Hello! How are you?
I hope you’ve had a great week!
For the last few weeks, we’ve had continuously grey weather (I talked about this last week too!). This week, for just a couple hours we had sunshine… and then it was gone! Even though it was short, I was thankful for it and rejoiced over the way the light was shining into our dinning space. It was fleeting but truly gorgeous!
This week in my journals, I was keen to draw loosely with warm colours in my initial drawing so that’s how I started on the left page. I just played with colours to see how they’d meet and see how they’d rest together. I love the end result. A mix of watercolour and pastels, some pencils and ink. And time.
I also wanted to include a still life with clementines and mimosas (they cheer me up), my day trip to Sheffield and the Friday night Zoom meeting with the club and guest Samantha Dion Baker for a “walk” through Paris at this time of year.
Materials used:
My handmade sketchbook - see the bookbinding process in this video
Various warm watercolours by Winsor and Newton (they stay on an antique plate)
Neocolor II (various)
Kaweco fountain pen for writing my journaling
pencils (various)
a tiny bit of FW Daler Rowney acrylic ink, colour: red earth
a few brushes (various)
water
I sprayed the page with more water which was fun as it added more uncertainty (and therefore excitement) to the page.
Highlights of the week:
going on a day trip with my eldest to Sheffield and seeing this exhibition at the Sheffield Millennium Gallery - we met up with my pal Marianne.
drawing more still life with clementines and mimosa
attempting painting the orange house loosely (need to keep trying/playing)
the Winter in Paris Zoom with the club and Samantha Dion Baker on Friday night
having the boys at home and generally getting up a little later than usual, less rush, less drama
In this photo, from top to bottom:
drawings of Galerie Vivienne and another passage from Winter in Paris Zoom call Friday night.
clementines from our local shop and mimosas from our garden
a postcard of an orange house I painted on Thursday (I did a lot more but I’m not happy with the rest, not yet!!)
this week’s visual journals
sketch of the Seine from one of Samantha’s pics from Winter in Paris Zoom call Friday night
a Seawhite of Brighton sketchbook, some mints and a rubber I bought in Sheffield while visiting the Millennium Gallery.
I’ve decided that still life makes me happy! How I love these pops of colour on gloomy winter days!
A sketch from one of Samantha’s photos during the Paris in Winter call. Here I’m using watercolour as a base, then Neocolor II for details and an Espresso Prismacolor pencil in a Pith sketchbook - I did most of this during the Zoom meet in 7mins then added details the next day - last Saturday. It was so fun to watch the replay and keep to the same times again!
What’s your week been like? What colours did you notice? I’d love to know!
Thanks for reading and for your encouragement and kind words! It’s been so lovely to “meet” some new folk around here! Welcome!! I send out these visual journals every week on a Saturday morning to all my subscribers and they appear in the club archives. It means so much that you’re enjoying them and hopefully it’s inspiring you to find the magical in the mundane.
Club dates for your diary: the club GAZETTE on the 1st of every month (free), every Saturday my visual journals (free), a drawing St Patrick’s Zoom on the 17th March (paid), a journaling Zoom (paid) and more!!
Until then, sending love xx
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