Sketchbook Series

[Gaynelle Alnutt]

Last but not least, we talked with Laura Page; after graduating from Falmouth University and delving into the world of design, she recently took the opportunity to step back from digital creation and rediscover her love of simply picking up a paintbrush.

Thank you for Peony for taking some time out of her day to speak with us. Stay tuned to our Inside the Sketchbook series, as our talented line up of up-and-coming artists tell us their stories and unpack their work.

Paint what you know, was the advice of an professional artist. So, I found a bunch of butterfly photos in my archives, then started drawing and painting. You can see that I was making good progress in my first weeks of playing with watercolors.

Reaching back into my days as a wildlife biologist, I dove into my archives to find some challenging critters to paint. Check out the Indian Rhino with thick skin like armor. Clearly need to work on adding darker values, but I was happy with the results at the time.

It looks simple, but a sunflower can take a bit of thought and time to paint. Created the flower first, then added a blue background. I might try painting the background first using negative painting technique.

In order to stay fit, I started taking long walks along the shores of Lake Washington, with views of the mountains. Spent a lot of time simply observing the landscape and watching wildlife. Listened carefully to the sounds of nature.

Typically, robins lay 3 or 4 eggs in a brood. Once all the eggs are laid, the female starts sitting on the nest to incubate and protect the eggs for about two weeks. So, my observation is that all the young hatch within a day or so. Once hatched, both parents focus on feeding the rapidly growly chicks.

Painting a classic Tudor home while listening to a zoom meeting. Sandyknowe estate was designed by Frederick John Houghton for his family in England. His wife, Eva Clara Knight, was descended from the line of soap makers in London.

Watercolor painting of local yellow jacket foraging on our picnic table. Yellow Jackets are common visitors to picnics and parks in the summer as they are attracted to meat, fruit and sweet drinks. I studied entomology in college, so drawing insects is interesting.

Touching paint to paper and guiding the brush was difficult. I had to rearrange the studio area to keep items within reach. So, finally after weeks of facial exercises and lots of eye drops, I am starting to recover. Now, I can see in 3-dimension which makes watercolor painting so much easier. Plus, my smile is coming back. ?

During the pandemic, I began collecting reference photos of mountain scenes using Instagram. Naturally, I wanted to challenge myself with new landscapes to paint, including places that I would like to visit. Fortunately, people have been very kind to share their nature photos. Scenes with depth and variable lighting are challenging subjects for watercolor.

Mt Adams, a 12,000 ft snow-covered volcano in southern Washington. Featuring pink and violet lupine wildflowers in an alpine meadow, plus a forest of mature trees in the distance foothills. Ominous rain clouds hover over the peak. A glimmer of golden light shines through the clouds to cast rays of hope on the meadow. Photo courtesy of Michael J. Lindquist in Seattle.

Classic barn house in the lowlands near Mt. Hood, Oregon. Learning to paint landscapes with depth by varying the warmth and tonal values. Advice from fellow artists helped me to improve the overall look of the landscape painting.

Snow covered Mount St. Helens is the most active volcano in the Cascade Range of Washington. Its most recent series of eruptions began in 1980 when a large landslide and powerful explosive eruption created a large crater, and ended 6 years later after more than a dozen extrusions of lava built a dome in the crater. (source: USGS)

Painting Note: I like the general look and feel of this active volcano. The color balance between the volcanic plume and the blue sky was a challenge. Landed up going a touch dark using the blue ultramarine to increase the contrast. This resulted in a disruptive margin that gives the sky some energy near the crater.

The flying Raven artwork was inspired by the notable six guardian ravens at the Tower of London. The distinguishing feature of the large black raven is the thick curved beak, long wingspan and diamond-shape tail feathers. Crows are smaller by comparison and have a triangular shaped tail feather. The drawing took extra time due to my careful study of wing and feather patterns. Hopefully, I will find time to create a series of raven paintings.

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helloooo this is a MASTER POST of my Sherlock Holmes annotations, aka shitpost doodles of my favorite parts with occasional headcanons. I will pin this so it's available and update it as I go because this feels like it's becoming a full series, god help me.

EDIT 2: this is basically a webcomic at this point, with ongoing continuity and a romantic storyline that can be enjoyed if you read in order. I did not intend this, but I have Sherlock Holmes disease and there's only one cure (doing this)

EDIT 3: content warning/advertisement depending on your temperament: this series gets into one of my big interests, historical queerness, period accurate homophobia, and how laws around queerness affected lived experience. it also has things that you can expect from a Sherlock Holmes story like: drug use involving needles, violence, flagrant use of old timey guns, and people dying in shocking and mysterious ways!

I compiled this sketchbook during a recent visit to Botswana, where I wanted to make first-hand studies of African wildlife in its natural environment. We hired a private Land Rover and driver, and could stop and look as long as we wanted at the many animals that inhabit the Kalahari Plains and Okavango Delta.

My sketches were made, out of necessity, with the simplest equipment: a propelling pencil (to save the problem of sharpening) and a sturdy A5 Moleskine sketchbook (the thick, smooth-surfaced paper was ideal for quick work). I clutched my sketching kit in one hand and grasped a bar rail on the truck with the other as we bounced across very rough terrain through the bush (often actually over bushes!) in search of animals.

All sketches of the wildlife were made from within the truck, as venturing outside might have threatened the animals and provoked an attack. For the same reason, we could neither stand up inside the truck nor make any sudden movements.

Thanks to these precautions, in many cases we managed to stop very close to some of the potentially most dangerous animals, who must have seen us as a harmless square blob. We were frequently able to catch them resting in the hot sun, which gave me time to work on a sketch.

My personal sketchbook project - a place where I can practice and explore different mediums and fashion elements combining textures and techniques. I highly encourage you to start your own and sketch away!

Melting Pot Sketchbook. No # on cover. "The SKETCHBOOK Series Number One" in indicia. Melting Pot is a Sci-Fi/Fantasy epic and is the brainchild of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle co-creator Kevin Eastman. Includes sketches, character designs and bios. Plus, bios for the creators. Story and art by Kevin Eastman. Additional art by Eric Talbot. Paints by Simon Bisley.Cover price $3.95.

Fetal Brain Tango. Art and cover by John Totleben. Selections from the sketchbooks of Totleben, many from his early days, before he was the artist for Alan Moores version of Swamp Thing. 44 pages, PC/PB&W. Mature Readers.Cover price $3.95.

Noodles. Art and cover by Michael Zulli. Introduction by Neil Gaiman. Sketchbook Stuff, Random Drawings, and Telephone Squiggles from Zulli, acclaimed artist of Sandman and Puma Blues. Images of animals both real and fantastic, Swamp Thing, and The Sandman, plus scenes from Zullis unpublished Sweeney Todd project with Neil Gaiman. 72 pages, PC/PB&W. Mature Readers.Cover price $3.95.

Art and cover by Rick Bryant. Sketchbook material from Rick Bryant, artist and inker of Superman, The Avengers, Wonder Woman, and a host of independent adventure comics. 44 pages, PC/PB&W. Mature Readers.Cover price $3.95.

Art and cover by Charles Vess. Sketchbook material from Charles Vess, artist of Stardust, The Book of Ballads and Sagas, and The Sandman, among others. Images of fairies, dryads, Swamp Thing and Abby, A Midsummer Nights Dream and more. Includes a bibliography of Vess work through 1991. 44 pages, PC/PB&W. Mature Readers.Cover price $3.95.

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