Speed Demon
A little while ago, I was slightly obsessed with capturing roadsides in my sketchbook as they whizzed past on car journeys. Before you ask, yes, I was the passenger. Despite the bumps and bends of country lanes transforming their spent hedgerow foliage from golden brown to gone, I scribbled and scratched away in my sketchbook pages with a desire to depict movement and pick out the hidden colours of winter.
I quickly discovered that motorway journeys were smoother for this type of sketching, less likely to feel travel sick and easier to control the marks. Now, you could argue that the most significant aspect of motorway sketching is the road; after all, it dominates the foreground. However, the diagonal drama of blurry hedgerows, grass verge, and leaning pylon gives this drawing a sense of speed and a leaning into the curve that surpasses the excitement of the road ahead.
The direction of line work in a drawing is a powerful tool and can be creatively used to manipulate the mood of a sketch. Horizontal lines suggest calm, vertical lines portray energy, and diagonal lines emphasise movement. There's a bit of all three happening in this particular sketch.
To see more hedgerow drawings, take a peek at my journal entry, Road trip sketching: Passenger seat drawing on the Motorway.
A Playful Mindset: The Devil's in the Detail
When it comes to artmaking, there are many conflicting opinions on whether you should focus on detail or avoid it. Note the word "should." Such a tricky word as, first and foremost, art making is not about shoulds. It's about desires, wants and dreams. Finding the thing that lights you up is the aim of the game, and if that light is sparked by detail, then absolutely follow it and see where it goes.
I secretly rather love indulging in the details. In fact, I can get lost in it, and this is where detail becomes tricky. Lean into it too soon, and you can quickly lose sight of the bigger picture. In the worst-case scenario, this results in a half-backed painting, partly super detailed with the big-hitting shapes unresolved as the design (composition) becomes an afterthought. Retrospective changes to composition at this stage can be difficult, if not impossible. With practice and a modicum of patience, I've learned to focus on the overall design of a painting first. Once happy that the big shapes work, I go back in and layer in all the lovely details.
Even now, I still catch myself going in too soon with details that will inevitably get painted over. When all is said and done, it's not the end of the world when this happens, as there is always a spark of playful intent. Those covered marks will enrich what comes next, and practice is never wasted. It's simply an opportunity to keep learning. The takeaway is remembering the frustration of unpicking a painting that has become too detailed too soon. Remember how it feels to make that decision to cover over and retrace steps, and wonder, if you took a different course of action earlier, how that could affect the outcome.
As I say, playful intent, even when slightly misguided, is always time well-spent in art making. No matter how many steps forward or back, remembering how you're feeling during these steps can motivate you to keep going and seek out the feel-good aspect of art making. With this in mind, dive in and indulge your detailed desires in Sketchbook Playdate Episode 5.
Sketchbook Playdate Episode 5: Jam Jars
If you want an excuse to dive into detail, the next Playdate, Jam Jars, gives you the best of both worlds. Use bold stationery drawing equipment and mess-free paint tools to make big shapes, and use biros for indulgent fine lettering work. If you are detail-oriented, you'll have a field day with this episode, and equally, if you like big, loose shapes, there's plenty to get stuck into. As always, find your joy and do more of it.
If I've piqued your appetite, please step this way…
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Read on to see how my drawings with stationary led to the creation of two expressive fine art prints plucked directly from the pages of my sketchbook.
If this is where your sketchbook peek ends, thank you for being here. Paid BRIGHT family members, please read on...