Cheap paint and FAT32

Last week, I finished my little sketchbook with TrainSketches. Of course, I've already started working in a new one straight away. I hope that they are going to develop into a nice little series of sketchbooks, filled with inspiration I can go back to when looking for some ideas for a painting.

I used my good artists quality watercolour paints for colouring my sketches, but while the paper definitely takes the paint a whole lot well better than a Moleskine sketchbook, I had some problems with the paint bleeding through and ruining the sketches on the other pages all over the place. I also thought that my good, expensive paints were just a little bit too good and expensive to use for these little sketches. Cheaper paints would do more than enough here. So I went shopping on Friday, and bought a little box of cheap paints. The whole box cost me less than one single pan of my good watercolours.

The disadvantage of course is that the colour range is somewhat limited. Only 12 colours, as opposed to the the luxury of my total of 55 gorgeous artists watercolours, which include such favourites of mine as Prussian Green, Indigo and Cobalt Turquoise. The colours in my cheap little new set don't even seem to have names at all.

But so far, they seem to be doing what they are supposed to do - adding (much more) vibrant colour to my little sketches without ruining any of the others - rather well. So far, anyway. I've only done one sketch so far, so we'll have to wait and see about the bleeding through issue when I do the next.

And as to the problem of the limited colour range, I bought an individual pan of a differnt brand to try out, a lovely dark turquoise. It seems to be pretty much the same as the paints in the set, and even mixes perfectly well with the them, so I've ordered an additional box, with 24 colours. They're a little bit more expensive, but still a whole lot cheaper than my good ones.

I was planning to spend a great part of Sunday with some 'proper' painting, after what seems an eternity. I soon realised, however, that that was not going to happen. The thing is, I bought a new computer about three or four weeks ago. Now I guess most of you know what a boring, time consuming business it is to copy files from an old computer to a new one. And if you also happen to be a keen photographer on top of everything else, and easily take 300+ photos on a day out, and keep them as both RAW and JPEG files, the former easily reaching file sizes of 20MB and more, just in case you'll ever want to do some more serious editing than with the lower quality JPEG, once you've got Lightroom installed, like in a million years or so. But you never know. Better save(d) than sorry. But it makes for a lot of file copying, and it takes ages.

And if you then switch from an old, slow paintcovered Windows laptop to a shiny, new iMac, things really get complicated. Because on top of all the copying from one machine to the other, there's also the format issue. At least I now got that second backup hard drive I've been wanting to buy for quite some time. So now I've got a 3TB drive, formatted for my new Mac, and my old 2TB drive, formatted for my laptop, which means that, although I can actually access my photos from my Mac, I can't move them or add to them with it. Luckily, I also have a handy little portable 500GB drive, which works like a simple memory stick for all formats. Perfect for copying stuff from one computer to the other. So I thought. Until I discovered that it seemed to be broken, and refused to have anything moved or deleted from it. I tried using my little 32GB stick, but soon realised that that was not going to work at all. Not if I wanted to get my stuff on to my new computer in anything like under 5 years. So I did some googling, and actually managed to reformat my little 500GB drive in a FAT32 format, which, as I learned, means that it works with both Mac and Windows. And it's now working perfectly again, a fact of which I'm rather proud of, to be honest.

So file copying is now my first priority, and I ended up spending the whole of Sunday with two computers on my desk, trying to copy the files in a somewhat more organised and efficient way than what I've been doing in the past 3 weeks (which is a complete mess). And then I'll just have to reformat the old 2TB drive as FAT32, and I'll have two back ups at last. And then I'll be finally back at my easel.

And in the meantime, I'll just continue with my sketches :)

38 sketches - The first little sketchbook is already full

Yesterday, I posted my Project365 collage of the photos I took in February, but it wasn't just the only thing I completed - my first sketchbook is full too. 38 mostly Train-, a few Lunch-, and the odd SundaySketches.

I totally enjoyed doing these sketches these past 1 1/2 months. Drawing the outlines on the train early in the morning on the way to work, when I'm usually not yet fully awake enough to read, then adding colour in the evenings or weekends, and then adding more details with various pens the following morning on the train, or occasionally in the evenings, when the train wasn't too wobbly and/or crowded (I don't really like people watching me sketch).

I sketched different subject and designs. Flowers, patterns, objects that were lying around me... Sometimes I'd just draw something from imagination, sometimes from memory, sometimes I'd look for an image on the internet, and sometimes I copied something I came across in a book. The main purpose of these sketches was to get into the habit of sketching every day. I'd love to say that they are just quick little sketches, but they were actually a lot more time consuming that I thought they would be. But they are perfect exercises, and on top of that, give me a whole book, or books soon, of ideas to use as reference for bigger paintings.

The only downside was that, as the paper isn't watercolour paper, the paint would sometimes bleed through, ruining the paintings on the other side. But then again, these are just little sketches, not masterpieces, so they don't need to be perfect.

Of course I already begun working in a new sketchbook. If I go on like this, I'll have to order new sketchbooks again soon!

Linking up to the fabulous Paint Party Friday. Have a wonderful, creative weekend!

Project365 | February 2013

February is, of course, a short month, but can you believe you quickly it passed? Wel, there we go, the last day of the month, and the second month of my Project365 completed. The past week or so I've found it often especially hard to find something for my photo-of-the-day. It's was just too cold and grey and dreary outside. But I did it, no day missed, and so here's February:

Next month hopefully will soon bring some brighter, more cheerful subjects to photograph. I have a feeling that there might be quite a lot of flower shots coming. And some beach, sea and rolling green hills too. Yes, next month, well, next week, actually, I'll be going on a little trip abroad, and I can't wait!

In my sketchbook: Commuters, flowers, glasses, and lots of pages waiting for colour

I seem to have a bit of a painting low at the moment. I just don't seem to find the time to spend a day, or even half a day at my desk or easel to get the acrylic paints out and do some 'proper' painting. Too much work, too much commuting, and a day trip up a mountain last Saturday sort of got in the way. But I've been keeping up my trainsketches, and even found a spare half hour on some evenings to add some colour. There's always time, even if it's just half an hour here and there.

With my long commute to work, almost 4 hours both ways, I spend a lot of time in trains. Those train journeys can be very relaxing, at times. Most of the days, I quite like my early morning journey. There aren't too many people on the train, so that I usually get a little compartment on my own, and it's usually dead quiet, because everyone's asleep. Outside the window, night changes into day, and I've got time and quiet to do my little sketches. But occasionally, my fellow travellers are just a pain, getting on my nerves big time. And the best outlet for one's frustrations is, of course - one's sketchbook.

I'd like to do a lot more sketching in my lunch break too, but working out in nowhere, in a small team, where everyone eats their lunch at the same time and at same table, I don't feel comfortable enough to do so. But occasionally, there's a day when I'm all on my own, and then I draw and use whatever is lying around on and around my desk, such as my glasses and some stencils we use to label boxes. Although I'm a winter girl, I'm looking forward to some warmer temperatures now, so that I can go outside for some sketching in my breaks.

Nature's one of my biggest sources for inspiration, and I like sketching flowers. Realistic flowers, imaginary flowers, doodle flowers - flowers in every form. These are more realistic, though I'm not sure what exactly they are supposed to be. They could be tulips, I guess. Sometimes, the boundaries between realistic and imaginary isn't that clear.

I've had more time for sketching in the morning than for adding colour to them these past 10 days, so I've now got a whole bunch of sketches that are waiting for colour. And I can't wait for the weekend to begin so that I can get the watercolour paints out. And hopefully there'll even be some time for the acrylics to come out on Sunday.

After having had to give it a miss last week, I'm linking up to the wonderful Paint Party Friday again today. Have a wonderful, creative weekend!

Happy Valentine's Day

Even though we don't really have a Valentine's Day tradition here, I've been busy drawing and painting hearts during my train commute. Tradition or not, hearts are just too fun to sketch, and love is always worth celebrating.

I especially loved doing my little tree full of lovebirds, adding layer after layer. They just made me smile.

Unfortunately, when I painted a couple of lovebirds on the following pages, it all went terribly wrong. I painted one of the birds yellow, and when I wanted to add another layer of orange and red, the paint disappeared right in front of my eyes. It went straight through the paper, staining my little lovebirdtree painting.

I tried to add some more paint to my yellow page once I had dried the pages with a hairdryer, but the paint kept disappearing. I really don't know what happened here. Was it the because of the water? But then, it wasn't the first page I had covered competely with very wet paint, and then painted on the other side of the page, without the paint disappearing.

It's a complete mystery to me. And it's quite a pity, because I really liked my little tree full of lovebirds. Luckily, I have taken more than enough pictures of the pre-stained version, and this is, after all, just a little sketchbook. I see it as a collection of ideas I can refer to later. So I might just paint another tree full of lovebirds on a sheet of proper watercolour paper. And I already know what I want to change to improve it.

Happy Valentine's Day, I hope you spend a terrific day with your loved one.

Shine your light

...and sparkle

Happy Sunday!

TrainSketches || More leaves and a few feathers

More trainsketches, and more leaves. Nature never ceases to inspire me, I love trees and leaves, and leaves are just so fun and easy to draw and paint. As it's all grey and white outside, I wanted to fill my pages with an extra colour burst. And leaves are just perfect for that.

I'm learning to get to know my watercolours, thanks to my trainsketches, and I'm getting fonder and fonder of them. And it's a quick and easy way to add some colour in the evening, when I don't have the time and energy to get out my acrylics. I just love the vibrancy of the wet colour on the page...

... but am always slightly disappointed about how mucht the colour fades once the paint is dry, I must admit. Of course you can just add layer and layer of more colour, but I usually end up covering up all those little white spaces, which I try to leave out. I think it might be the paper of the sketchbook, though. While it takes watercolours pretty well, it's not proper watercolour paper. I found some watercolour sketches done on proper watercolour paper the other day, and the colours seemed much richer. But I'm not complaining. I love my little sketchbook, and it serves its purpose beautifully.

Sometimes I add the background colour first and then decide what colour I want my subjects to be, if I don't already know what I want. Here, I did the leaves first. I know I wanted them to be colourful. I wasn't sure what colour to choose for the background, and I even considered just leaving it white. But I prefer colour, so decided on a neutral blue. Just a few brush strokes in a darker shade to add some shadows to make the leaves pop off the page. I love how little it often takes to achieve a great effect.

I added the finishing touches the following morning, in the train. Some broader pen lines, and a few touches of white here and there. I love adding dots and things like that all over the place, like I did with my other leave sketch, but here it wouldn't really have fit.

And of course I've already begun my next sketck, again inspired by nature: feathers. The pencil and pen sketches have been completed, now they're waiting to get some colour over the weekend.

Linking up to the fabulous Paint Party Friday. Make sure to pop over and have a look at all the other talented artists sharing their work. It's always worth a visit.