Sketching in Milton

Yesterday I joined the Urban Sketchers Brisbane for a morning of sketching. We met at La Dolce Vita in Park Road. I had been able to find a place for my car near Milton House a rare surviving example of 1850s Georgian architecture, so spent the hour’s parking time doing a quick watercolour sketch.

Milton House - ink & watercolour Zeta Sketchbook

Moving around the corner, I stopped for coffee at Mary Ryan’s Books Music and Coffee. There were plenty of men in suits having earnest meetings. Browsing in a proper bookstore is a favourite occupation, but today I was here to draw a couple of people.  

Park Road Shoes and other buildings - ink & watercolour Zeta sketchbook

There was a good view of the modern buildings from across the road so I sat on a low wall and completed an ink drawing. I enjoyed the geometry of these buildings adding the watercolour later at home. Then I joined the other sketchers at La Dolce Vita caffe`. Here there is also plenty to sketch - statues, elaborate lights and of course people.These two statues look as though they are waiting on the gent in the centre!

La Dolce Vita - De Artramentis Fog Grey & W&N watercolour marker Zeta Sketchbook

Brisbane Sketchers feature on The Great South East show.

Here is a link to a video of The Great South East . Brisbane sketchers were filmed on location in Post Office Square recently. A big thank you to Harry Ting who recorded the segment for our group.
I was one of them giving some drawing tips to presenter Blair Allsop. He's one of the Brisbane Greeters - a group of friendly folk who show visitors around our beautiful city.

The Segment opens with some of my sketches. The film crew went to a few locations to show the buildings and the sketches together.

Queensland Parliament House - ink and watercolour Zeta sketchbook

Queen Victoria and the Treasury Casino Hotel - ink and watercolour Zeta Sketchbook

While waiting for the TV crew I did a preparatory sketch using Noodlers #41 Brown and a waterbrush for the wash.

GPO preparatory sketch - ink and wash Alpha sketchbook

And here is the completed sketch done on the day. The text and buildings in the background were added after the film crew left.

Brisbane GPO ink and watercolour Zeta sketchbook

Urban Sketchers Brisbane on The Great South East

There was much excitement at the USK Brisbane sketch crawl this morning. Our group was to be filmed for the Channel 7 TV programme The Great South East, which features people and places in SE  Queensland.

Needless to say there was a bumper turnout. While we waited for the film crew to arrive, I started a quick ink sketch of the General Post Office. I wanted to get a feel for the building and decide how to tackle the building in the larger sketch.

GPO Noodler's #41 Brown in Alpha sketchbook

 It's a building with three sections. The left hand side with the clock face is the original building, although the clock was originally on the centre Tower section and was later moved. The right side of the building was added later and matches the left side. We were in relative calm sitting in Post Office square across the road.

I decided to concentrate on the original building.I loved the fact that the trees obscured quite a lot of the complex building. There was a also a lot of traffic on the road in front of me - trucks, delivery vans and crowds of people moving about, so a lot of editing took place.

While I started my sketch some of the other sketchers were interviewed. I decided on a loose watercolour wash of the main shapes so I would have something to work on when they came to talk to me. 

Fortunately I had a fair bit of the sketch started when it was my turn to be interviewed, so I didn't have to face a blank page. Carole Horne, the Producer asked me to "assist" the presenter, Blair Allsop with his sketch and give him a few tips on starting. The crew were with us for a couple of hours and then went on to shoot footage of some of the sketches we had done in other locations around the city.

 General Post Office Brisbane ink and watercolour Zeta sketchbook 

If you live in Queensland make sure you tune in to Channel Seven on a Sunday afternoon at 5.30pm. We will get some notice of when the segment will air - most likely in about four weeks so I'll let you know when it's on.

Andy Warhol predicted that

“In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes”

After all effort that I am sure our fame will most likely only amount to three or four minutes in total.

Deja` Bru Cafe`

I had been living in my home for about a year when Deja Bru Café opened in the shopping centre a couple of hundred meters from my house. One day while I was having coffee and chatting to the owner, somehow the conversation turned to what I was doing - working as an artist and teaching art. Jess asked me if I could do a painting with a French theme as she was looking for something for the wall of the Café. 

Back in the studio I did a few ink sketches of Paris scenes in my sketchbook - the Eiffel Tower, some Parisienne buildings and a few French pastries. A few days later, when having another coffee, I produced the sketches.

 I was asked:

"Can you do some café  scenes? - And "The painting needs to be quite big... "

So the process for creating the large paintings for Deja Bru began. You can read all about it  here, and here and view the completed painting here. 

Better still if you live in Brisbane drop in for coffee. Deja Bru Cafe` is in McDowall Village Centre on the corner of Hamilton and Beckett Roads, McDowall 4053.

A few weeks ago I was at Deja Bru and had my large Zeta sketchbook with me. I decided to do a sketch, and remembering Tommy Kane’s approach to drawing, this was the type of drawing where I could take my time. Also, I could include all the many little details that make this such a unique place. 

The drawing was done over a number of visits, whenever I could get a table with the right view. After a few visits, I often found that some items were moved to a different shelf as Jess tweaked the décor! In desperation I took a couple of photos for reference so I didn't have to move them in my drawing!

Deja Bru Cafe - ink and watercolour Zeta sketchbook 300mm x 420mm

Once the ink drawing was complete I started adding watercolour. Some parts have remained black and white - I like the contrast between the splashes of colour and the stark ink lines.

Deja Bru Cafe` celebrated its second birthday last week. How time flies, and how lucky am I to have this little treasure on my doorstep?

And I have an extra reason to be so grateful to the team at Deja Bru - last week while having breakfast with some friends, I dropped my pen case containing both my old and precious Waterman and my favourite Lamy Safari pens! I was frantic as you can imagine and searched high and low re-tracing my steps that day.

Fortunately for me, when the boys were clearing up they found my case and kept it safely for me. Thank you, boys, for your honesty.

Sketchbooks

I have a confession. I have been somewhat obsessed with sketching and sketchbooks lately - and I love it. I've been sketching for years, sometimes more sometimes less and I thought I would write a bit about the books I have used.

Sketchbooks - bottom to top - Fabriano Venezia A4 and A5; Daler Rowney Petrol; Blank Magneto Book; Stillman & Birn A5 Beta; Moelskine Sketchbook and Daler Rowney Eggshell

Over the years, my medium of choice has been a pen, usually a fine liner or pencil. This was governed by the type of books easily available in South Africa. The ones used most often were simple blank books A5 and A4 from Exclusive Books. The paper was most likely only about 110gsm and not suitable for watercolour. Pencil is fine but unless the drawings are fixed, the pages get very messy, so ink is a better option. 

Occasionally, I would be able to get Daler Rowney's Ebony and these were better and could cope with a light wash. Then I found the Moleskine Sketchbooks but unfortunately not the ones with watercolour paper! The paper in these is lovely for ink and coloured pencil but is averse to watercolour. However, manufacturers have to change things and as I write there is new packaging and I believe different paper. For up to date reviews of these changes,please check Katherine Tyrrell's blog Making a Mark as she will be posting her findings.

I also have an A4 Moleskine watercolour sketchbook that I am using. I'm not too sure how I feel about this one yet... The landscape format makes it a large rather cumbersome surface to work on. It's certainly not the book to pull out when you are trying to be discreet about sketching. And since it appears that the paper in this one has also changed makes my findings above rather irrelevant!

A good value for money sketchbook is the Jasart Sketch and Write, especially when they are on special. These have 150gsm paper, are hard bound and come in a variety of sizes. The book opens flat and is strurdy. The paper accepts a light wash, and can be used to test oil colour mixtures without bleeding through to the next page. The price allows one to be extravagant with page use so I use these for daily studio work. (This satisfies my semi-frugal nature)

A lovely book for ink, gouache, and watercolour is the Fabriano Venezia. It's a bound book, is sturdy and I like the cover. Since the paper is 200gsm it takes a fair amount of punishment. These come in both about A5 and about A4. I say "about" because these are slightly larger than A5 and A4 which comes with challenges when scanning as the page doesn't fit an A4 scanner bed. Another grumble I have is that the book doesn't open completely flat which causes problems when working across the gutter and creates a strong shadow when scanning.

 My basic sketching kit - Fabriano Venezia with a white Lamy Safari for drawing 

& Waterman for writing.

This brings me to the Stillman & Birn sketchbooks. I have used a number of these and like all of them very much for use with various mediums. The books all open flat so good to use a double spread and for scanning. 

The first I tested was the Beta 270gsm Weight: 180 lb. – 270 gsm; Shade: Natural White

Surface: Cold Press Media: Watercolor, Dry Media, & Ink

It's lovely for watercolour, though it has a bit more tooth than I like for pen work but still workable. But - the "but" is because the paper is thicker there are fewer sheets in the book so it's not that economical a choice.

Figs - watercolour and pencil Beta sketchbook

The Alpha Weight: 100 lb. – 150 gsm  Shade: Natural White  Surface: Vellum  Media: Dry Media,  Light Wash, & Ink

This is the one I would choose again as a daily sketchbook. It's 150gsm and because of the sizing copes well with a lot of abuse in terms of water. It's receptive to pen and a good number of pages per book so good value.

A favourite for pen is the Zeta Weight: 180 lb. – 270 gsm Shade: Natural White Surface: Smooth  Media: Watercolor,  Pen & Ink, & Dry Media and I do enjoy the rather crazy way watercolour behaves on the paper. 

The Epsilon Weight: 100 lb. – 150 gsm  Shade: Natural White  Surface: Smooth  Media: Pen & Ink,   Dry Media, & Light Wash has similar surface - smooth, 150gsm and copes with quite a lot of water. It's one I'm using at the moment.

Another new one that I am trying is the Hand*book sketchbook and find that I spite of not being a watercolour paper, it is handling paint well - more on that as I do more sketches in this book.

Hand*Book Journal - Ink and Gouache and small watercolour palettes ready to be filled.

Disclaimer: I am not associated in any way with the stores or manufacturers where links have been provided.

Sketchbook Skool

For many years now I have had sketchbooks. Previously the ritual of drawing daily was really only adhered to if I was away on holiday. I have a number of these and they are in effect travel journals, a wonderful reminder of great holidays.

At home in the studio, my sketchbooks had became messy work books, filled with rough sketches, measurements of planned paintings and the odd written note. I seldom dated anything and wish now that I had coupled the drawings with more written annotations to record more of my thinking or at the very least added the date.

These days, although I am a working artist, I had forgotten how much pleasure there is in daily drawing. I had forgotten the ritual of meditative sketching; of experimentation and discovery; the pleasure of filling a book with your images, thoughts and ideas. I like the idea of working through my creativity in both words and images, with each enhancing and enriching the other.

The Living Room ink and watercolour Zeta Sketchbook

  © 2014 Carol Lee Beckx

 

At the beginning of April I enrolled for an online course, my first ever. The first six week semester of Sketchbook Skool has been something of a revelation to me. The online camaraderie that has developed through posting ones sketches, seeing other people's work and giving and receiving comments has been so rewarding. I filled an A5 Fabriano Venezia sketchbook during the course, as well as using a number of pages in other sketchbooks.

I have started to post the drawings on my Flickr page as a separate gallery - SketchbookSkool. 

At the end of the course I made a few notes (the notes became an essay) and posted this on the group's Facebook page. Danny Gregory, who initiated the course together with Koosje Koene, asked if he could quote me. He posted my thoughts on his blog -The six weeks that changed my life. 

The second semester starts on July 4th. To cater for the tremendous interest in this course the first semester will run again also starting on July 4^th.

If you would like to learn how to make daily drawing and keeping a sketchbook part of your life then do yourself a favour and enroll.

Click here for more information about the course.

43rd Worldwide Sketch-crawl Brisbane

My day started early with a stop in Margaret Street, Brisbane to draw the Bonded Stores. These buildings have just lost an appeal by Brisbane Heritage to the Queensland Heritage Council to save them from demolition by developers. The vote was close by 6-4 votes but it still means that they will come down.

Bonded Stores Margaret Street, Brisbane - Fabriano Venezia sketchbook 

©2014 Carol Lee Beckx

My sketch was on a page prepared with gesso/gouache under painting. On site I did a drawing using a Lamy Safari (EF nib) and Noodler"s black ink. On my return home I added more gouache - a sad drawing.

Next stop was the Queensland Parliament House in George Street. I wanted to try using loose watercolour washes for the building with no pencil or pen drawing. I left the double spread to dry planning to return later to do the drawing.

I joined my fellow sketchers and moved on to Old Government House. This building now forms part of QUT Garden Point Campus and houses the William Robinson Art Gallery, museum and café. (Unfortunately all closed during our visit as it was Easter holidays!)

Old Government House QUT ink and w/c Fabriano Venezia sketchbook 

©2014 Carol Lee Beckx 

Turning to face a different direction, I was struck by the contrasting modern buildings - Garden Theatre and the Science building.

Garden Theatre Ink and w/c Zeta Sketchbook ©2014 Carol Lee Beckx

The drawing of Parliament house was quite a challenge, particularly as it was almost lunch time. I used a Zeta A4 Sketchbook with a Lamy Safari (EF nib) and Noodlers black ink. Zeta is wonderful for ink but watercolour reacts very differently so smooth even washes just don't happen!

I debated whether I should add more watercolour for greater depth to the sketch.In the end I have left it as it was…I may still add more colour. The eternal question - when to stop?

Our crawl ended at Pancake Manor for coffee, lunch and a last quick sketch - a good day.

Drawing - facing fears and overcoming one's inner critic

Over the last two weeks I have been taking part in an online class on Illustrated journaling. I figured there is always something new to be learned and I was right. 

It's been a busy time as I have had commission paintings to complete as well as work needed for an upcoming exhibition.

Chinese ceramics - Ink wash, gouache and dip pen © 2014 Carol Lee Beckx

The course has been a good impetus for daily drawing; for trying new materials and exploring different methods. Certain aspects of my art practice have also been clarified. I am a painter. I am a drawer (?) that sounds like a piece of furniture - sorry draftsman.

I am not and never will be a "coloured - penciller". However, I do have new found respect for those who practise the craft. One needs loads of patience and a vast number of different colours.  The former I have when doing something that I love, but this medium uses up my patience quotient rapidly. Yes, I enjoy watercolour pencils used in a rough calligraphic way, but endless layering and blending - no way, not for me.

Beetroot - FW Acrylic inks calligraphic pen © 2014 Carol Lee Beckx

The course has also highlighted a common problem among the participants - how to overcome the critic that sits on your shoulder telling you that what you are doing is rubbish; that you can't draw; that people will laugh at your efforts etc. etc.etc. It's a boring monologue that doesn't let up, a constant stream of negativity. Consequently you stop, tear out the page, throw the book across the room and stop trying.

I like to couple advice on beating the inner critic with this quote by Chuck Close talking about inspiration:

“The advice I like to give young artists, or really anybody who'll listen to me, is not to wait around for inspiration. Inspiration is for amateurs; the rest of us just show up and get to work. If you wait around for the clouds to part and a bolt of lightning to strike you in the brain, you are not going to make an awful lot of work.

All the best ideas come out of the process; they come out of the work itself. Things occur to you. If you're sitting around trying to dream up a great art idea, you can sit there a long time before anything happens. But if you just get to work, something will occur to you and something else will occur to you and something else that you reject will push you in another direction." 

        

So often we stop doing things because we are afraid of criticism, failure and rejection. Sometimes we don’t even start. Creative people often use procrastination as an avoidance technique.

The dialogue goes something like this:

            “I’ll start drawing when my children are at school/ university/ when I retire/when I build a Studio/ after the holidays/ when I am on holiday and so on.

I encounter this constantly in my classes. Students have not done anything since their school days because the inner critic keeps telling them their work is no good. Before even picking up a pencil there are exclamations of:  “I can’t even draw a straight -line.” Well, that’s where a ruler is very handy.

The Solution ?

• Just start - draw something; anything. It doesn't have to be an important thing. Then draw another thing. Keep working.
• Set a time limit with a reward for yourself when the time is up and you haven’t stopped working - this can be as short as 20 minutes (and the reward doesn’t have to be chocolate!)
• Try to avoid constant self-criticism before you have completed the task.
• Rather than sitting with your work, walk away from it and come back to it later when you can assess your progress in a less emotional way.
• Assess it as though you are someone else and try to be kind. Look for the positive qualities first; then honestly look at where you could improve.

I encourage my students to own their first attempts. I suggest they buy a proper hard cover

bound journal which makes tearing pages out really hard. A ring bound book says - 

“just rip out your feeble attempt, no one will ever know."

Ultimately, if you constantly do this you will end up with a very slim book indeed. I ask them to look at the drawing, realise that perhaps they could improve; date the page and turn to the next page and do 

another drawing.

When your book is full of drawings you can look back on previous work and see how far you have travelled - and you will feel proud.

Serenity Falls, Buderim Rain Forest Park

This weekend I joined my family up the Sunshine Coast at a resort near Buderim. After a delicious breakfast on Sunday morning, the family went off to visit friends nearby. I had been checking the area to see what I could find that would be good to paint. I discovered the Serenity Falls not from the village centre in the Buderim Rain Forest Park, only a ten minute drive away.

The day was cool as I set off down the path to the falls. I was glad I had packed walking shoes as the path was steep, with many moss-covered steps. Often downhill is more challenging than up!

Serenity Falls I -  ink and watercolour in Zeta Sketchbook © 2014 Carol Lee Beckx

A wooden bridge gave a wonderful view of the falls, set into the rocky hillside, surrounded by lush tropical vegetation. A pool below provided a place for families to paddle in the cool water. I did one watercolour from the bridge, using a few pencil lines and then going straight in with watercolour.

I used my A4 Zeta sketchbook for a double page spread. I do enjoy the smooth finish which makes watercolour even more unpredictable. One has to relax and let the paint and paper create their own magic. Once the painting was dry I added some ink with a Lamy Safari and Noodlers Black ink.

Serenity Falls II ink and watercolour in Zeta Sketchbook © 2014 Carol Lee Beckx

After walking down a few more steps to the bottom I got a different perspective of the waterfall. Using a rock as a seat, it was lovely to sit in the shade and take my time with a second painting.

While waiting for the painting to dry, I had a chance to unwind and enjoy this little piece of paradise before climbing back up the path to my car.

Sketching at the City Botanic Gardens, Brisbane

Last week I spent a very pleasant morning with the Brisbane Urban Sketchers at the City Botanic Gardens. I intended to do just two sketches but on the way back to the river after the essential coffee break I was struck by Robert Juniper's impressive sculpture. I simply had to draw that as well. This meant that I didn't finish it - or for that matter the other sketch of the buildings and Story Bridge! Time ran out so I completed these at home.

I am really enjoying the larger size of the A4 sketchbook and love the unpredictable nature of the Zeta paper. The smooth finish is wonderful for ink - my pen simply glides across the surface.

Plant Form by Robert Juniper, Gardens Point City Botanic Gardens

Ink and watercolour in Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook

Yachts at Garden Point City Botanic Gardens

Ink and watercolour in Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook

City Buildings & Story Bridge from Garden Point

Ink and watercolour in Stillman & Birn Zeta sketchbook

Out and about with Zeta

This weekend was the 42^nd Worldwide Sketchcrawl. Sketchers met on Saturday morning - I was unable to join them so on Sunday, Australia Day I did some solo sketching. I found some interesting subjects in Racecourse Road, Ascot.

Racecourse entrance from Baguette Bistrot & Bar 

ink and watercolour in Zeta Sketchbook

© 2014 Carol Lee Beckx

The morning was made even more enjoyable by being able to enjoy delicious coffee and a snack at Baguette Bistrot & Bar. The staff members were lovely too - and because it was quiet with few people around, they were happy for me to colonise a table for a while. (Well quite a long while…)

View from Baguette Bistrot & Bar ink and watercolour in Zeta Sketchbook

© 2014 Carol Lee Beckx

I loved using the ultra-smooth Zeta Sketchbook by Stillman & Birn - the ink lines flow so easily and I love the way watercolour does its own thing.