- \n
- Experimental<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Flexible<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Lots of challenge, and information gained by using different colors of paper<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Fulfilled my commitment – a place to show up<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Exercised willingness to practice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Cons<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Too small<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Too chunky <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- I felt flighty, like I couldn’t settle on an approach<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The paper didn’t work well for watercolor or collage<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Felt a pressure to complete my pages, which was not so pleasant<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Could have had more of a sense of play \/ softness<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Discoveries<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Gouache against a tan background – a favorite<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The thumbnail templates are fun and useful<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Some drawings seemed to lend themselves to stitch projects. Helped me realize that I want a sketchbook to be useful to inform my stitching projects.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- The struggle to find a white line that I like continues<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Copying other artists was very enjoyable, both well known and not-so<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- I can draw pretty realistically, but it doesn’t interest me and feels like an effort. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Background and layered effects caught my interest<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- I take joy in soft colors blurred around an outline<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Call-response format is intriguing – put something on the page I can come back later and respond to. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Approach for 2024 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Make several sketchbooks using different papers<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Use a larger format. I like square, but it doesn’t have to be. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Prepare pages at the beginning of the year; bind what I have at the end of the year.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Focus on the idea of series, building off existing pages. <\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Create one general drawing sketchbook that’s smaller for travel, plant sketches, thumbnail fun. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
Intriguing Themes<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
- \n
- Collage with limitations<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Calligraphy \/ words<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Gelli plate backgrounds, then draw on top<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Ink blots – then respond on top<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Monotypes and trace monotypes<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- Watercolor shapes with ink or pencil lines<\/li>\n\n\n\n
- General drawing – copying other artists, drawing plants, using thumbnail templates<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In preparation, I cut and folded a lot of papers into pages, hopefully to become books. I’m not doing a daily thing in 2024, we’ll see what happens. So far, I’ve made a few beginnings of collage and a page of ink blots. (The dark shapes at the top are shadows from objects on the windowsill.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/img_7832-1.jpg\")
<\/a>Papers ready for play<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, I’m working on the crewel heart project. Here’s my second one, with applique using some things I learned from Jude’s skitch-skatch method. I’m going to stitch with some crewel yarn on it. But first, going on vacation! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/img_7830-1.jpg\")
<\/a>Crewel heart with no crewel yet<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’m leaving tomorrow on vacation for 10 days. No, I don’t need a vacation. I live in “Vacation Land” and I’m retired. But my neighbor really wanted to go to Mexico with us, to...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13289,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[341],"tags":[502],"class_list":["post-13288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sketching","tag-crewel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13288"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13291,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13288\/revisions\/13291"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gemtactics.net\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}