053 sunflower

Day fifty-three of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

As I was drawing the sunflower, I swore I would end up missing a petal or adding a petal that wasn't there.

When I was adding the leaves behind the flower, I thought I had done precisely that.

But it seems, looking at my sketch next to the source image now, I somehow rotated the petals in one direction and the leaves in another. Consequently, it created disorientation that meant the leaves on the right are all out of whack.

The large leaf on the left was intentionally excluded as I ran out of space on the page. Despite the sketch appearing in square format above, I photographed it in portrait format. I then used the fill tool, set to 'content aware', in Photoshop to recreate a square canvas during editing.

I used a 4H pencil for the initial sketch. I then went over the leaf outlines with a 6B, the leaf veins with a 4B, the petal outlines with an HB pencil and the petal details with a heavier 4H. The disc florets were drawn over with a 2B pencil.

What is now yesterday was a better day mentally, emotionally and nutritionally than many of my recent days.

Even though I found out the client work I'm doing might start to become more erratic. That's mostly fine with me as I want to seek out work more up my alley and pays better, though obviously more uncertainty right now isn't helpful.

Related: If you or anyone you know might like to become a patron, please send them the link to my Patreon. The more, the merrier :)

Aside from existing projects and others on a slow simmer, I had an idea for a brand new photography project on Wednesday evening. I'm hoping to share the first image from the series next week.

I'm also hoping to share this month's Love letter to London with you later this week. I had planned to share it with you last week, but my life right now has been all curve balls and no mitt or helmet.

I hope you're all doing okay. This lockdown has been hitting me and others I know in London harder than the one that started about a year ago.

Life isn't rushing back to "normal" (and I'm not sure I want it to, in some ways). But we're getting closer to safely open up, and I'm pleased my parents and many I know have already had their first dose of the vaccine.

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052 ivy

Day fifty-two of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

Full disclosure: I ate yesterday's sketch subject today. It was delicious.

This afternoon I took up the offer of a lovely neighbour to join her and her two doggos for a walk.

I needed to get out. To speak with another human being in person (my flatmate is a human being, but we don't really talk in the same way I do with others). And get some vitamin D (albeit mostly muted through sunscreen and a winter coat).

I finally saw the development that's replaced my beloved gasometers up close.

While the playground is well-planned and spacious and obviously already well used, the trade-off is two and, eventually, three tall apartment blocks.

Blocks that may or may not actually become fully occupied. Not something I welcome to the area, given so many similar local developments, often with very low occupancy. Likely not including many affordable housing options and pushing up the purchase and rental prices in the area.

It's also disappointing the River Moselle, one of London's subterranean rivers, has been uncovered but not incorporated into the development.

Admittedly, it's more of a brook, or even just seems like a sewer at this point. But, given time and care, I'm sure it could have been rejuvenated and add a natural feature back into the area.

Instead, there's a water feature which - while peaceful - is a heavily sanitised version of a natural one.

Today's sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil. The outlines were drawn over with an HB pencil. And the leaf veins and other lighter lines brought out more with the 4H pencil used more heavily.

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051 meringue

Day fifty-one of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

My flatmate made meringues this evening while I was out at the supermarket. I came home to a glowing light from the oven in the otherwise pitch-black kitchen.

Some of them have a bit of darkened colour on the top, indicating they were perhaps in the oven slightly too long. But all appear edible. And the ones baked on the middle shelf (including the one I drew today) look perfect.

My rendering is not great but not terrible. Probably the most glaring issue - for me - is that the shadowing on the meringue vs the meringue's shadow is not differentiated enough.

I used a 4H pencil to sketch the meringue initially. Then a 4B and a 6B for the shadowing, and an HB pencil over the outline.

I'm not sure you'd know what this was without the source image. But I imagine meringues aren't heavily used as source images for sketches, so I'll try not to take that personally.

Meanwhile, I have a question for those of you who are creative types who follow me:

How do you cope with/reconcile your family, your significant other and/or other creatives you know and are close to, not engaging with your art and creativity? (Whatever form that may take).

Do you:

a) Take it with a pinch of salt. What do they know?!

b) Feel bothered by it sometimes but not put too much weight on it because everyone's artistic tastes are different.

c) Struggle with their lack of engagement and see it as a reflection upon your practice, your skills and your art generally? If you can't engage those closest to you, how can you engage anyone else through your art?

I'd be really interested in your honest answers. As brief or as detailed as you choose to give them x

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050 cameo

Day fifty of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

Halfway, thank goodness.

Today has been emotionally calmer, also, thank goodness.

And more productive for my own work, though I will sneak some paid work in shortly.

As it's day 50 today, I prioritised my sketch and sat down to do it while the daylight still prevailed (even if it doesn't as I write this).

There are myriad issues with the details of her hair and her top. And lots of other imperfections.

And with the way I've rendered her, she's actually more of a portrait than a cameo. But I'm moderately happy with today's effort.

The cameo necklace serving as today's source image was actually bought for me by Simon from a charity shop somewhere in Australia on our road trip in 2019. He bought it with the intention of me using the necklace to replace the ones that had failed from other pendants.

He didn't realise how much I like cameos and that this was a perfect find for me. The salmon pink colour also works wonderfully with pale pink and vibrant green dresses. So the necklace has proved useful, but as its own piece, it's also perfect.

I sketched this in 4H, then drew over most lines and shading with an HB pencil.

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crown of thorns

^{[I originally posted this image as early access for my Patreon patrons on 14 March 2021].}

049 ring

Day forty-nine of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

I think I thought this would be easier to draw.

But for some reason, my eyes and my hand couldn't coordinate to really make it work. And, to be honest, my heart wasn't in it to make it work any better than this today.

I think that's part of why I've always struggled to draw.

I can visualise myself drawing effortlessly, skillfully. I can imagine my hand and fingers guiding the pencil to make the lines just so. But the communication between my hand and eyes is never as strong as I think it is when I imagine drawing something.

There was a second or two when I almost tore out the page, put my visual diary away and crawled back into bed.

But I'm a completist, so I determinedly fought the urge. I focussed on the photo on my phone I'd taken earlier in the afternoon when I'd felt more positively. And I finished it. But I think my internal struggle shows in the finished product.

What started as a better day - a day of rest, self-care and a much-needed pep talk full of positive distractions from a friend - unravelled when gently poked later in the afternoon.

I'm still feeling raw and vulnerable, and I don't know when that feeling will stop. I wish it would stop.

I sketched with a 4H, then shaded and drew over the outline with an HB pencil.

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048 intersecting

Day forty-eight of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

I know it's lame. But this is really all I had the energy for in the last hour of yesterday. And I didn't even get the perspective from the photograph right.

The source photograph was taken in 2017 in the church in which my great grandparents married.

Except not really.

Because on the third night of the London Blitz, at 22:20 on 9 September 1940, a bomb destroyed the majority of St Mary's Church in Islington, London. Leaving only the tower and spire intact.

A church by the same name still stands there. But, in reality, it's not the same church.

I visited the church with my parents in 2017 when they were in London last.

This was a photograph I took with my phone of the flooring inside the church. It made for a simple subject for today.

I wavered about shading it but decided not to.

The initial sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil. I went over the lines in 4B for the edges of the blue circle, 2B for the yellow one. And HB for the edges of the cream shapes (or whatever colour you want to classify them).

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047 tweety

Day forty-seven of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

No, I didn't miss a day.

I started this sketch at 23:50 last night and drew until about 00:20 today. But I ran out of energy - physically and emotionally - to get it prepped and online before I went to bed.

Then, when I woke, I had to work. My break was used to talk to Simon on the phone. So I'm posting now and then will get onto today's sketch and do this all over again.

The irony is this is probably the most accurate of any of my sketches so far, so I should have been super proud to get it online asap. But I just didn't have it in me.

I think I sketched this with a 4H pencil. Shaded the eyes with 6B and 4B. Went over most of the outline with the 6B and some lighter bits with an HB pencil. That's my vague recollection now.

^{It shouldn't need to be said, but obviously, I'm not the copyright holder for the image of Tweety. I'm using the image for research and study covered by the fair dealing exception in UK copyright law. I'm only using Tweety as a reference image to practice and improve my drawing. I'm not sharing this for commercial purposes. I won't be selling my sketch of Tweety.}

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046 lighthouse

Day forty-six of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

Managed to sneak this in before I caught up with Dad on Skype tonight.

He was ready to chat before I finished, and I knew he had to go out to visit Mum after we spoke and go to an appointment after that, so I kind of rushed the shading on the stripes.

Not to mention I obviously should have shaded them with the strokes going in the same direction. Very lazy of me!

I'm pretty happy with this effort otherwise, though.

There are imperfections but not as jarring as yesterday's attempt.

The platform at the top of the lighthouse is a bit wonky. Arguably, the whole lighthouse is a bit more upright than in the original, but I think it's a valiant effort.

The original sketch was done with a 4H pencil. The shading on the stripes and the darker shading in the windows with a 6B pencil using two different pressures. And the outline and such accentuated with an HB and a heavier 2B.

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045 beetle

Day forty-five of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

There are so many things wrong with yesterday's sketch. I don't know where to start...

No, that's not true.

Let's start with those tyres and wheel arches. Clearly, the proportion of the front and rear tyres should be reversed.

Despite sketching in landscape format - after acknowledging I wasn't going to manage it as a square sketch and erasing my first attempt - it still ended up squished.

Overall, it's not terrible, but there are many flaws in this drawing, despite the fact I worked on it for about an hour. I wasn't rushed as I started drawing earlier, though I'm posting it the next day.

Oh well.

Again, the original sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil. Then main outlines/lines were gone over with an HB and the secondary bits (e.g. lines seen through glass) in a heavier 4H.

I always wanted a VW Beetle (the old school style, like this) and/or a Mini Minor. However, my Mum rolled a Mini taking a corner in her younger days, so she was against that idea. And she wasn't keen on a car with the engine in the front.

I'm pretty sure she also had a Fiat of some description in her younger days, though I'm not sure it was a Fiat 500.

So, she had some of the cars I fancied and wasn't up for me having the same.

Maybe that contributed to me never actually getting my full license and buying a car...?

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044 plastered

Day forty-four of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

Despite going to bed at a "reasonable" hour yesterday morning (read: about 2:00), I didn't actually get to sleep until around 06:00, and then I was up and at my desk working at 08:45. Somehow I'm not yet comatose after 2:00 the next day. I have had my moments, though.

Lack of sleep notwithstanding, yesterday was a good day. I'm so unimaginably thankful for that.

I finished work at a semi-reasonable hour yesterday, but I took some time to message my good friend, Don, and run some errands last evening. Consequently, I still ended up starting on my sketch after 23:00. No regrets.

I managed to finish my sketch with about 15 minutes left of the day.

I picked this snap of my right hand from 2017, demonstrating my bad skin-chewing habits, to try to sketch today.

My forefinger is too long and a little too slim. My middle finger too stubby. (I blame trying to fit it within the page constraints). This then means my ring finger and my pinkie are even stubbier in the sketch than they are in real life. Not to mention the pinkie is fatter than in real life.

My hands (and feet and height) haven't increased in size since I was 11 years old. Whilst I like having small hands, I've always felt they were a bit chubby and not as graceful and lithe as other women's. So it's kind of jarring that I managed to make them look even more chubby and stubby in my sketch.

My thumb's actually relatively reasonable though the angle of my nail is a bit off. The webbing between my thumb and forefinger appears unflatteringly correct. But it occurs to me the creases near the base of my thumb look a bit vaginal. Haha. Oops.

As has become my habit, I sketched this with a 4H initially. I then added some shadowing with a 4B and accentuated the outlines variously with a heavier 4H and an HB pencil. I also attempted to smudge the shadowing with my finger. But that doesn't really come through in the photo of my sketch.

As I was finishing off yesterday's sketch, it occurred to me I've inadvertently developed a style with my drawing. Much the same way I've previously developed one within my photography.

It wasn't intentional. But at almost halfway through the project, it's just kind of happened.

My drawing ability varies from day to day, subject to subject, but I'd say that my style is coming through, whether I like it or not.

For what it's worth, I think I did a fair job on the plasters (Band-Aids for my Australian, Canadian and American friends) and the ends of those two fingers.

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043 padlock

Day forty-three of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

Today was calmer and mostly a day of rest for me. A flat, meh kinda day, mostly. But I'll take that rather than turmoil and upset.

I managed to get my sketch done earlier tonight and was doing it in less of a frantic rush.

I managed to thin out the main section of the padlock. And I think I transformed the writing on the front of the padlock to a more direct-facing angle than the original image.

The chain links are also not really uniform in shape and size, but you can see what I'm aiming at, at least.

I drew this with a 4H pencil. Then went over most of the padlock and added some shading with an HB pencil. I left the text on the padlock at 4H but went over them a little heavier.

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cædmon's cross

^{[I originally posted this entry as early access for my Patreon patrons on 7 March 2021].}

I took this photograph in February 2012, in St Mary's churchyard, Whitby, and only just found out about the poet it was erected in honour of, Cædmon, tonight.

I've got quite a few things still left to do before midnight as today was an exceedingly lazy one, but I will have to read more about him when I get those things done.

Once again, my photography leading me to more learning and discovery :)

042 the arch

Day forty-two of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

Frankly, yesterday felt shite.

Today is not feeling much better so far because I'm still awake from yesterday.

What I'd do right now for just one week without some drama, some stress, some misunderstanding, and just an "easy ride". One week in which I felt like the cake in my hands won't explode in my face at any minute.

Yesterday I chose to sketch Henry Moore's The Arch from a photo I took on a walk with my friend, Phil, in 2018. Just because it seemed straightforward-ish, and it was. Thankfully.

Apart from knowing it stands in Kensington Gardens because I photographed it there in 2018, I didn't really know much about it until I Googled it just now.

As often happens for me, the choice was at least somewhat synchronistic.

Moore commented:

One of the things I would like to think my sculpture has is a force, is a strength, is a life, a vitality from inside it, so that you have the sense that the form is pressing from inside trying to burst or trying to give off the strength from inside itself...

This quote fits how I think about myself and many other artists I know. A force. A  strength. A vitality coming from inside and pressing, fit to burst.

So when that vitality and strength feels like it's being held down, there's a struggle. There's a disconnect. I do not feel myself.

I've had to compartmentalise so much of myself over the decades. Through work, relationships, family, friends, social media. That I now actively rebel against that and struggle with being asked to do it, even if I understand the reasons and, ultimately, respect requests to do so.

Henry Moore goes on to say:

This is, perhaps, what makes me interested in bones as much as in flesh because the bone is the inner structure of all living form.

This compartmentalisation feels like chipping away at bones. Breaking and weakening my foundations. Foundations that take time to repair. To strengthen. So I will resist. Even if, ultimately, I break.

I sketched the sculpture in 4H then went over the outline with an HB pencil.

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041 mary janes

Day forty-one of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

And then, yesterday, all was right with the world again.

The previous day's curveball means I'll be working long hours this weekend to make up hours lost in the past couple of days, but two positives came out of the past twenty-four hours:

• Simon and I are now even closer, and our relationship stronger.

• I hit a 10kg weight loss milestone.

Turns out the stress of those 24 hours helped me to jump the next weight-loss hurdle.

I probably would have preferred an hour or more on my stationary bike to get there than what happened. Especially as I'd have been able to watch some entertaining TV at the same time. But I guess I'll take it...

By 14:00 yesterday, we also had an update on Simon's long-awaited return to London. The exact date isn't confirmed yet, but he should be on his way back to London by Monday week at the latest. With any luck, we'll be reunited before Easter. An early birthday present for both of us.

I decided to keep today's drawing relatively simple and not focus too much on photo-realism.

Having said that, somehow, one of my feet turned out slimmer than the other, though that's not really reflective of the source image.

I drew this with a 4H pencil then went over the black outlines of the skirt and shoes with an HB. I went a little heavier over the edge where the white polka dots intersected with the 4H, and I used a 2H pencil for the outline of my tights/legs.

As you can see, I kinda botched the polka dots on the right-hand side of the image despite going great guns on the left first.

I made a mess drawing over the left side of the shoe opening on my right foot with the HB pencil.

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040 two pounds

Day forty of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

Yesterday was one for the books. I don't even know where to start. And so I won't start.

But it felt fitting to draw something irreverent (in my mind) to distract from things.

So here's an illustrated rendering of a £2 peepshow neon sign from God's Own Junkyard. Another place I'd like to return to once lockdown has lifted.

Sketched with a 4H pencil, then traced over with an HB.

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039 lamp post

Day thirty-nine of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

I finished drawing this just before midnight yesterday. But then I got engaged in another discussion about current affairs with one of my patrons and good friends, Chris.

Chris seems to have his sleeping patterns under better control than me now. We were previously exchanging messages about politics and current affairs at 4:00 most mornings. But it doesn't stop us from starting conversations about the deeper issues at midnight!

Meanwhile, today's sketch was inspired by a photo I took at Ongar Railway Station in Chipping Ongar, Essex, back in April 2019.

Simon and I caught the Real Ale Train on the Epping-Ongar Railway that day. Unfortunately, it was cold and rainy and, once the weather cleared a bit, I was feeling nauseous (not because of the cider!)

Consequently, I took literally one photograph with my DSLR and a small smattering of photos from the train with my iPhone.

I know they've been suffering because of all the lockdowns. To support them, and because of the issues on our last journey, I'd like to join the train another time soon. Once the lockdowns have eased. To enjoy the train trip, hop off and have a nose around Chipping Ongar, and then enjoy some cider properly on the way back.

Back to my sketch, though.

I started this sketch intending to capture the whole scene. I quickly realised my ability to condense this much image into an A4 page of sketching in square format was just not going to happen.

So for today's sketch, I settled for capturing the lamp post. And adding the roof of the building behind it.

The lamp post in my sketch looks like someone kicked a football at it. Rather than the perfectly vertical lamp post in the photo. And my perspective is off generally.

I suspect I would do better:

a) Using an A3 piece of paper, rather than A4.

b) Not using a notebook or any other drawing surface that creates a curve or has edges raised too much off the desk.

c) Using a larger space to draw in, rather than my overcluttered desk (though I do love having my plants by my side!)

I suspect there's also something to be said for using a surface that allows my eye line to be at the same point for looking at the source image and the image I'm drawing at the same time.

I'm trying to stick to what I have and the parameters I've set, though.

This was initially a 4H pencil sketch. As has become my wont. I accentuated it with an HB pencil outline. Then a heavier 4H pencil on the lightbulb and other elements.

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038 plume moth

Day thirty-eight of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

Okay, honestly, if the title didn't give it away, would you see this sketch and think it's:

a) a scarecrow fashioned after a headless Jack Skellington from The Nightmare Before Christmas

b) a crucifixion with extras

c) a plume moth

I wouldn't blame you if you picked anything other than a plume moth as I didn't even know what they were a few years ago.

But each year, I see at least one of the fellows, and they're kind of cute if a little wooden-looking.

My rendering is a little off, with his right wing a little too high up and his back legs a little less subtle than they should be.

He was sketched with a 4H. The darker points were drawn over with a 3B. And the outline accentuated with an HB before going over the lighter bits a little heavier with the 4H.

Managed to get this puppy... er, moth... sketched before midnight. But then got sidetracked in a What's App chat with Simon just after midnight on subjects as varied as the British monarchy, organised religion, kittehs, plants, and subordination vs loyalty. All the light stuff, eh?

One of the many reasons I love him. We have such varying conversations - from the frivolous to the intensely contentious - within a little over an hour. (Even if we're mostly coming from the same place with the more prickly subjects).

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terrain de jeux

^{[I originally posted this image as early access for my Patreon patrons on 3 March 2021].}

037 unlucky for some

Day thirty-seven of The 100 Day Project for 2021.

How many of you are old enough to remember when the credits of a film shot in widescreen (16:9) were broadcast on the old television aspect ratio (4:3)? When they'd resize the frame to allow the credits to mostly be visible on the screen?

I'm guessing there's a few of you.

So, let's imagine that's what I did with my sketch today.

Clearly, that chair isn't proportionately as wide as it is in the original image. But I was trying to keep the width of the image within the page's edges.

I actually worked from a square version of the source image. I shot the source photo as a 1:1 square image and shared it previously on Instagram in that format. But my iPhone 11 Pro Max saves the original image in the full-frame ratio. So when I realised my sketch was portrait format, I could at least have a matching format photograph to pair with it to share.

There's also a bit of curvature on the left-hand side of the sketch. This is due to the page in my art journal curving when laid open. I held the left side of the journal up as I photographed my sketch. But clearly not enough to compensate for it and make the page appear flat.

Today's sketch was drawn with a 4H pencil.

I decided, in advance, I was going to shadow out the motel room interiors. But I did overlook the door handles and keys hanging from them when I sketched. Oops!

I corrected the bolts on the upper verandah coverage, but I'd drawn them a bit too heavy. So you can still see where I originally placed them too low down.

The door numbers are clearly not to scale (with each other or the doors).

There are some other inaccuracies in there (don't count them!) And the bricks were not drawn for realism but with artistic license.

Today was a bit of a write-off again for almost everything, but I'm trying to get my sleeping patterns back on track this week.

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