It’s so good being able to sketch together and know that we have no lockdowns at the moment.
If the only thing we have to watch out for is weather - well that’s ok.
The weeks seem to be getting busier.
Something about summer being round the corner, possible chances to meet with family at Christmas time after so long, and shopping for gifts we’ll need for everyone - just to celebrate that we made it this far.
The weather has worked very well for us this week. All that promised rain moved aside in perfect timing for our classes. Some jolly excellent results I must say.
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Nothing stops us sketching. It may be at home alone. In Quarantine. With our group in a cafe. Outside in nature. It simply keeps us together. Nothing seems as bad when you have friends!
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October 2021. A little more freedom at the moment for sketching together. At least in our Bangalow and Kingscliff classes. We take our chances when they come and for that we are grateful.
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Our Sketchtember and Octoberfest daily sketch challenges have been keeping lots of us engaged.
If you haven’t already joined and would like to join in - ask to join Erin Hill Sketchers or Erin Hill Sketchers NZ.
Take a look at some of the amazing interpretations of the subjects.
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It’s been like that lately.
Some weeks we get to sketch together, then we find we can’t. But you know what!
We always find a way of keeping up our sketching - even home alone.
We’re all in the same boat. It’s quite unsettling. Just when you think we can all be together - albeit cautiously - another lockdown happens.
Ah well. We just have to get used to the idea of planning how we manage these times in the best way we can and keep planning ahead.
Above is my beautiful park and beach walk which I do every morning. I’m amazed how it can make me feel almost happy. Just me and the sunshine, a hand wave to anyone passing and some meditation time on a seat by the beach. It does work.
We all have our days don’t worry. The ones where you wake and don’t know which day it actually is. That slightly melancholy feeling. Feels like things are not right, and they are not.
When we stop and smell the roses - or any little bloom - we are connecting with it. It’s so nice.
You can even have a chat with it and tell it how beautiful it is, and how amazing it’s little petals are - or what stunning stamens it has. I do.
I have a chat with the birds in the park, little insects, even the sea. ‘Come on, I dare you to come right up to my toes’ - and it does. All takes my mind off what’s going on out there.!!
Another really odd week. We are all in this and everyone is feeling upside down. You’re not alone.
But let’s celebrate the little things we CAN do.
Don’t you remember in the days before all this, when you were so flat out busy, and saying to yourself ‘I dream of the day when I have time to do what I like!’
Well guess what. That day is here.
Make the most of it. Every day is important so don’t waste a minute of it.
We battle on!
Our Bangalow class was about lovely old teapots, cups, a honey pot and melting moments.
Soo enjoyable and deeply involved in putting on paint and not what was going on in the big world outside.
Sketching truly gives you a little relief from all else. We are in the moment and very happy.
Are we getting used to it yet?
To what you ask.
You know, the only subject on anyone’s mind at the moment!
Oh you mean - lockdowns, restrictions, border closures and masks.
Sure!!! We’re just about getting used to canceling our lives. Very tricky and one could get quite depressed with every news item.
We had quite another subject in mind for Bangalow this week, but when realising it was Bastille Day in France, that was the end of that.
Brings back such lovely memories of the ceremonies and celebrations in our tiny village of Trausse Minervois in the wine growing region of Languedoc.
We would now be sketching a beautiful bottle of Rose (‘The Old Farm’ made near Lyon) with a couple of fancy glasses, and a friand or two popped in. They were yum by the way.
Oh my goodness, perhaps we’d better get used to these lockdowns. Or restrictions.
The one gets the feeling that this will be something that won’t be going away.
So one supposes we must try to adjust to not always meeting together to sketch with our buddies. Holy Moly!!
But we are very lucky as Sketchers that we can sketch anytime anywhere and only need ourselves. Check these ideas for sketching around the home.
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This week I thought we should go back to some basic steps which is how we begin our sketches.
Some of this is particularly valuable if you cannot get to classes and need to refer to photographs or online images.
Ideally of course we like to sketch as a group and enjoy the company, but we cannot have that luxury at times.
Wow. We didn’t see this one coming.
Lockdown in Sydney and Queensland and restrictions everywhere else. Mmmm.
Masks, distancing, and all the sensible things we’re learning to do almost automatically.
Classes therefore had to be put on hold, but never fear, one did go ahead.
Let’s look at out own homes as sketch inspiration and begin a collection of our own. All rooms can be a picture. Bedrooms with doors and windows. Looking from the kitchen to the outside. From the lounge room to the terrace. Start looking around you. It’s all there. Take inspiration for other painters and be inspired.
How lovely to later have a journal of memories of your home and gardens as you lived in it.
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Talk about magical. Down by the creek in Bangalow was so absolutely stunning, with filtered light streaming across the slow moving water. The reflections were so lovely and just what we had hoped for. Challenging but that’s a good thing. The platypus family live just downstream if you know where to look.
Tweed regional Gallery was another place we sketched this week. Firstly a view looking over the rolling valleys and fields to the lavender coloured craggy ranges of the caldera beyond. The highest of all is Mt Warning, which looks like a face in profile, and so much spiritual meaning for the original inhabitants of this country.
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Coolongatta where I was with Urban Sketchers today was beautiful. Tiny cool wind but that’s all. Blue skies and the sounds of rock music pumping. People really dress the part and so many gorgeous frocks with billowing petticoats wandering about as if in another era. Plus dozens of immaculate vintage cars lining
the streets.
So much sketching choice. I did manage to compose a composition with what I could see in front of me. Think it works.