Friday, December 7, 2012

The Slowest Sketcher in the Midwest















That's me. My second watercolor Moleskine is finally complete. It was started in September 2010 and is a bit of a hodge podge that includes pages for sketchcrawls, Illustration Friday, List It Tuesday, and a few quotes and random pages of notes.



















We started a small sketching group at work, and we try to meet at lunchtime once a week to sketch together and share other art interests.







































I rarely (make that ever!) complete a sketch during one lunch hour. I will often spread it out over several sittings--sketching in pencil first, then inking the sketch, then adding color, and finally adding text. Quite often, the last three steps are not even done on site.




















Sometimes, many, many months elapse between the steps.



















Sometimes longer. This sketch took about a year to go from a pencil sketch to an inked one. I did go back to the statue to ink it on site. It was interesting to note the subtle differences in how I "saw" the statue the second time.



















On this day I tried really hard to choose a subject that I thought I could complete in one sitting. It didn't happen. I still had to finish it at home.







































There are even a few sketches in the book that I've deemed "abandoned." I'm pretty sure they will forever remain unfinished. That's OK. It will remind me to be grateful for the many moments I was able to capture and hold forever between the pages of my sketchbook.

5 comments:

Jacky said...

I love all the sketches of the statues Pat...you are lucky to work where you do.

Remember: slow and steady wins the race.

Jacky xox

Candace said...

I didn't know you worked at such and interesting and pretty place. I would go outside a lot at lunch, too, if I worked somewhere like that.

Anonymous said...

These look great--I love the idea of a sketching group at work! And LOL at "The Big Head" :-D

Shelley Malone said...

Slow or not, your sketchbook is fantastic and inspiring!

Unknown said...

Your sketchbook is amazing. I love the Loyola statue and quote, most of all:)