Sketching..... overcoming the FEAR!!!

It's a beautiful sunny day and you think what a great day to go outside and draw and make the most of the good weather while practising those observation skills and doing the thing you love. What could be better? So you spend a bit of time packing some supplies into a bag, sketch book (maybe two because you can't decide what size or even type of paper), a bunch of pencils, sharpener, rubber, pens in different sizes, mmmm.... maybe some watercolours and brushes or even some coloured pencils (but then to decide what colours to actually take!). The list goes on and the bag gets more full and heavier by the minute! Then you have to decide where you want to go..... sometimes this is as far as I get because I can't decide, other times I will go somewhere and I will look around then I can't decide where to start....ultimately I'm putting off the actual act of getting my sketch book out because of THE FEAR!!!!

For me what it comes down to is two things. Firstly more often than not where I want to sketch there are people, and quite often lots of these scary beings who might just come over and start watching me draw. What if I mess up? What if it looks nothing like it's supposed to? What if they actually speak to me and say what on earth is it??? Secondly the fear of the sketch book itself. That first blank crisp white page. There it is, waiting for you to make your mark, and that overwhelming fear that it will all go wrong and that first page will be there for ever for everyone to see how bad you are at sketching.  AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!! Do you ever feel like this?  I've lost count of the number of years I've gone through this process and come home (or sometimes not even left the house!) with an empty sketchbook and an overwhelming sense of disappointment.

Selfie at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation

As I've had a good chunk of time off work this summer (from teaching), I decided I needed to overcome this FEAR. It didn't start off great, I was always making excuses to myself that I didn't have time or if I was out with other people I didn't want to hold them up.... (the list could go on!) Then I got brave!  I decided to book myself onto a sketching workshop for a weekend with the very talented artist Vic Bearcroft. It was held at the Wildlife Heritage Foundation in Kent and I thought what better place to do some sketching than with some big cats... I wasn't wrong! I had the most amazing weekend, with the opportunity to get right up close to some incredible animals, take hundreds of photographs, learn about the cats from our fabulous guide Mike and most importantly learn how to go about sketching and then put it into practise!

I would be lying if I said I wasn't filled with the FEAR when we were set loose to sketch but we were taught very practical advice that we could put into practise with just a sketch book and a 2B and 4B pencil (no lugging a massive bag!). We also weren't allowed to take a camera with us when sketching, the thought of which was pretty daunting as I realised I had come to rely on it rather a lot! It did however make me look, and I mean actually allow myself time to study the animals even before putting pencil to paper. A simple but brilliant idea, I actually saw things I never would have! 

Step by step cats eyes in coloured pencils

There are many different ways and colours you can use to create cats eyes with coloured pencils.  I personally use Prismacolor pencils as these are my favourites!  I started creating cats eyes using Anne deMille Flood's book 'Realistic Pet Portraits'.  This is based on her methods but just done in my own way!

1. I started with a full wash of cream created very gently with small circle movements.
2. A wash of canary yellow over the cream leaving the very light parts of the eye as cream.
3. Gently wash chartreuse over the canary yellow.
4. Using mineral orange use gentle strokes to darken parts of the eyeball to give it shape.
5. Create the shadows under the top of the eye ball and parts of the bottom with tuscan red.
6. Continue to model the eyeball using peacock green with very gentle strokes particularly over the    
    tuscan red.
7. Darken the shadows using indigo blue using very gentle strokes.
8. Using small gentle circles use apple green to wash over the eye.
9. Add a small amount of yellowish orange to continue to shape the eyeball.
10. Use black and indigo to work in the pupil and outline pressing harder once the layers have been
    worked up.  Add white and a touch of true blue for the highlight.
11. In the right corner of the left eye and right side of the right eye, use a touch of tuscan red, indigo
      blue and french grey 50%, apple green and white.  Gentle wash of black around the eyes before
      finishing them to get the right tone.
12. Add a few dark lines to the eyes with peacock green, indigo blue and tuscan red.
13. Add finishing touches using previous colours.  Tweak the highlights if they have got lost using an
      electric rubber carefully!

I'm very pleased that I have now completed all three cats!  My step daughter asked how I make the hair look so real.  When I showed her how I worked in layers building them up she commented that it was going to take me rather a long time!  Indeed it is, but I find it very relaxing stroking on the hair.  The top cat Brooklyn was the most challenging with all the different markings to make sure I got right.  My next challenge is to draw the New York skyline then hopefully I'll be on the home straight! 

I am currently working on a very exciting commission of three cats.  I have been asked to produce a picture of three cats with a New York theme.  The lady in question, Lisa, loves New York and has named her three cats Madison, Brooklyn and Franklin.  She is also getting married in New York later in the year and participating in a cycle challenge while there to raise money for charity!  I am very lucky to have the perfect client who has left it entirely up to me how to go about this challenge!  I decided to create a street theme with a billboard of the three cats on with the New York skyline as a background.  There will also be part of a bicycle and some confetti blowing into the picture to make it personal to her.  The cat I have done so far is called Madison and I was lucky enough to previously draw her when she was a kitten.  I loooooove working in coloured pencils and its been nice to have the opportunity to use some colours I don't normally get the chance to!

My new pencil holders!

Check out my new pencil holders! I got the idea from 'how to create a lazy Susan coloured pencil holder' on www.makingamark reviews.blogspot.co.uk/2010/10/how-to-create-lazy-Susan-coloured.html


I absolutely love my new pencil holders, I can now easily find the colours I want without having to search through boxes of pencils! While they are pretty straight forward to create, they did take me a little while. It was simply a case of buying a couple of lazy susans (I found some at ikea) and a couple of planks of wood and some glue. I have to admit my sawing skills were not great and my lovely hubby came to the rescue with an electric saw! I did however, drill over 200 holes all by myself!! I never want to have to drill another hole again mind! I also made two free standing bits of wood joined with a hinge to put the colours in I am using there and then.  

Tiger Workshop

I have been so ridiculously busy for the last few weeks that I never got a chance to post about the workshop I went on!  I got to spend two days on a pastel workshop run by Vic Bearcroft, and what a fantastic time I had.  Firstly it was just nice to have two days without having to do other things to draw! I haven't done pastels for probably the past year and I had forgotten how much I enjoy using them.  Going on a workshop is also a fantastic opportunity to meet other artists which I always really enjoy and it's amazing to see how different our pictures all looked even though we had the same subject matter.  Need to start saving my pennies so I can go on another soon!

Half term!!

I'm very excited that it is now half term and I might actually get some time to draw!!  I hope to be able to post some pictures of my progress of what I'm doing as the week goes on.  I'm also very excited that I've booked myself on another Vic Bearcroft workshop in March.  This one is of a tiger using pastels.  I can't wait, two whole days of art with no interruptions or feeling guilty I should be doing something else!