May Round Up
Location sketching, Isle of Skye folktales, Etsy and favourites
Hello!
Welcome to my first ever Substack post! I am hoping these will become a regular monthly update but there is a very good chance these will be late/skip a month. Considering the first one was posted almost a week into the month of June, it is not a good start.
Location Drawing
May was a long-awaited trip to the Isle of Skye in Scotland. I have always wanted to visit Skye and I have done many drawings using google images and even some of the journey to get there but have never visited until now. It wasn't the easiest drive with car troubles and road works causing a 4.5hr journey to take over 13 hours but was definitely worth it.
We had very limited time as we only had a few days so I didn't do as much location sketching as I expected but I did a lot of painting from photos when we returned to the Airbnb. The one thing I enjoyed the most, which is something I don't usually do so often, is painting the view from our apartment multiple times over the trip.
Normally, I paint a landscape once, learn from it and move on to the next place. However, I really enjoyed sitting in the same place every day and painting the same view again and again. Each time having a different focus or intention for the piece. Maybe it was a colour study, maybe playing with the movement of the hills and the contrast with the loch. And finally, adding some narrative and eventually capturing the ferry that passed by multiple times per day. I learnt a lot from this constant repetition and hope to continue doing this in June.
I also had another trip to Meanwood Park in Leeds, one of my favourite local drawing spots. I didn't get the chance to do multiple drawings like I did in Skye but hopefully will go back for some more drawing soon.
Folktales and Illustrations
Last year, I worked on a number of pieces for the Instagram challenge "Folktale Week". I really enjoyed creating a narrative using the prompts. I loved researching different myths and folktales for the challenge and trying to fit them into the prompts provided. I have really wanted to revisit some of the previous years but couldn't figure out how to make this fit into my current practice.
I decided to combine this with my trip to Skye and research some of the Folklore surrounding the island. I have chosen the story of the Selkies (seal folk), mythical beings capable of changing their form between seal and women (sometimes men) by wearing the skins of seals.
Having never drawn a seal before (quite important when illustrating a story about seals...), I started the month with an Emma Carlisle Patreon replay "Seals and Deer" which was a lot of fun and got me excited to illustrate the stories and see where it goes in June.
So far, there are no final images, though I have taken a lot of reference photos and planned the story. But you can see a few of the practice drawings and thumbnails.
Etsy Admin
In May, I finally opened my shop after a long break for travelling. Landscape commissions are now available again. Using your travel photos, you can have your own watercolour/mixed media landscapes. These have previously been purchased as wedding/birthday/Christmas gifts or even just people buying them for themselves. I'm really excited to start working on more again this year.
I am also working on an outdoor sketching workshop this year, hopefully in Meanwood Park in Leeds. This will be a guided walk, with stops for drawing in a few of my favourite spots. It will not have any specific tutoring but I am there to help anyone who needs any tips or advice and will give some prompts at each stop. Then we will finish the tour at the Three Cottages Cafe for some coffee, cake and some time to share work or chat about all things art.
Currently Reading
Wild: Tales from Early Medieval Britain by Amy Jeffs
Favourite Material for May
Artgraf water-soluble graphite tin and graphite stick. I have started using both of these a lot more in both landscape and life drawing and really love the marks they make. Also the main material used for the seal drawings above.