Back to the Sketchbook

Cushions drawn this morning on a visit to Barbara's brother and his wife in my Moleskine travel notebook.
Cushions drawn this morning on a visit to Barbara’s brother and his wife in my Moleskine travel notebook.

It’s soon got around to Burns Night – one month since Christmas day already – and this is only my second post of the new year but I have been busy; for the last month I’ve managed a page a day in my holly green sketchbook. For that I’ve been trying something new by scanning the whole page each day.

I’ve also enjoyed sticking to just one theme, natural history, as it’s got me noticing things that I would have missed if I hadn’t set myself the task of finding something fresh, however trivial, to draw and write about each day.

New Theme

In contrast to the simplicity of that page a day approach I decided to go for a different look for this Wild Yorkshire blog, making it less of a drawing journal and more of a newsletter for my other projects, such as the somewhat neglected www.wildyorkshire.co.uk nature diary website and my even more neglected www.willowisland.co.uk, which includes my walks booklets, guide books and published sketchbooks.

WordPress 2014 theme.
WordPress 2014 theme.

I’ve decided to go for a new theme for the new year, one which makes navigation a bit more obvious, rather than relegating it to the bottom of a long page. The latest WordPress standard theme, called 2014, seemed a good one to go for.

 

The same page using the Aldus theme designed by Fränk Klein.
The same page using the Aldus theme designed by Fränk Klein.

Update

25 February; As the 2014 looked a bit black and formal, I’m now trying an airier theme called Mon Cahier, which still includes a column for navigation, hopefully combining what I like about Aldus with the functionality of WordPress 2014.

Published
Categorized as Art Tagged

The Holly Green Sketchbook

sketchbook

A NEW SKETCHBOOK and, as I started it over Christmas, I had to go for the one with the holly green cover.

Rather than fit it into this regular blog, I’ve given it it’s own website and the new format, putting the emphasis on the sketchbook page itself, has worked well for me, encouraging me to complete a page a day.

One A5 page a day might not seem like much of a commitment but believe me with the distractions of Christmas that’s been quite a challenge.

I’ve also decided to give the sketchbook a theme – natural history – and I think this helps to give me some focus when deciding what to draw. I’m also making efforts to tell little stories rather than always to immerse myself in the drawing.

Pages so far include;

Leaf prints, hunter’s marsh, spear thistle, canal bridge, pheasant feeding, cherry galls, holly & ivy and Tuscan black cabbage.