pencils – Communicating Creatively

Water Soluble Graphite

16/06/202416/06/2024 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting

Recently, as I was recovering from Covid (for the first time), I flicked on YouTube and came across a video on Faber Castell Water Soluble Graphite Pencils. I had heard of Watercolour and Inktense pencils before (and have some of each), but had never heard of the former.

I watched the video, then some other videos on the subject and became quite interested in them so I jumped onto Amazon and saw that a Faber Castell set of 5 pencils, HB, 2B, 4B, 6B, 8B and a Brush in a lockable tin was 32.00 AUD. Without the tin it cost $15.43 AUD. Once bought, I knew they would probably never go back in the tin so I purchased the set without it.

Below are my first two attempts with them.

I’m happy with the first two attempts though obviously have plenty to learn in terms of e.g., what are suitable subjects for these medium; how should I best use the pencils, and increasing my skill level. Looking forward to practicing with them to see what I can come up with. 🙂

Till next time!

Written by David Johnson

16 June 2024

Artists In Action

31/03/202431/03/2024 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting

Last Sunday, I had the pleasure of being part of ‘Artists In Action’ again.

My first appearance at this event, last year was so enjoyable I thought I would do it again this year.

Some 30 or so local Artist’s, some professional, some semi-professional, and some enthusiasts, all combined to showcase their art and craft at the Camden Civic Centre in Camden, some 60km (37m) south-west of Sydney, Australia.

It was such a fun event again. People of all ages came in to view our art and craft. There demonstrations and workshops, and people could enjoy having a go at creating art.

At my table, I had some my art on display and in between talking to people, I went about doing a couple of watercolour sketches, including my, ‘Watercolour Sketch a Day’ that has been going for over 5 years now.

As I did last year, I encouraged people who

‘had always wanted to try sketching and/or painting’ but hadn’t,
‘those that had been doing it but had stopped’, or
those who think that they don’t have time’ to go ahead and try it/take it up again, as it offers:
- some great mental health benefits
- it’s fun and relaxing

All-in-all a fun day! Looking forward to next year’s event.

Till next time!

Written by David Johnson

31 March 2024

Urban Sketchers Sydney – September Sketch-meet!

03/09/202303/09/2023 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting

Yesterday, myself and approx. 50-60 other Urban Sketchers attended the September Sketch-meet. Our destination was the Sydney Opera House, which in a month’s time will have been open for 50 years.

I remember watching the opening in October 1973 on a Black & White TV set from our home approx. 13km/8 miles from the Sydney CBD. I still remember running up to the bridge over the railway line half-way between my suburb and the next so we could see a whole mass of balloons being sent into the sky from the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Of course we could not see the bridge itself, but we did see the the a mass of balloons rise in the distance.

The Sydney Opera House is one of the most uniquely designed structures in the world.

I must say I was very pleased to attend this Sketch-meet as this the first standalone Sydney Sketch-meet I have been able to attend this year.

Rather than try to sketch the whole building, I chose to do a section of it and am very happy with the result.

As you can see from the first photo, it was perfect weather and it was quite a relaxing experience. I find the whole experience of sketching/painting, meditative, particularly when I do minute details, like the tiles in the ‘Sails.’

One of the things that I really look forward to at the the Sketch-meets is the ‘Throwdown’ as seen in the photos below. It’s wonderful seeing all the different styles and mediums that people use to create their Art. So inspirational.

All-in-all it was a great morning of sketching. It is so great to get together with a group of creators.

The ‘Urban Sketchers’ are a world-wide movement which is in over 60 countries, 394 cities with over 120,000 members. For more information, check out their website https://urbansketchers.org/ so you can find a chapter near you.

Till next time – Happy Sketching!

Written by David Johnson

3 September 2023

Art Journaling Australia

17/06/202317/06/2023 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting, Stories From Life

Recently, a great friend and business owner I know (who is an Artist, Art Teacher and Art Therapist), Sharon Veness, set up a Facebook group called ‘Art Journaling Australia.’

I’ve been doing sketches for a few years now and have read about Art Journaling before, however I’ve not really had a consistent practice for it. This past week, I’ve joined Sharon’s new Facebook group and am enjoying the process.

Some of my Art Journaling will never see the light of day as it is quite personal however, some is less personal and I have been happy to share it in the group.

Here a couple of examples:

Arterial lifelines hold our lives together. They are our Lifeblood, connecting the various parts of our lives, bleeding into each other… Watercolour was a great way to communicate this, I felt.

I’m really enjoying this process. It’s another way for me to communicate/express how I feel about things in my life and as I view the world on a daily basis.

If you are interested in checking out the Facebook link, here it is:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/635381875168842

Happy Art Journaling! 🙂

Written by David Johnson

17 June 2023

Urban Sketching Inspiration

12/06/2023 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Books

Earlier in the year I turned 60 and received two copies of the ‘Atomic Habits’ book. This past week I finally decided which book I was going to replace one copy with.

I have been doing research on and off for a fair while reviewing books on the subject of Urban Sketching and finally decided to purchase the book below, ‘Urban Sketching: the complete guide to techniques’ by Thomas Thorspecken.

The book only arrived yesterday morning and I have already been inspired by it to start sketching people. I haven’t really done a lot in terms of sketching people, and always seemed to ‘shy away’ from doing it as I had this belief that it was either too hard, or some had some other limiting belief around it.

Apart from that, I have only had a chance to have a quick flip through (as it has been quite a busy Long Weekend). Looking forward to sitting down with a cuppa tonight to explore the book more.

Till next time!

Written by David Johnson

12 June 2023

Expression

28/09/202228/09/2022 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Poetry

Observations on Day 406 – A Watercolour Sketch a Day!

07/03/2020 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting

Looking back, I haven’t written about my project, ‘a Watercolour Sketch a Day’ since the 127th day. I’m happy to report that today is Day 406 and I haven’t missed a day yet.

It’s been a fascinating journey and I’m making heaps of mistakes so I must be learning a lot!

So, why pick Day 406 to write about the experience, I mean why not write about it on Day 200, 300 or 400? I noticed that today signifies a slight change in direction…

To explain: When I first started, it was about a Watercolour Sketch a Day, meaning the goal was to create a daily watercolour sketching habit, quick sketches that I could do on say A5 (or smaller) pages.

This was how it was for a time, then I noticed I was attempting larger sketches on A4 and above paper which is fine, but they were taking longer and longer to complete and as I’m not a full-time artist, my time to commit to larger sketches during the week is not as great. Sometimes, I only get a limited time to do them, say 10 – 20 minutes. On the weekends it is longer, mostly.

I also noticed that after a very busy day I was prone to tackling easier subjects, abstract I suppose you could call them which is fine and fun though at times I felt I was doing ‘anything’ just to say that the sketch was done for that day. I don’t want this to be a production, it was meant to be and is fun.

Also, I had gone away from using pencils and pigment liners as well. I want to improve my drawing/sketching skills with the aforementioned tools as well Watercolour paints.

This morning I decided to go back to my original intentions. I started using a pencil again and am doing a smaller size sketch.

One of the challenges I have is that I don’t get out as much as I like to sketch, especially during the week as I run a business, though it is not tied to an office or shop predominantly, per se.

Perhaps I should tuck a Moleskine A5 Watercolour journal and a couple of pencils etc in my portable folder so that if the chance comes up, I could do a quick sketch whilst waiting for an appointment. That would be a great habit to start instead of pulling out the Smartphone and wasting time with that…

Doing a Watercolour Sketch a Day still motivates me and I can certainly say that I am enjoying the journey. Watercolour is such a fascinating medium. Drawing/sketching is fun and it still feels like a kind of meditation for me.

Here are a selection of my Watercolour Sketches since Day 128.

Written by David Johnson
7 March 2020

4EBB9D96-4409-420D-A830-6BFC9FF2FE53 — Day 128 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Farmhouse”

18F23325-8307-4F16-8845-1EAAA57D70F4 — Day 152 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Seafaring Fun”

91E3C8CB-6352-4406-89FC-9D397B7D92CC — Day 164 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Towards The Summit”

AE322ED2-6E4D-490D-B888-0BCE1A39B35D — Day 177 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “The Rock”

94CE31FD-7045-4330-B447-5177D06C289A — Day 190 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Snow Gum Palette”

Day 196 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Out To Sea”

1A3BE892-385E-4776-990C-7BC53E4580EA — Day 197 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Sea Retreat”

756F2D89-F3A8-4395-9A50-6F1382B6DBE3 — Day 217 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Paperbark”

F8DD0DDF-D1AF-4185-AE67-C34424C71766 — Day 255 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Summer”

5480B883-26CF-4C28-888C-9D3A4F7959F8 — Day 267 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Pyramids Of Giza”

EE1A1B5A-4D04-486F-A36E-A1CE4CCA1E67 — Day 274 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Sunset”

39E32F48-0F88-4831-8CF7-391604109B38 — Day 283 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Ochre”

36E595E9-9B88-4DA7-8F8C-03CE5CC6C389 — Day 291 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Carcoar Architecture”

A8631BA8-DB73-4E6C-A0DA-968477AB2D59 — Day 294 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Posing Kookaburra”

Day 324 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Rock Face”

E3090E47-9F91-4F9B-A008-669BA7F1E6A1 — Day 333 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Sunset On The Bay”

Day 334 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Coastal Delight”

Day 339 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Coloured Sky”

Day 350 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Fresia”

Day 365 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Land Claim”

Day 372 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “New Day”

9D55B397-2581-4316-8EEC-F18D917812CC — Day 375 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Tones”

Day 381 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “The Shack”

Day 385 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Central Peak At Sunset”

Day 393 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Silos At Sunset”

Day 398 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “Fireworks”

Day 406 of a Watercolour Sketch a Day “At Rest”

Watercolour Sketch A Day Continues…

01/06/201901/06/2019 by communicatingcreatively, posted in Painting

Back on Australia Day, 26 January 2019, I decided to do a Watercolour Sketch a Day, mainly because I was inconsistent in getting to actually paint. I wanted to learn Watercolour and would do a small one, then life would intervene and before I knew it, another couple of weeks had passed and so on…

As of today (Day 127) I have done 127 Watercolour Sketches in a row. It continues to be fun and has become a kind of therapy and it helps me escape into my own little world and away from digital technology, as digital seems to have pervaded into most areas of our lives. I find it quite meditative and am thoroughly enjoying this journey of fun and learning!

Currently, I have about 3 sketchbooks going. One is a Paper Mill A4 heavier Ivory paper (that sadly the manufacturer has advised is now unavailable), a Moleskine Watercolour A5 Journal (200gsm) and an A4 (120gsm) hardcover Journal.

With the Paper Mill Journal being unavailable, I think that I will have a go at building my own. More on that in another post.

I use Cotman Watercolour Half-Pans, Aqua Wash (mainly) and some conventional brushes and Staedtler Pigment Liners and Derwent pencils.

For now, here is a selection of my Watercolour Sketches since Day 67.

Written by David Johnson
1 June 2019