Working the line

I've been caught up in celebrating the 20th anniversary of Gøglerskolen, The School of Street Circus, where I work. We've been planning and arranging the festivities for months, and then I came down with a virus on Tuesday which kept me bedridden for 36 hours, then companionably settled in my chest. I dragged myself in on both Friday and Saturday, determined to take part in at least a small portion of the reception and shows, and I'm glad I did - quick sketches of speakers will be uploaded when I have the energy. All that activity did my bronchitis no good though, so I spent last night being unable to sleep, due to a combination of exhaustion and difficulty breathing when in a horizontal position. Drawing is always a good way to pass the time and keep my mind off things:



My collection of dresses and blouses in ink pen. "Simple" line drawings like this are great for emptying the mind and regaining focus.

GIANT sketchbook!

Tuesday I had a visit from my sketching buddy Anette, and she brought me this:



a GIANT Moleskine watercolour sketchbook! The pages are huge, and all I could do for the first few minutes was to sit and stroke the sheets of lovely paper. I want to live in this book...

Cafe visit

Late afternoon in town shopping for dinner, followed by a cafe visit with R to Café Stiften beside Århus Central Station. This guy with an iresistible sweater was sitting right in front of us, so I grabbed my sketchbook for a quick capture while R brought the car around.



Ink pens, markers and a bit of coloured pencil.

Two books

Yesterday my daughter returned from her trip around Tanzania. My parents took her on safari, and I got to talk to her over the phone while she was standing on the rim of Ngorongoro Crater - modern technology is almost surreal sometimes.

I drew this sketch at a cafe, while waiting for her train to arrive at Århus central station:

 

Ink pens and markers.

Today I completed my entry in the book I've been working on for the international Moleskine Exchange - you can find a link to the exchange group's blog in the sidebar of this blog.

Progress shots:
 

And a scan of the result:


I used fine ink pens, and brush pens in 3 tones from black to light grey.

Maia paints her nails

Pencil drawing for a change. Pocket sketchbook.

Moleskine exchange

Working in one of the Moleskine portrait exchange books from the group I'm in:







I need to add a self portrait on the left page, and plan on making that side quite dark. Ideas:



You can have a look at the group's blog here.

Large accordion Moleskine

I just ordered one of the new large Japanese accordion Moleskines. Now to find the right person for a one-on-one collaboration in the style of moly_x - see the group on Flickr, with links to various exchange-group blogs. I'm in the portrait exchange group #4, but would like to get started on an exchange more in the spirit of exchange group #71 as well, where all the artists contribute throughout the book. Or perhaps rather a smaller exchange with just one other artist, to keep things simple - it's been done by the artists Lynne and Jennifer, and another between Lynne and Deb, where both worked and reworked entries throughout the books. I want to do a real collaborative exchange, where everyone works and reworks pages throughout the book, rather than just contributing artworks to a frieze.

Pattern

Sleeping dog - M's Cairn terrier pup Ginger sleeping on the Persian rug. My scanner does wierd things to the colours sometimes, and this was one of them - the original is much more neutral and less intense in that department. fixed! - someone had changed the exposure setting from "photo" to "document". Well, now it looks too drab instead of all pumped up in the colour department. It's hard to get it just right!



I have an old love of drawing patterns.

Ink pens and brushpen markers in my sketchbook journal.

New sketchbook journal

New large (medium?) Moleskine sketchbook - the last one was full. This is my main drawing journal, although the pocket sketchbooks seem to be taking up more and more of the slack on these, and I go through a couple of those on the side as well.

I'm adding a link in the sidebar for this sketchbook, and I hope to be a bit more consistent about working in it than I was with my last one.



Ink pen and markers and stuck in object. Maybe I should look into making some kind of sleeve/pocket for things like this rather than just sticking it in with tape - I want it to be (re)moveable, so this is just hinged with a piece of tape at the top.

Train trip to Horsens

I had to go to Horsens for a day with my work. The stay was too busy for any sketching, but the trip yielded these:


Sketching customers while waiting to buy my ticket at Århus central station.



Waiting by the tracks in Horsens for my train home to arrive.



Woman opposite me napping in the late afternoon sun on the trip home.

These were all done in a new thin sketchbook I bought - same size as the large sketchbook journal, but much thinner pages and a soft cover.