I have drawn a little old house in Juan Les Pins, Cote dÀzur, France as they tock it down
My best sketchbook trip tips
At the moment I’m in the middle of sorting out stuff on my hard drive and found this video of my sketchbook, that I haven´t shown to anybody. Watching it again, I realize why I really love sketching so much. And why this is my favorite sketchbook too.
It is full of watercolor drawings from my travels to France. I am so grateful that I did this for myself IT FEELS GOOD to look inside the book. What a gift I gave myself! I had no idea, I usually just draw and paint and think not much about them after. In the moment of drawing that is the THING that is interesting. But, now I finally got time to see it again, looking back at my work and it means something much more to me.
So, what I see now is how important it is to sketch in the sketchbook, and even stupid, silly sketches are most the most appreciated. All drawings are equally valid – It is what I remember and what my memory can bring back from these trips and travels that is the gift.
I have had to cancel the last 3 retreats to the Villa le Reve in France. However, we are all in this together and I love to know what you find important and what you learned from this lockdown. A soon as we get chance we will go back there again.
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Most of these sketches were done during my holidays in a friends place in Juan Les Pins on the Cote d’Azur, France
OK, so what to draw, and how to think? My first tip is to Relax, for be aware that you are probably the only one that can draw in a radius of 2 km. Even when you are having a bad sketch day, it’s so much better than they can. if you go solo bring earphones to avoid people talking to you? And give yourself plenty of time. You really have to immerse yourself to feel really complete, so take your time, sit down and look and feel what is around you.
Remember that sketching is like exercise, you build up your skill over time. So don’t be disappointed if your first attempts don’t turn out as you’d hoped. Think of them as practice and see them as a gift if they lather bring you back good memories later on.
ART SUPPLY ESSENTIALS
What to bring? it’s whatever it takes to make you feel you can do your work. Mind you, my opinions have been formed through travel and carrying as “little” as possible around.
- W&N Gouache
- Lamy LX fountain pen
- Micron pen and UNI pin fine line
- White gel ink pen
- Mechanical pencils
- Bottle of water
- Paintbrush da Vinci Brushes Watercolor Brushes
- Waterbrush if you’re bringing watercolor pencils
- Watercolors I have colors from St.Petersburg, Daniel Smith, Senellier
- Watercolor Color pencils –
- Clips to hold the paper in place (flapping in a breeze)
- Sketchbook ( the one in my video is made by BYBrun)
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If you like this and want to know more about watercolor and art, I am holding some painting retreats in Vence on the Cote dÀzure in France in Mai and October 2021 and you can take my online class on drawing faces.
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