June 2021 Roundup (and some more new art supplies to test out)

July 2, 2021 | Leave your thoughts


It’s time to get back to my regular habit of monthly roundups…

June was a big month on the blog and also in my own sketching as I transitioned from my big sketching adventure to everyday life. I did a lot of sketching but naturally missed all the travel sketching and exploring new places.

I still have my pile of sketchbooks from the trip (6 x A4 Moleskine Portrait Watercolour sketchbooks) sitting on my bench as I still have a number of maps to finish.

I loved using those books during my trip but once home I returned to my ‘everyday sketchbooks’ – Alpha by Stillman and Birn. I mix up the size and format of these books but at the moment I’m using the Softcover 8×10 portrait books.

I finished off the last third of Sketchbook No. 144 and then filled up No. 145 during the month of June. That’s a little over 3.5 weeks to fill an 8×10 which is more sketching than my usual rate. Normally I take 4-5 weeks to fill one of these books.

As for the articles that I published here on the blog…


Finishing my big trip

The start of the month was dominated by wrapping up my big road trip. If you have missed any of them they are all easily found in the index here.

This image shows all of the articles I published describing my journey. It’s pretty cool to see them all in one image, don’t you think?

There is no doubt that this is the most blogged trip I’ve ever done and it was also great not to have a big load of posting to do on my return.

A few additional articles completed the experience:

Plus one final article  was the perfect transition to Sydney sketching….


JimmyB sketching

Immediately on my return home, I started doing more research about James Barnet (JimmyB) and that made me want to put all my JimmyB sketches together in one article – RoadTrip2021: My JimmyB collection.

I then went out on two consecutive Fridays to sketch some local Barnet buildings in Sydney

And while on the topic of sketching buildings and details I found an old instructional sketchbook page that I hadn’t shared before here.



Sketching Project – the 30×30 direct watercolour challenge

Normally doing the 30×30 challenge is something I can easily incorporate into my sketching and usually hit the 30 mark in the middle of the month. But that’s because in the past I’ve always been travelling during June (last year I was doing my virtual trip) and sketching a lot of classical architecture or landscapes (favourite subjects for direct watercolour).

This year it was harder to do. The reason why is a combination of being back home and also being in an ink and wash mood due to the Group Run-through of the Edges course. But still, I finished it with one day to spare.

I enjoyed completing the challenge with two quick Palladio sketches which was a lovely way to connect this year’s effort with previous ones.

Here are the two articles containing my  direct watercolour collection:

Please note: If you are someone who gets my blogposts via email, this second article did not get sent out this week so please click on the link above so that you are up to date. I’ve been having some problems (which included extra emails on Tuesday- sorry!) but hope that these will be fixed soon.

One of the great things about doing the 30×30 challenge this year is that it’s gotten me back into a serious teacup sketching mood. I’ve been doing a different one each day lately. So stay tuned for more on that!


  

Everyday Sketching

This article – Thoughts on my everyday sketching after my big road trip – is a good summary of how my everyday sketching is going at the moment.

A few other articles:


 


Materials and supplies

I only published one article related to new materials and tools this month – New Art Toolkit palettes including Greenleaf & Blueberry Paints – but that has been popular!

Since publishing it earlier this week,  I can now add that I’m really enjoying using the Folio Art Toolkit palette and tweaking how I use the mixing areas.


And finally…
During June I also got sent a few new things to try out. These include new Light Grey document ink (thanks LarryPost) and the Etchr watercolour 24 set (premium student grade) and new accordion sketchbook (hot press) – thanks Etchr.

That will give me something new to explore in July, won’t it?


So all up, June was a solid month of sketching for me. No great masterpieces but a strong sketching habit, making the most of the little moments and creating a good record of my daily life. And that’s exactly my goal for my everyday sketching! I’m feeling really motivated to sketch at the moment and a big reason for that is my regular SketchingNow livestreams as part of the Edges Group Run-through. So a huge thanks to everyone who is part of that. What an incredibly supportive and inspiring group you are!

How was June for you?

 

Leave a Reply