SCBWI Traveling Sketch Book

Wow!  It's May and I'm just getting around to posting this piece of art I made back in March.  Well, I think you are going to like this even though it's a bit late. 

 

So here is the story....I belong to the Society of Children's Books Writers and Illustrators and we have a local chapter for those in New York state.  Back in the fall, the leaders of the local chapter (WestCenNYSCBWI) decided to start a sketchtravel, which is a traveling sketchbook that moves from illustrator to illustrator.  I signed up to participate and wound up being the last person on the list to add a sketch before the book went off to our annual spring conference.  That means I got to see all of the art before anyone else did, not even the organizers of the sketch travel got to see it before me.  How did I get so lucky?  

When I received our traveling sketchbook it was like receiving gold in the mail!  I was so excited to see the contributions of everyone and wondered what I would contribute.  When I opened the sketchbook I was blown away!  The most amazing art was in there and each piece has it's own personality.  There was no theme to follow, just sketch whatever your heart desired.  It was very inspirational to see the work and the mediums people chose to work in. 

 

Here I am receiving the sketchbook in the mail.

To start I made a little video of the whole book for you to see, then I'll post some of the art individually, and lastly my contribution.

Now, here are a few pieces from the sketchbook that just blew me away...

And my contribution.....

When I painted this it had snowed again for what felt like the thousandth time.  I was dreaming of spring and wishing it would hurry up and come.  I thought of all the creatures that were sleeping the winter away and wishing I could do the same:) 

Below you can see how the painting came together... I started with references and then made a sketch the size of the book.  You can't imagine how nervous I was painting in this book that had so many wonderful pieces of art in it.  I transferred my sketch into the book ever so carefully and then put tracing paper between the pages to prevent bleed through.  I put a piece of plastic underneath it to keep the cover clean and I even moved my water to the other side of my work surface so I wouldn't spill it.  Could you imagine...  

Starting with a watercolor wash for the sky, I then moved to acrylics for the majority of the painting.  I added in details with colored pencil and pen and ink.  

 

I hope you enjoyed seeing the WestCenNY SCBWI Sketchtravel.  I would be honored to participate in a project like this again.  It was truly magical:)

TTFN! 

Browsing through an old sketchbook.....

Sometimes I like to pick up an old sketchbook of mine to look through it to see what I was doing at the time.  I did that the other day and ran across these old sketches from my trip to France in 2007.  It was a fantastic trip and what made it so great was the people I was with.  There were 8 of us on the trip and we were all artists or aspiring artists.  As artists many of us were "young" and experimenting and we had no fear.  Just to put paint on the canvas or ink on the page was reward enough for us.  We ate wonderful food, looked at beautiful country, and made art.  I wish it could be like that every day...

The drawings are rough, and perspectives are off, but the memories they invoke are priceless.  And it's fun to remember making each line and wondering if I would ever truly become an artist.  Looking at these drawings years later I realize it's not a process or technique that makes you an artist, but a journey of thousands of marks.      

Vacation Sketches

Another thing that kept me busy this summer has been a few trips to some pretty spectacular places.  In late June we went to Glacier National Park in Montana for a family hiking vacation.  While I didn't get a lot of time for art because we were hiking 10+ miles a day, I did get a chance to do a few sketches in my sketch book.

The sketch to the left was of the fireweed and daisys that grew along side the deck of the house that we rented.  They were so beautifully delicate that I just had to try and capture them.  Then, while I was sketching, a little bee came up and decided to buzz around in my scene, so I added him in!  

I also tried to capture little thumbnails from some of my favorite scenes of Montana, like the night time sky, and trails that we hiked.  The top right is the view from the deck of the house that we rented, looking into the park.  The bottom right is from my all time favorite trail Grinnell Glacier.  We were not able to make it to the glacier that day because the path was blocked by snow!  In late June!  But we made it most of the way and I was able to capture the beautiful glacial lake that is formed from the run off from the glacier.  The bottom left is from St. Mary's Lake and a beautiful trail where we walked along side the lake and happened upon a mother moose and her baby! 

 

After we returned from Glacier National Park my husband and I took a trip to California with our oldest son to visit the college he will attend in the fall.  Cal Poly! It is located in the beautiful coastal town of San Luis Obispo in the central coast of California.  The golden hills of California were in full force in the middle of July and I just had to try and capture them.  There was also a beautiful flowering tree on the campus at Cal Poly that had specular purple flowers...I had to paint that as well!  And we were lucky enough to stay at a hotel by the ocean so I woke every morning to a beautiful ocean view!

Opening the sketchbook...

Every once in a while I like to open the sketchbook to show you what is going on in my head:)  My life has been very topsy turvy lately so the sketchbook is not at full as usual, but it still has some promising doodles.  One doodle is an idea for a gift book that I am working on.   I hope to post more about that gift book either later this week or early next....

In the meantime, here are a few for you to enjoy:)