Here’s another sketchbook tour for the first quarter of 2023. Lots and lots of flowers, some travel sketching and a few larger landscapes.
I’ve already shared bits and pieces from my recent sketchbook adventures on Mastodon. If you want to try out this non-commercial, ad-free social media site and would like to follow my work there, it’s a really nice place with a diverse and very active creative community.
For those of you looking for a way out of Instagram, Pixelfed (the non-commercial alternative for IG) now offers import functionality for IG posts. You can even follow my Mastodon posts if you have an account on there. Good instances are pixelfed.social or pixelfed.art. I share this because I’ve really come to like the Fediverse and the ideas behind it, and because it’s a way to get away from the walled gardens of Silicon Valley. (Read the long story about me discovering Mastodon here).
But of course I won’t stop posting here on my blog. 🙂 Let’s get into the sketchbook tour.
Here’s the video version of this post on Youtube:
The first page from this sketchbook tour almost looks a bit unfinished. I was doing studies for an illustration project back in March, and I did a study of Solomon’s seal – a beautiful woodland spring plant. On the right, I did a small study with moss, and portrayed a magpie that hopped around the garden.
Another bird portrait – this time of a European robin, this was a curious little bird that came very close. I took photos and did an ink sketch later. I think I filmed the drawing process too. Have I shared this with you yet? My memory from the last few months is full of holes. Anyway, on the bottom we have a quick ink and watercolor sketch of a periwinkle – a lovely violet.
More early spring flowers that I brought home to sketch, I definitely shared a video for the yellow forsythia. Something about sketching these small, delicate spring flowers is really soothing.
In April, the Japanese cherry blossoms in the local parks started to bloom, and we went to take a look. I wasn’t well enough to sketch on location, but I took a lot of photos and created this quick landscape, and more detailed sketches of the flowers.
The last page of this particular sketchbook was reserved for small, quiet winter landscapes.
More cherry blossom studies in the new sketchbook, I also shared my sketching process for this in a video.
We went on a short Easter vacation at the coast, and I enjoyed sketching zoo animals that I’ve never sketched before – gannets, Humboldt penguins and polar bears. This was really fun to do. Here’s a blog post about this page.
More travel sketching impressions – a cityscape in Bremerhaven with a lighthouse, objects from the German Emigration Museum (a very interesting, if somehow over-produced exhibition that focused on German oversea emigration during the 19th century), and impressions from Bremen, where we spent a day and where I bought my favorite candy: licorice.
A few simple pencil sketches of baby animals in the wildlife park. It’s amazing to see how movable those little goats are. I meant to add color to this page, but somehow never got around to it.
My first real field sketching day in one of my favorite habitats. I was checking for orchids, and found cowslip instead. It was a rather cold day, so I sketched a quick landscape. I’m not too sure if I still like these vignetted landscapes, but it was somehow very fun to do.
Botanical sketches – I shared a step by step for the strawberry on the blog recently. I like to try out how I can leave sketches unfinished lately by not filling in everything with color. I think it gives a good impression of the process of drawing, and it’s also a timesaver. Not every bit of a sketch has to be in color and finished.
A bigger landscape from the same area as above. I aim to create bigger and looser landscapes, that are still exact with the brushwork – in the past, I often overworked my washes, or added too many layers, and I don’t think that does justice to the medium of watercolor. Somehow I want to be more economic with my brush. It’s still a process for me, but I actually like how this one turned out.
Another landscape, this time done with ink and a reed pen (I made one myself from a bamboo stick). Yes, this is very van-Goghy in style, including the wonky shapes of the brigde. I definitely need to practice drawing more man-made structures. But it was fun to try this out, and I’d like to do more ink studies like this – reed pens are wonderful to work with.
A page full of flowers – irises, peonies and a cuckoo flower. I had planned to go field sketching on that day and it just rained the entire time, so I spent the day in the studio with those iris sketches instead. Wonderful flowers that are intruiging to sketch. I like the very loose version on the bottom the best.
Another page of botanical sketches – studies of an orchid (I found one that had been ripped out and took a blossom with me), a twig of juniper, and the first lady’s slipper that I saw this season. Again, it was so wet that I just took photos and did my sketching at home. When your pants and shoes are soaking wet you don’t have to power through with your field sketching plans.
Another big landscape of a local park. As I said, it’s still a process, and I’m mainly struggling with getting the contrasts right with the first wash. And again, the perspective and shapes on the architecture. But it was a lovely day outside!
Something a bit different than usual: a blue and sepia sketch of our local landmark: the Hercules statue towering above the city of Kassel. I’ve actually never sketched this one up close – one needs a lot of patience for the details. This statue is part of a really great baroque water garden with cascades and fountains and all kind of romanticist fake castle ruins and spooky old bridges – local aristocracy sure had elaborate ideas for what their parks should look like. I’d love to do more sketches in the park some day.
And with that, we’re at the end of this sketchbook tour. I hope you enjoyed it – spring is definitely a wonderful time for sketching I think.
What have you been sketching lately?
Love the pink floral tree
Thank you! 🙂
Hi Julia, I so enjoyed this sketchbook tour. Your sepia painting was beautiful, and I really loved your vignettes, they captured so much in just a small space. And it was nice to see such a variety of paintings. Thank you for the inspiration for today. I will be spending time in my sketchbook too.
I’m so happy to hear that this inspires you to make art – that’s the best kind of feedback. Thanks Jennifer!
What a wonderful array of sketches. I would love to visit Bremen and the emigration museum one day. Two of my great, great, great grandfathers came out with their families to South Australia in the early 1850s through the government sponsored scheme for miners. One was a miner and one was a woodsman, both from the Harz mountains. Thank you for sharing your beautiful work.
Oh wow, what a coincidence – I grew up in the Harz mountains. Do you know where exactly they were from originally?
Thank you for this detailed look into your sketch book! It‘s good to know that you sometimes use photos to sketch at home. As someone who has small kids I find that my time outside is often very limited and I often can only manage rough pencil sketches in the field. I really enjoyed working at the German Emigration Mueum as an intern for four months way back in 2007. You can definitely tell that it was partly privately financed. I would love to go see the addition that was added later some day.
Yeah, I sketch from photos quite often, too, when I don’t find the time to be outside. It’s completely okay. 🙂
That’s so interesting you got an inside view on the emigration museum back then. On my visit, I thought that the presentation was very multimedia-heavy, audio and screens everywhere and very little to read. I had the feeling we could have spent much more time there if we had known where to access all the information that must be in that exhibition.
I particularly love the Irises and the Van Gogh style landscape – Please let us know how you made your reed pen.
I love your ideas of staying out of the plastic spaces of social media, but I admit to being very happy I can still find you on Skillshare 🙂 You were always one of my favorite teachers there.
Thank you Leonie! Several people have asked about the reed pen, I think I’ll have to shorten the bamboo sticks that I use for my tomatoes in order to show how I made it.
Yeah, I still try to put up with Skillshare, although it’s sometimes challenging. If you have the time and energy, be sure to leave a review or a project in the classes you watch, that actually helps the teachers a lot. And I always love seeing what you create. 🙂
I especially like the sketch done in brown ink with the reed pen. Felt like a really different style for you and browns are some of my favorites in fabrics so no surprise I would be drawn to a sketch done with brown ink. Gives me ideas!
Thank you for sharing your latest sketches! You always inspire me to try new techniques and I always learn so much from you.
I’m spending the summer hiking, biking and kayaking in the mountains in northern Utah. My nature journal is filling up with mountain wildflowers, fossils and birds.
I’d very much like to see how to make a reed pen and see how you sketched the robin. Thank you!
Linda, that is amazing, and now that I have seen your sketchbook I can imagine what your nature journal looks like.
Have a great time in Utah!
Noted – the reed pen post and the robin will come!