Sketchbook Pro Painting

[John]

Thisfirst one was a quick drawing I did from an amazing picnic spot with a view across vineyards with hills in the distance. I only had a few minutes to sketch so I did the ink on location and added the colour later from memory (bright green rows of grapes, dark hedges dividing the fields, and some rolling purple hills in the distance).

In France, Fte de la Musique is on June 21st. Almost everyone in my group sketched the saxophone player in the market that day. He was a funny guy. He knew we were all drawing him but he never acknowledged us with so much as a glance in our direction. He played along to some recorded music (jazz and other stuff too) coming out of a speaker below his chair. Occasionally he would put his sax down to take a few puffs of his Gitanes while the recorded music continued. At the end of his performance, he stood up, piled everything into his wheelchair and pushed it all away.

We had rain on our market day in Ile-sur-la-Sorgue, and it seems that many of the farmers opted out of setting up in the downpour. Fortunately I had a great view of this lavender vendor from my dryish spot under a big awning at a caf. He spent most of his time pacing back and forth and shouting into his phone but when he finally stopped I was able to capture him. If you look carefully you can see the pencil lines from an earlier attempt to draw him.

I painted this in direct watercolour (no pencil drawing first) on a pad of Saunders Waterford CP paper with a wide flat brush. I was hoping to capture the main shapes of the flowers and leaves with fresh colour, and show a bit of the wildness of the corner lot.

This particular bouquet has a lot of smaller flowers in it (except for the big sunflower) with lots of greenery in between each bloom. I decided to start the painting by tackling the greens first, since they are the connective tissue between the flowers. On my Holbein palette, I have Olive Green and Phthalo Green, so that was my starter mix. To that I added various yellows (Hansa and Lemon) and occasionally Alizarin Crimson when the mix was too bright. Once I painted the greens, I filled in the oranges, yellows and purples for the flowers.

What fun it was to see my good friends Laurel and Marc Taro Holmes again. As we have done for many years, Marc and I sit together to draw but we talk the whole way through and catch up on what each of us has been doing for the past year.

At the end of the event we all gathered for a photo and to show our work. The drawings were spectacular and I hope to make this an annual event. Thanks so much to EVERYONE who came out. You made my week!! And thank to Stewart Hall for welcoming us!!

Lyon is a wonderful city. You can find wonderful museums, food, wine and plenty of historic sites including one dating back to Roman times. On this trip we had a few days to explore it (and get over our jet lag) before heading south to Provence where I was teaching.

The city is at the junction of the Rhne and Sane rivers, and one of my favourite places to sit is along the Quai du Marchal Joffre, where I can look up at the Fourvire Hill and the Basilica at the top. The Sane is much narrower than the Rhne so the views are better on that side of the city, plus that is where the hills are.

I also spent a bit of time on Place Carnot, sketching a view of a busy corner near where we were staying. I love the wrought iron trim on the windows and balconies, and the warm colour of the stone in France.

When I look at these sketches, they remind me of what I love best about urban sketching: being surrounded by city life and trying to make sense of the complexity of it. I was jetlagged and both of these sketches are kind of messy, but for me the result is less important that the process. I loved watching people go by, overhearing snippets of conversation and smelling coffee from the caf on the corner. Each of these sketches took about an hour, and I sketched them in a Travelogue Handbook Watercolor Journal by Speedball.

I'll show you the freedom of creating in a "living sketchbook." Gain confidence, hone your personal style, relax and loosen up and learn to trust yourself. These are just some of the benefits of having a sketchbook practice.

Then I started really being brave in the sketchbook, trying new things, going back over things. Somehow, I had permission to be freer in the sketchbook than I did on a regular-sized painting. It gave me more freedom to fully flesh out ideas and then it became fun to see if I could make each spread something I liked.

I create expressive, cheerful floral and landscape acrylic and oil paintings driven by color and pattern. Through my paintings, I strive not to copy the place or flowers in front of me, but to convert how I felt about it to the viewer.

My hope is that you enjoy your painting as much as I enjoyed painting it. All effort has been made to reproduce colors as correctly as possible for screens, however slight variations may occur. Please take care to read the descriptions of size carefully, and check the color on multiple screens to be sure of an accurate representation.

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All art on paper will be shipped within a clear cello wrapper inside of a photo mailer. Canvases will be carefully protected with a surface wrap, then encased in bubble wrap and boxed to ensure its safety in transit. If an item arrives damaged, please let me know as soon as possible and it will be repaired or replaced.

Copyright of all artwork remains with Kim T. Richards and does not transfer to purchaser. Kim T. Richards reserves the right to publish all images even after they have been purchased. You may not reproduce these images in any way without the express consent of the artist.

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On New Year's day, completely on a whim, I decided to make a resolution for the first time in many years. I committed to working in my sketchbook for 30 minutes a day, every single day for a year. I have always kept sketchbooks, but had used them to jot notes and doodles for projects i was working on. This time, I was going to do things differently, and my sketchbook work was going to be purely for myself, with no particular project in mind. I knew the only way I would keep at it would be to go public with it, so I posted my resolution to my Instagram feed. This is probably the best idea I have had in a long time. By committing to this project publicly, I was also making a commitment to myself to not let it slide.

Since January, the project has evolved quite a bit, and I have seen tremendous changes in my sketchbook work. I am no longer doing it for only 30 minutes a day. My sketchbook paintings have been taking about an hour and i occasionally work on the same page for two days. My drawings have evolved and I can see big changes in my work within only a few months. A few of my sketchbook paintings have gone on to become larger acrylic paintings, or have inspired personal projects in design and illustration.

At the moment, my sketchbook paintings are revolving around my explorations of the area where I live. I have used this project as an excuse to visit places I have been interested in, but have not previously been. I live in a beautiful county in Virgina with lots of scenic and historical sites to explore, and I have a long list of places i plan to visit in the coming months. I am currently working on an acrylic painting based on one of my sketches from the Oatlands Plantation (see my previous post)

This sketchbook project has become an important part of my day. I start each working day with my sketchbook, and often on weekends I use this work as a way to wind down after busy days filled with kids activities, family fun and errands. It has become less of a project and more a part of my life. I hope you have enjoyed this visit through my sketchbook. I post my sketches daily, and if you would like to follow along, the link to my Instagram page is in the sidebar.

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