Making A Mark is 19 years old today!

 Making A Mark was born in December 2005 but first went public on January 7th 2006

Which makes it 19 years old today. 

The actual first post Making a Mark said

This is a new journal which will reflect on how my paintings and drawings are created.

It will also introduce small works of art which will be available for sale from my website from the New Year.

That was the idea at the time - but was soon revised! I subsequently decided it was probably a better idea to learn more about art - and my Making A Mark blog started to transform.

In December 2005, I started learning how to use Blogger (in private!) and so, that first post was followed in December, by a few which became much more typical of what I used to post at the beginning.

• Two of my favourite occupations
• Drinking Tea and Drawing People
• Drawing and Flu

Drinking tea and drawing people - in the RA Friends Room
(Who remembers the big black chesterfield sofas?)
drinking tea and drawing people became a perennial theme for sketches
- which subsequently transferred to another blog
Travels with my Sketchbook in....

Drinking tea and drawing people at the RI Exhibition at the Mall Galleries (2010)

on Travels with a Sketchbook in....

This sketch subsequently appeared on page 103 of my book Sketching 365
I can even remember that those blue paintings on the back wall
were by Bob Rudd
Sadly this blog was knobbled by my growing mobility issues

However, in terms of birthdays, I always count the day it first went public as it's actual birthday. Making A Mark went public to the world at large after I'd recovered from flu and got through Christmas 2005.   

So the actual FIRST PUBLIC POST was Catnapping on January 5th 2006.

Catnapping #2
Cosmo sleeping on the lap of JR (he loved his Daddy!)

I've been pondering about whether I've opted for the right blogger software and whether, if I need to change, I need to do it sooner rather than later. But every time I look at all the alternatives I get a headache. And as the flu bug has only diminished rather than disappeared I think I'll leave that for when I'm feeling a bit more invigorated and generally up for a bit of cyber thingummies. Especially as I've just managed to lose all my refinements of the basic template because I fancied looking at what it looked like in blue! Grrrrrrr!!

What I now value very much is I have a complete record of a lot of my life over the last 19 years - where I've been, what I've seen, who I've met and all the art along the way. If I get bored or cannot get out I just start to look through my archives in the side column - year by year and month by month. 

In the lead up to Making A Mark's 20th birthday, I think I might start regular reminders of posts from the past - because they're useful or a visual feast.

Then there's all my photographs of art and exhibitions........

First Tips for using a Sketchbook

While sorting out my sketchbooks - as in finally getting round to labelling them with years and contents, I came across my very first sketchbook as an adult.

In it were some tips from Paul Millichip 1929-2018 about "using a sketchbook" which he very much advocated. In fact it's probably true to say he was the person who started me using a sketchbook properly

So I'm passing them on.....

The context is I signed up for his two week course on painting in Goa India in December 1993 - and a pre-holiday course in September at his studio in Buckinghamshire which was focused on sketching and using a sketchbook, so we'd get the most out of time on our trip to Goa.
(Note: I was very focused in being efficient in how I worked. I'd just started as a management consultant with KPMG and was very focused on performance improvement! Curious how your main job can influence how you approach your art...)

First the notes, then one of my sketches from Goa that I was rather pleased with and then some notes about a couple of books he wrote. Anybody who thinks they look interesting should be able to pick up second hand for next to nothing on the internet. Although I rather suspect, most owners are hanging on to their copies!

Using a Sketchbook

Think of a sketchbook as a tool - a means to an end

When starting to sketch, focus on what interests you - and state it straightaway e.g.

• dark against light
• dynamic
• vertical against horizontal

then

• look for the source of light
• light from the side or from behind creates interest

then

• stare at subject 
• look at blank page - see ghost of subject
• put down measuring points

Use your sketchbook to make notes:

• written notes
• colour notes - particularly relating to light
• if a sketch is going to yield useful information, it probably needs fairly careful drawing

If sketching:

• people - try to sketch a moment
• group of buildings:
• look for the line the buildings make against the sky
• look at overall shapes (the "big shapes")
• do NOT get distracted by drawing individual buildings
• focus on the big shapes first - and include negative spaces
• try a large object in the foreground
• sometimes useful to sketch on a theme

(He was a good teacher and I was unconsciously using these tips for years afterwards.)

Baga Beach, Goa (1993) by Katherine Tyrrell
An example of how thick cloud in a tropical place
completely mutes all light, colour, tone and shadows.
This is also my very first watercolour sketch of a boat, a sandy beach and a wave!

If you have no colours/paints with you:

• you need a formula e.g. use initials for paint colours
• you need to make notes

Using watercolours:

My favourite subjects to draw and sketch

How do we identify the special subjects we like to sketch, draw or paint again and again?

Sometimes we don't realise for a very long time what they are until we've done enough to see a pattern.

Landscapes with extensive views

For me, it dawned on me after I first created my website for my artwork that it was landscapes with VERY BIG vistas! There were an awful lot of them....

Here's an example. This was a commission I did 11 years ago for the American wife of a cyclist who loved his time cycling up Mont Ventoux in Provence (YES! There really are people who commission paintings for their spouses!) 

Mont Ventoux from the Hotel Crillon Le Brave
12" x 16", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils on Arches HP 

The commission was triggered by a sketch on a blog post on the blog we created for a painting holiday in Provence 

Painting in Provence
This is the story of four women who were drawing, sketching and painting in Provence in June 2011.
We shared a house and held a painting party!
You are invited to share our preparations, our sketches and paintings, comings and goings and general conviviality!and the original sketch

This was the original blog post Sunday lunch and sketching at Hotel Crillon Le Brave and two of the original sketches. 

The view from the terrace of Mont Ventoux and Bedoin in the distance

Meals in restaurants

The second sketch is my lunch - also known as what I was eating while sketching! 

Also known as my second favourite subject for sketching: meals in restaurants and cafes

I've got absolutely masses from a number of different countries! I have pondered on doing some more research and maybe creating a book! ;)

I have a record of the meal on my main sketchblog The view of Mont Ventoux from Crillon Le Brave

• Soupe de Pöisson, Crouton et Aioli mediterranean fish soup, aioli and croutons;
• Thon à la Planche, Salade Fenoil, Tartibe de'Aioli tuna steak, shaved fennel salad and aioli tartine
• Floating Island in lavender

My three course lunch at the Hotel Crillon Le Brave:
mediterranean fish soup, aioli and croutons;
tuna steak, shaved fennel salad and aioli tartine and
a floating island in lavender

The sketches were all done in a large Moleskine Sketchbook using pen and ink and coloured pencils. 

I've always very much enjoyed eating out - and developed a rule while travelling of "If I'm eating in a new place I should really try to eat something I've never had before".   Very educational - travels broaden the mind - and sometimes the tum!

The big advantage of sketching food for me is that I had to be fast and eating enforced breaks from sketching - which helps a lot when trying to protect your hand from tenosynovitis / osteoarthritis through gripping pens and pencils for far too long! (See yesterday's blog post about Golden Oldie #3: Artists and Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI))

Now that I'm more mobile and steadier on my feet, I really ought to start taking a small sketchbook and a small pencil case out with me - and eat out more!