Hey Everyone! It’s a different kind of newsletter this week. I’m going to focus on things that I really loved using, things that inspired me, and a few sketches.
Books
Last week, I got my hands on two books from some of my favorite artists, David Hockney and Henri Matisse.
I like to look at the work of the masters sometimes when I’m not feeling very inspired and browsing through these books and reading about how these works came about really help me to stay inspired.
I have loved Matisse’s work since my early 20s when I learned about him in an art history class in college and I had a friend who worked at the MET (Metropolitan Museum of Art) in NYC. He used to give me and my roommate posters (some framed) and books from the museum, which were expensive (for struggling college students). So I had posters from other masters like Van Gogh, Degas, and Monet.
I don’t even remember how I learned of David Hockney but I immediately fell in love with his work. The above sketches are from a sketchbook of his that was reproduced and completely done in watercolor and ink. Looking through his work really inspires me as well because I love working with watercolor and being very minimal with it but sometimes I like adding fine liner ink pens.
Stay Wet Gouache Palettes
I was working a lot with my gouache palettes and realized (well I loved gouache since I discovered it about 2 years ago) how much I love gouache and I wonder why I work with it in spurts. I will work with gouache for weeks and then let it go… it’s weird. 🤷🏽♀️
Kuretaki Japanese Watercolors- Art Nouveau palette
I don’t know what took me so long to get this particular palette! I love these colors! I already have another Kuretake palette which is great too. Japanese watercolors hit different, we already know, but the colors of the Art Nouveau palette are amazing periodt.
Rainbow Pencils
My daughter came home with rainbow pencils this summer. At summer camp, she won a set of rainbow pencils for her good behavior and when she showed them to me, we immediately started drawing with them together. Well, fast forward to last week, I’ve been using them and I freaking love them and will be using them more in my sketchbooks.
Car sketching
Last week I discovered that I like sketching in my car. Why? Well, first, there’s no one else around, second, I can observe something for as long as I need to without bringing attention to myself and no one chatting me up about what I’m drawing, third, it gives me the opportunity to freestyle things that I can’t see, and finally, there are no bugs and pests in my car (at least at the moment!). LOL 😂
Seriously, it was a really peaceful experience. I had my music going, my snacks, and water and it was a nice change from drawing at home.
The sketch on the left is across the street from a park I always go to, so as I was driving home from the lake, I decided to pull over and sketch the weeping willow (my favorite tree). The one on the right is the lake that I frequent and since landscapers were monopolizing the lake that day, I decided to sketch in my car and I really enjoyed it. The End.
and last but certainly NOT least, the last thing that I really enjoyed last week…
LAMY ink pen
I had this for a minute not even knowing the amazingness I had in a fountain pen. I finally opened the box, put in the ink and I heard the ink angels sing….. I write in my journal with ONLY this pen now! 😂 If you’re a fountain pen user you know what I’m talking bout. The End again.
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Love and light
Martine
I love your car sketches so much, Martine! 😍
Nice review of the week Martine! Those books look like a treasure 😍