Cut & Paste and some other news

A new sketchbook challenge and a bit of news from this past month

New sketchbook challenge

One sunny day, a while ago, I was sitting outside thinking about pattern. It probably came after youtube served me an old video of Sandi Hester in which she experimented with pattern. It had me thinking… How can I bring more pattern into my work. One of the ideas that came to me was to flip through some of my FLOW Book for Paper Lovers magazines. They are these thick books filled with paper goodies to use for anything you can think of; from birthday cards to calendars. I tend to buy each year’s edition, only for it to sit on my shelf, collecting dust. But they are filled with the most beautiful patterned paper, so maybe I could somehow use them. What about…

Fast forward a bit to where I was laying in bed trying to figure out how I can use collage in my work, yet having it still feel like me. That is often times how I come up with new ideas. It comes from bits and pieces that my brain collects on the way, and then at some point (usually right as I am supposed to fall asleep) it starts to melt into one.

I have always shied away from collage, thinking that I would have to be either too precise in my cutting and lose all spontaneity or on the other hand that it would just become too abstract and again, just not me. I saw some of Paula Rego’s collage works at an exhibition at the Kunstmuseum Den Haag a year ago, and am also familiar with Matisse’s cut outs, so I knew that cutting and pasting paper was nothing new in the art world. However, I had to figure out how to make it work for me. That meant exploring and experimenting with paper, scissors and glue. Lucky me.

So in the spirit hereof, my sketchbook challenge for you for this month is… Collage!

I have had such fun using it in my urban sketches the last few weeks, I think I may be tiny bit addicted.

Here’s a sketch I did during a midsummer picknick with the Haarlem Urban Sketchers one Friday evening.

Me in action at the midsummer picknick.

Some reasons why you should experiment with collage:

• It helps you to see bigger shapes.

• You get the chance to play with patterns you otherwise might not have used.

• It helps to inform your colour choices for the rest of the piece.

• You get to put something on that blank page that is less scary than a line.

• It is just plain fun!

You can go as loose or as tight as you want. Cut freestyle or first draw some lines on the paper. You can add other materials on top of it, if you fancy, or keep it plain and simple. You can even paint your own paper like Matisse did and cut and paste that. The possibilities are endless.

So what are you waiting for? Go and EXPLORE!

A collage plus other media sketch I did during last weekend’s National Sketch Weekend in Den Bosch.

Other news

We had a wonderful run of the Explore: COLOUR! workshop at this past weekend’s National Sketch Weekend in Den Bosch. The location was perfect, the weather worked, the participants were super enthusiastic and I got reminded why I became a teacher all those years ago.

Starting of with a new exercise on tonal value.

The final throw down with some of the sketches that were made during the workshop.

Many people have asked me when and where they can also do this workshop. We are working on something. So if you would like to be one of the first to know when and where you can do the Explore: COLOUR! workshop, you can fill in this google form. By doing this you can make sure that you are one of the first ones to get a chance to book your spot.

I am already looking forward to it!

Thank you all for reading and coming along on this creative journey.

Until next time, let’s

Sketch. Explore. Create!