April 2022

I’m reading: Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I read Spinning Silver by her last year and loved it; this one is in the same genre and maybe I still prefer Spinning Silver but it’s very good! Lots of fantasy and magic and evil trees.

I’m knitting: Still working on my stripy tank top. I haven’t been knitting at home much recently so I’ve mainly been working on this during long car journeys (I can’t read or use screens in a moving car without getting a headache but also I get bored so I take some fairly plain knitting I don’t have to look at) (obviously I am not the driver). It’s worked bottom-up and I’m nearly at the armholes. I might have to knit at home for a bit then while I divide for the top parts etc.

stripy colourful tank top knitting project

I’m drawing: Lots of sketches at the moment! Trying to work from photographs and it’s very tricky. I can get better results by using a grid but I’m trying to learn how to sketch people freehand. I’ve managed one or two that are recognisable which I’m happy about!

sketches of my daughters, some better than others (the sketches, not the daughters)

I’m learning: How to do more lettering and doodle illustrations, from this course on Domestika, Creative Doodling and Hand-Lettering for Beginners with Grace Frösén. I like the Domestika courses, I’ve done a couple of others (Creative Watercolour Sketching for Beginners with Laura McKendry and Artistic Portrait with Watercolours with Alejandro Casanova). I like how they’re easy to pick up and do bits when I have the time and inclination and I’ve learnt a lot from each one. I do find it difficult to make myself watch videos, I usually have to be doing something else at the same time, something crafty or playing a computer game. I bought a bundle of courses in a Black Friday sale and still have three more to do but there’s no rush.

doodles!

Learning to Draw

One of the biggest differences between my crafting now and back when I used to blog is that I can draw now.

It’s something I’ve always wanted to be able to do, like a lot of us I suspect. Then in summer 2014 I was talking to an artist friend, and she mentioned an article she’d seen about how drawing is completely a learnt skill – anyone with enough fine motor control to write their name can learn to draw. You just have to practice. She recommended a book to me – You Can Draw in 30 Days by Mark Kistler (amazon link) – and it must have been just the right time because I bought the book and did the exercises, and then I just kept practising. Not every day, or even every week sometimes, but I kept drawing on and off and filled up some sketchbooks.

Sketchbook pages, 2014

More recently I took out another book from the library – Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards (amazon link). This one is for complete beginners really but I still found some useful things in it. It talks a lot about how learning to draw is really about learning to see, which is definitely what I’ve noticed. I look at things differently now. I notice more. The world is more interesting, landscapes, faces, plants all have more detail. If you want to learn to draw then this book is probably the best one to start with – it’s very encouraging. She compares learning to draw to learning to drive, in that most people can do it, you just have to learn certain things (steering, changing gear, giving way at roundabouts) and after that you have to practice a lot to increase your skills and your confidence.

Sketchbook pages, 2016

I’ve mainly used pencils, colouring pencils and watercolour, and also I draw a lot digitally (I use an app called Procreate on my iPad, originally with a cheap stylus, then for the last year with an Apple Pencil which is incredible). Over the last year I’ve started trying to learn to watercolour Properly, and I’ve painted some portraits and landscapes that I’m really proud of and which I will share in other posts.

Sketchbook pages, 2020

As well as being fun in and of itself, learning to draw and paint has made every single thing I make better. I can sketch out ideas that actually look right. I can see how shapes and edges fit together for the best composition, and I can mix and balance colours. I wish I’d done it years earlier, but starting at 32 was also pretty good.

Watercolour, July 2021