Sketches and Some Ideas on Said Sketches

A just for fun map of the way up a hillside on one of our hikes

Table Mountain, Jamestown, CA

Some of the first wildflowers I started to record

Testing out some very inexpensive and basic colored pencils

Testing out some inexpensive felt tip pens, Crayola Brand

I am not so crazy about having crappy photos on my blog but I did want to show what I have been up to, art wise, in the last several weeks. 

About a month or so ago I bought a small travel sketchbook. The idea was to record what I saw while I was hiking or walking. The sketchbook's purpose is a little different than my main sketch book which serves as a spot for sketching but also as a personal journal where I record thoughts, feelings, and ideas. My travel sketchbook is meant to be a separate and distinct thing. It would be nice to track what I see over time; to note what is blooming when and where; how the landscape changes, how the weather is different from time to time; and just any general observations regarding my environment. And I can hardly remember about my hikes from year to year so this sketch book helps with that aspect of things too.

I'd like to mention the obvious too. I don't draw well at all. At best, I have a rudimentary grasp on capturing a small likeness of something. And guess what? I don't care! It's taken quite a while to get to this point, the point where I don't care, and frankly, it makes me happy. I am more attuned to how my hand holds the pen, the line it makes, and the observations that I can garner and write down. Can I get close to a likeness of something? Yes, I can. Is it perfect, of an illustrator's quality? No. Is my perspective off at times? You betcha! It's all good though as far as I am concerned and I am going to tell you why. 

The reason my efforts count is because, well, my efforts count! I taught a series of classes several years ago called Get Started Sketching in Nature. All of my students were people who had been away from their art (and their creative side) for quite awhile. Uniformly, they all wanted to improve their drawing (or learn to draw). And, straight across the board, they all said they wish that they had more time to draw, could do what I did, could draw better, etc., etc., etc. I heard a lot of wistful comments that upset me. The sketches above are not complicated, like, say, rocket science is complicated. The hurdle isn't the sketching itself but all of the mental baggage that comes first. And I think it is necessary baggage to "unpack", as they say these days. It's pertinent that you get over the embarrassment of what things look like and the only way to do that is to sketch. A lot. And show those sketches to people if you can. You have to spend the time doing it otherwise, as they say, if wishes were fishes... 

And that brings me to my main point. What I do matters no matter what it looks like because it's me that matters. Me. Those sketches and observations are an extension of Libby The Artist (even if the sketches are a little sketchy!). That's what I think the students mentioned above were missing. For whatever reasons, their creative efforts didn't translate to a value of themselves. And because they hadn't been consistently working at things, the "me" value was missing. 

So, I hope that those reading will check out the observations and comments in the sketches above. I stand by what I taught in the above mentioned classes: basic observations start with who, what, where, when and how (and perhaps why). Taste, smell, touch, sight, hearing, and instinct-these are all recordable and valid ways of observing and can serve to get ANYONE started with a sketchbook or notebook. It's a way to be engaged with yourself and the world around you. 

I'd point out  that what I write down isn't earth shattering. Usually it is just things like the weather, the hike location and who I was with, what I saw and what might have been unusual. If you are a flower person you might notice all of my naming mistakes. I am using an app called INaturalist. It's helpful but without a knowledge of the underlying structure of the plant and all of the terms that go with that (taxonomy I guess), it's a little garbage in, garbage out. But again, no problem. It's the effort that counts!

Please, leave your comments. I am sure they will provide a good laugh for both of us. Thanks for reading!

Libby