Took the day off from all the thought provoking art-making to go sketching with Shari Blaukof!
We had about the best weather you could ask for. It was such an amazing day, everybody going by was in an excellent mood. All kinds of good vibes from people happy to see artists out on the waterfront.
Kind of makes you want to get back into street sketching! I’d forgotten how much people like to stop and chat with sketchers.
Another advantage of sketching with a friend – I had forgotten to add the masts reflecting in the water, and – probably wouldn’t even have known how to do it – but I saw Shari put them into her painting with these confident squiggles – and so – bingo! Water reflections! That was 30 seconds work that made the sketch 100% better.
She also loaned me a Gelly Roll (white fine-liner pen) so I could add a little rigging and a few white masts. Initially I refused out of stubbornness – but they’re actually kind of handy.
Shari pointed out these interesting boats. They’re Martin-16’s , which are designed to give people with mobility issues the freedom to sail. Pretty great idea! There are some that have been outfitted with mouth control (sip and puff), making them one of the few (only?) opportunities for quadriplegics to be out on the water on their own – though, there is a second seat for a passenger if they want to take a friend.
I’m just out here having a great day, not training hard-core, so I used a single line sketch underneath this painting of the boats in the yard. If you zoom in, the drawing is visible underneath.
This might seem like a mixed message from me. Like, I’m offering up this technique of ‘Direct Watercolor’ then not even using it religiously. Well – here’s the thing – the goal is making your work easier. Getting free of *unnecessary* planning. I’ve used Direct techniques to teach myself how little drawing I actually need.
Once you know you can do it with nothing but the brush – it’s tremendously freeing. I used to draw everything. Every window, every fencepost. I used to draw lines around clouds or reflections in the water! I was a line-addict! My sketches were stiff and overworked. I used to draw individual leaves on trees for heaven’s sake! Don’t do that please. Life is too short :) The trees here are a good example of using direct painting and drawing at the same time.
So – Direct Watercolor – it’s not an eleventh commandment! Go ahead and use a line if you feel it helps set up proportions.
Drawing boats is hard!
