A Sketched Life

I love drawing! I like painting with oils too but I really love drawing, either with pen, pencil or charcoal.

I used to carry a sketch pad everywhere with me although I did not always use it as much as I would have liked. It was kind of like my running shoes, I had to have them close… just in case, but years could go by when I never used them.  In fact when I moved to London in my early twenties there were 3 things that I made sure I had packed.  My sleeping bag, my sketchpad and my running shoes (listed in order of most frequent use).  My backpack only weighed 14 kgs and contained everything I thought was important!

A few years later I when left London to backpack around New Zealand, I once again packed those three items, (although by then my backpack had probably doubled in weight). This time however I actually used my sketchpad quite a bit.  I found that I loved just sitting somewhere and sketching what I saw – I used pen.  One of my favourite days was spent in Christchurch in front of the cathedral just drawing.  After New Zealand I went to Australia for a year, followed by Sweden and I never really drew much while I was in either country.  I don’t know why I stopped…

When I returned to South Africa I started art classes, painting and drawing, but always from photographs, never just sitting somewhere and sketching what I saw. I realised that I missed it, I want to be able to do those quick sketches that capture people as they go about their day to day business, I want to be able to catch a glimpse of a place, using my sketchpad, and not just a camera.  At the moment though I am not quick enough, people move, I move, stuff happens.  Although as with everything I am sure it is all about practise.  So that is what I have decided to do.  I want to try to do a sketch a day.  Something small, something quick;  I can’t promise that it will be good, or accurate or even decipherable but I am sure that they will get better.  I found a website called Urban Sketchers and then bought their book The Art of Urban Sketching, it has really inspired me. So, to document my progress I have decided to start another blog, one just for my pictures and sketches.  I am hoping to see some progress, some improvement and hopefully some frequency…. I have called it “A Sketched Life”  Please click HERE if you are interested in seeing it.

Little OL sleeping