. Um, [00:54:30] it’s trying layering here. Not sure it’s working. It’s a kid in church. Somebody’s like, is that his hair? It was a shadow. Maybe I need to do shadows differently.

[00:54:40] These are just outta my head. There’s something more graphic I like about some of these. I liked how I didn’t color it all the way to the edge, so the white, so that’s something I’ll bring to something else. I like working with a non-water tool so [00:55:00] that when I go over it with water or something else, it doesn’t go away.

[00:55:04] And again, this is notes in church. This is at Cracker Barrel. I was looking at the old uppercase, um, magazine. This is Uppercase Magazine. This is not the issue I was looking at, but it was the tin issue. So I was just kind of thinking about that. Doing more things with the watermelons and blueberries. That was [00:55:30] squash.

[00:55:31] This is from this past Sunday. Sometimes I even use my sketchbook to, to get an idea of. What I’m going to layouts, basic layouts for a website. Um, and then I’ll try to draw something again. Um, and then I haven’t finished this and this was my note. I do like these little, I don’t use them very much. The little blue things to show me like, oh, I need to come back to this so I can build this page.[00:56:00] 

[00:56:00] Um, couple other things. This is the last one. This is a Stillman and burn. I have had these, this is an old one that I had bought, but it’s an alpha series. I can tell I’m off of where my, because I put that down. This is still, um, Amarillo, but I was doing this because I had painted all my birds from when I was at my dad’s before.

[00:56:28] I’m gonna show you really quick. [00:56:30] It’s a really big book. I think I’ve shown you these. Um, it’s a really big book and I don’t know. Nope, we’re all the way up. So I did some geese and stuff, but, and another driveway one that’s not very good. But I did this and I redrew it and procreate. And then everything was on different [00:57:00] layer that was different color and I couldn’t figure it out.

[00:57:04] So I brought to Illustrator, couldn’t figure it out. There’s another one, something from a Mac, uh, um, real graphic. So sometimes I’ll go like this, which is supposed to be more, I mean, it’s not great. Um, but then I go real graphic and I’m okay with going real graphic. I like these things. At least I know I can do it.

[00:57:26] Like I like that little bird. There’s a lot of birds. [00:57:30] So I decided to take that and paint it, paint every single one of those birds. And I made a palette ’cause I’d already done that. Um, I’ll show you, this is kind of the work that I’ve done Last week. I was working on a paper plate. The reason I keep it is that this is actually still good.

[00:57:54] This is all washed, so I can just reactivate this and with water and there it goes. [00:58:00] Thanks Amy. Um, and then I wrote what I used, what paper I used. She used a, a old sheet of paper and then I wrote how I built the colors, like what the whatever is. And then because I was sort of using similar colors, I went ahead and um, I.

[00:58:23] I don’t think I needed these colors, to be honest. But I wanted to see how they worked. Because what I did was [00:58:30] I drew all these and they, I scanned them off with the flat color before I put any texture on there because I wasn’t sure if I wanted the texture. And I’m not sure I like the texture to be honest in all of these.

[00:58:45] And I know what I did was I just redrew all these and I gave, ’cause there were a lot of white elements, so I gave it a color on the side. So there’s something, I do like this one, but you know, they’re just made up [00:59:00] birds. But they all. Go together. Thank you, Jesse. I still need to get in touch with you because you’re in my October.

[00:59:09] I used high tech paper. It’s used to be by Fox River Paper and I’m gonna let you list it. Let’s see. You hear that? This was awesome. They have, I tried to buy it ’cause it was so helpful. I loved using this paper and I would’ve bought it again, but they don’t make it anymore. So, [00:59:30] but I kept all this stuff together.

[00:59:32] I have a notebook that’s gonna be keeping some of my originals. I have what I drew, why I liked, and then what gouache what, so I have that down. But this was kind of like what colors, which are over here will go over the different colors. So I just made, this is the, when I started doing the watermelons, but um, this helped me to do and then.

[00:59:59] [01:00:00] Again, I did the same thing here and I actually, this, these were pretty flat, but these weren’t, I actually kind of like these better. So just again, working in a limited palette and not having it solid helps me maybe next time I don’t go solid. And then these were some other exercises, some other, I made a funny bunny.

[01:00:23] This one I didn’t have my collage stuff, but these were supposed to be collages, so I’ll come back. These were, this was a [01:00:30] contour and a blind contour that I did at the, uh, while I waited to get my oil changed yesterday. These I did yesterday. And then the only thing I did yesterday, I’d already made this, but I started putting these pink lines in and then I made this yesterday.

[01:00:48] A lot of blueberries and that’s all. That’s as far as I got. I have done some exercises that were on, I think I’ve already shown all this, this little. Book. [01:01:00] I like the you, you can’t see it good there. It’s a little bit better. Um, but this was a temu thing. I don’t know, but I don’t know how I feel. But one exercise that I had done was taken an old sheet of paper.

[01:01:15] You can tell the paper’s old because there’s yucky stuff on the other side, and I didn’t like this. I really did not like this, this thing. But I did like that I could cut, cut it out, and maybe use bits somewhere else. So [01:01:30] I just put it in a envelope. Even things I really don’t like, I just put it in an envelope, cut it, put it in the envelope and think, okay, I like it better actually like this.

[01:01:43] Some things that I have that I haven’t started is I made a sketchbook. Which it just, you know, it’s really easy to do this kind of binding, but I use different kinds of paper because I was realizing only doing white or only doing, um, [01:02:00] I really like working with different colors of paper. So I had bought some different paper and this is really thin, like rice paper.

[01:02:10] Um, and so one of the goals is maybe this week is to make some things in this and not have it be so precious. ’cause the longer I stay precious on something, the worse I get. But I went back and I know we’re overtime, so I went back and I pulled some old sketchbooks. This is a flexi sketch, [01:02:30] which used to be one of my favorite ones.

[01:02:31] But I used to just pull things from magazines and put it in here and I would write maybe what I liked. And I still think it’s helpful to go back to old sketchbooks. Um.

[01:02:47] There’s not a ton of stuff that I love in here. I do love this ad, but sometimes maybe there’s something that I did or [01:03:00] that I see now that I, maybe it’s not all bad. And I mean, I know I use this, this as an exa, uh, the inspiration for a, a Civil War poster for the, uh, worn memory study of worn Memory. Um, and I won a international award for it.

[01:03:22] Now, all I did was sort of use this as a inspiration of layout. It totally didn’t look like this. If I show you [01:03:30] it, maybe I’ll put a picture up, but, um, I do think it’s helpful to have little flags. I have little flags. I don’t know what they’re for. You know, they’re, there’s something else, but I used to write a lot more, um.

[01:03:43] I still think it’s important for me to not throw things away, some old design recharge things. Um, at some point I think I’ll probably throw things away, but I was [01:04:00] looking at this other one, which is very similar, a little different color, same size, same time. This is 2013, and what I did was I just put pictures.

[01:04:11] Of things from magazines and that was all. And I kind of did something like this where, you know, I taped it down so you could see other things. These were color palettes and if I hadn’t gone back and just, I mean look at the beautiful typography, it’s like, it just reminds me. And what I would do is I would put it on [01:04:30] this side so I could draw on this side.

[01:04:32] And then if, because the paper’s pretty thin, you can see through it. I have something on the other side, so it doesn’t matter if it bleeds through. Um, I haven’t bought flexi sketchbooks, uh, again, but I do like that I was doing this. So this was something that I taped in ’cause I liked the article and then, you know, making sure I’m giving credit to the artists.

[01:04:56] You know, what is it that I like about her? And then I can, [01:05:00] can fill that stuff out. So lots of different ways that I use sketchbooks. Doc just said I found a sketchbook. I was taping things in back before Pinterest. It was so fun to rediscover things that stopped me, I think that we’re so used to doing it in this, um, digital environment.

[01:05:18] And I don’t go back to Pinterest as much as I need to. Like, it’s just like me looking at the photos. I actually want something that’s not digital for me to look at. [01:05:30] So, um, hopefully gives you lots of other ways to reignite some things and I hope. So this is the last session until we come back in August and we have, it’s really about sketchbooks, and we have one inspiration.

[01:05:50] Um, I’m gonna try to do one inspiration talk a month till the end. And so we have some sketchbook people coming in to show how [01:06:00] they use their sketchbook. And I’ll give you some that are not live, uh, for mine. You can look, watch ’em. So look here for a sketchbook series or the Summer Art Party series for me.

[01:06:12] Hopefully I’ll get out of my sketchbook some and work on some paper. But I think just starting, even with a little book, um, that I bound myself with, like Silk Thread or whatever, [01:06:30] you know. Oh, I’m showing you on the other thing. And it’s, it’s just with Knot, obviously The Knot came out. Not so good at this.

[01:06:41] Huh? Not so good. Anyway, but maybe this is a good exercise for me for next week just to get something down. So my note to myself is that thank goodness I have good friends like Hannah that are not gonna judge me for, um, [01:07:00] having to freak out and say, no, I can’t. Oh my gosh, I can’t do it. But I also am holding my time more precious, John.

[01:07:08] Um, so I’m really working. Maybe that’s help helpful to you, but it’s, I’m not good at that. I’m good at giving to others. That’s what I do as a designer. I’m serving others. So it feels very selfish. It feels, I know it’s not. It’s not selfish, but it feels very selfish. Um, [01:07:30] it just feels very uncomfortable. And so normally I just eat it and I just uh, do the thing and, but then I’m freaking out ’cause it’s the end of the month and I haven’t done what I wanted to do.

[01:07:46] And some of the things that I want to do is take some of these drawings and then, um, scan them in which I have, I scan used all last Thursday to scan in all my birds and then make something. So the big thing [01:08:00] was, is that I took all those scans, those, um, I have all these other stuff, so, you know, I did some, I like the watermelon things, so I’ve decided some these will be cut paper.

[01:08:15] And some of ’em were cut paper. But I have this new, I think I showed you all this, it just has like sheets in it. And so I had done these in a Omar Winn, um, I mean her Patreon and some of these little [01:08:30] watermelons, you know, they’re, they were super fast, wasn’t meaning anything. They, they have notes on them like what pen I used, what I like.

[01:08:39] But some were cut paper. These are like collaged in. And I’m like, okay, well, because it didn’t matter. I just scanned them in just for fun, cleaned them up, see how fast I could clean them up. And then I tried to make a quick pattern, which I hadn’t been successful in making a pattern [01:09:00] in Photoshop. Now I know, um, there’s a few, um, things that I will link over in the, if you’re watching this, it’ll be on the page, um, the show notes.

[01:09:13] But there is a Mel Armstrong video about. How to use pattern preview and Photoshop. And these don’t all go together ’cause they’re not all the same. So that’s why I did these so that I have kind of the same color palette and I’m gonna do the red parts or pink [01:09:30] parts and then I’m gonna re-scan and make another watermelon.

[01:09:33] But I need to make smother fruit or veggies. So that’s something in the making that I’m trying to make. Um. I’m just trying to stay focused on little things. So my birds that I scanned in, that I scanned in twice after I colored, repainted. That one is a goal for the week. And, uh, just getting some of these watermelons made, I don’t think the [01:10:00] pattern’s gonna be there.

[01:10:00] The pattern that I showed y’all isn’t the final, but it was me making a pattern. It doesn’t need to be a perfect one. I’m not going to use that one, but it started me, it got me. Um, everything we do doesn’t need to be so precious. I definitely know that I’m okay with that. Um, but I also didn’t hold it to myself.

[01:10:21] I shared it with some other people and they were like, oh, this, this is, the color’s weird. And then I realized, oh, this is what I need to do. As I’m more [01:10:30] being more, um, spec not specific, it’s a word. I can’t think of what it is. Um, more. Strategic maybe about, um, the colors that I’m using so that they will go together.

[01:10:50] And that’s why I made this little bag. And I have some ink over there, and that’s what I’m using. So there’s my limited palette. [01:11:00] Um, I’m not trying to build Rome in a day, although often I feel like I am, feel a little teary talking about it. Um, I just gotta give myself some grace and I, but I have, I, I’m holding myself.

[01:11:17] Really, my time is gonna be really, um, I’m gonna be very selfish and try and not do as many meanings. I don’t have the podcast in [01:11:30] or the show in July, the whole month of July. I don’t, I still do some stuff for it, but like the prep work and stuff. But, um. I hope it’s more than sketches. I hope I have some patterns.

[01:11:42] My goal was to have at least three or four collections by the end of June, and it’s not gonna happen because I haven’t given it time and I haven’t, I’ve let a lot of other things come in because it was easier, it was easier to solve their [01:12:00] problems than it was to work on me. So if I say, Hey, let’s meet, you could say, yeah, how about after July?

[01:12:09] Because, um, I’m not good at this and I’m gonna work on it, but it’s gonna be really hard. So I can’t clear all the, I can’t read all the sketch or the chat things, but I will because the chat gets saved too. Um, like and subscribe if you haven’t [01:12:30] share it. Um, and I can’t wait. I would love to see what you’re doing in.

[01:12:35] Your art practice or in your sketches or your Lego making, Hannah. Right. Um, in Summer Art Party, I realized that I hadn’t accepted people in the, I didn’t know it was a pri private group, but anyway, now I’ve accepted everybody. Now I know to accept people in the Facebook group. So if you want to join those links will also be below, but I’m gonna share them really quickly right here.

[01:12:59] And if you just [01:13:00] want, Hey, we’re doing Summer art party, where we’re just, um, uh, meeting to show what we’ve done or something that’s inspired us. Um, if you wanna come, it’s free. It’s on Tuesday. Every other Tuesday. And um, I agree, doc, I need to, he said working on yourself isn’t selfish. Um, and. I agree, but it is really hard.

[01:13:29] Um, the other [01:13:30] thing I looked at, I’m gonna share this, this is this Eric Carl. He did The Hungry Caterpillar. It’s a pretty good video on YouTube. Um, it will also be linked below. It was inspiring to me, but again, it’s his joy and it is, it is so much fun when I get to make something, but I also want to improve.

[01:13:51] So I’m gonna show you the Yuckies and I hope Paul keeps telling me that it’s needs work and my husband John and y’all. [01:14:00] Um, I wanna get better. I am working on layering. That is one of the things I can’t remember. The other thing I’m working on layering and making these stories that are going together. So, um, oh hey Tate.

[01:14:15] Um, and I’m excited to see you guys at Summer Art Party. If you want the link there down below and. Otherwise, I’ll see you in a month. And we have, um, Steph Visor. Coleman is gonna [01:14:30] be the first, uh, person back in August, August 7th. She’s somebody that Taylor, um, Ackerman turned me on to when I was sharing about my birds and she said yes, and she’s awesome.

[01:14:45] She draws tons of birds and she uses her sketchbook a ton. She’s very different. Um, but she does a lot of. Exploration and experimentation. So I think that I can’t wait [01:15:00] for y’all to see what, what she does. So August 7th, I’ll see you back and I hope you have a great July and I hope you come to Summer Art Party.

[01:15:09] The [01:15:30] end.