Drawing my cat in sepia ink

Chloe sunbathing and sleeping on the yellow chair
August Bank Holiday 1994
Pilot G-Tec-C4 pen in sepia ink in Moleskine Sketchbook

31 years ago, I spent Bank Holiday Monday drawing my cat Chloe lazing on the back of my big creamy yellow armchair. It was especially favoured because it had feather and down cushions and hence a very comfortable squishy bed could be achieved by a cat dedicated to comfy sleeps.

This is drawn, by eyeballing sat 10 feet away, in pen and sepia ink in my Moleskine sketchbook. 

I now have a print of this pic in a frame sat right next to where she used to love sunbathing and sleeping.

I've always been in favour of staying home on Bank Holiday Mondays. There again I do live in central London, which necessitates a long slog in the traffic to get back home again if I go out when everybody else decides to go out!

Moreover, at the time I was working as a management consultant for one of the "Big Four" with lots of travel all around the country - with very early starts and very late returns home.

 Staying at home and not doing very much - except drawing my cat - was my idea of a proper "time out"!

I also used to get up early on Saturday mornings to draw using pastels and would aim to complete a large work by early afternoon....

First Tips for using a Sketchbook

While sorting out my sketchbooks - as in finally getting round to labelling them with years and contents, I came across my very first sketchbook as an adult.

In it were some tips from Paul Millichip 1929-2018 about "using a sketchbook" which he very much advocated. In fact it's probably true to say he was the person who started me using a sketchbook properly

So I'm passing them on.....

The context is I signed up for his two week course on painting in Goa India in December 1993 - and a pre-holiday course in September at his studio in Buckinghamshire which was focused on sketching and using a sketchbook, so we'd get the most out of time on our trip to Goa.
(Note: I was very focused in being efficient in how I worked. I'd just started as a management consultant with KPMG and was very focused on performance improvement! Curious how your main job can influence how you approach your art...)

First the notes, then one of my sketches from Goa that I was rather pleased with and then some notes about a couple of books he wrote. Anybody who thinks they look interesting should be able to pick up second hand for next to nothing on the internet. Although I rather suspect, most owners are hanging on to their copies!

Using a Sketchbook

Think of a sketchbook as a tool - a means to an end

When starting to sketch, focus on what interests you - and state it straightaway e.g.

• dark against light
• dynamic
• vertical against horizontal

then

• look for the source of light
• light from the side or from behind creates interest

then

• stare at subject 
• look at blank page - see ghost of subject
• put down measuring points

Use your sketchbook to make notes:

• written notes
• colour notes - particularly relating to light
• if a sketch is going to yield useful information, it probably needs fairly careful drawing

If sketching:

• people - try to sketch a moment
• group of buildings:
• look for the line the buildings make against the sky
• look at overall shapes (the "big shapes")
• do NOT get distracted by drawing individual buildings
• focus on the big shapes first - and include negative spaces
• try a large object in the foreground
• sometimes useful to sketch on a theme

(He was a good teacher and I was unconsciously using these tips for years afterwards.)

Baga Beach, Goa (1993) by Katherine Tyrrell
An example of how thick cloud in a tropical place
completely mutes all light, colour, tone and shadows.
This is also my very first watercolour sketch of a boat, a sandy beach and a wave!

If you have no colours/paints with you:

• you need a formula e.g. use initials for paint colours
• you need to make notes

Using watercolours:

The Sketchbook Project is closing down

The Sketchbook Project is closing down. Brooklyn Library is calling time on its holding of thousands of sketchbooks.

The Sketchbook Project has been running for as long as this blog has been running so it's very sad to see that it's coming to an end as a collection in one space.

What is The Sketchbook Project?

• 2006 - The Sketchbook Project began in Atlanta, GA 
• 2009 - It moved to New York City in 2009
• There were two Sketchbook options for how artists participated. These were:
• STANDARD — This book lives on the shelves of the library
• DIGITIZED — This book lives on the shelves of the library +
  photographed and added to the digital library
• Since then
• it grew into a worldwide community of more than 70,000 artists.
• over 50k sketchbooks created
• became the largest collection of artists' sketchbooks
• hundreds of thousands of sketchbook checkouts,
• sketchbooks have travelled thousands of miles
• 2022 - The physical space for the project in Brooklyn closed on February 25th
• 2022 - There was a fire on February 28th - during a move from Brooklyn to Florida -  which had a major impact on the sustainability of the project

Every sketchbook in the project / collection was identical and could be completed however people chose.

Your book comes with a six-digit B number on a sticker found on the back cover of your sketchbook that is unique to you! Each book has 16 pages. 32 back and front. Our books are made by our best buds at Scout Books.

This Frequently Asked Questions Page on the Brooklyn Library website explains how it worked.

Relevant links are:

• Website: https://www.sketchbookproject.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SketchbookProject
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesketchbookproject/

What's happening to the Sketchbook Project?

The Sketchbook Project is closing down. 

This was announced on 11th January 2023.

After 17 years, hundreds of thousands of book checkouts, over 50k sketchbooks created, thousands of miles traveled, we are closing the project We have decided to fully shut down The Sketchbook Project and Brooklyn Art Library non-profit and gift the collection to other amazing institutions that can better care for the books.

Why is it closing?

Unfortunately the organization is no longer sustainable and we are not able to care for the books as they should be cared for long term. We are working hard to find partner institutions that can house the collection for many years to come.

The intention is to find other institutions which have space for and are capable of looking after the collection - and each will get part of the collection.

Then there was the fire......

What about the fire?

One of the things that has triggered this decision is the fire while the books were being transported from Brooklyn to Florida.

A Tragic Update to the Sketchbook Project Community spells out what happened

On Monday, February 28th, the moving trailer that was transporting the entire Sketchbook Project collection from Brooklyn to St. Pete caught fire while driving through Baltimore. 

The Sketchbook Project Fire

So what happened:

• around 70% of the The Sketchbook Project collection was saved by volunteers and firefighters
• around 7,000 books in the collection have been lost
• the majority of the unharmed books arrived in St Pete today are safe and sound.
• the digitisation equipment and other resources used to support the collection were all lost.

You can search here to find out whether your sketchbook survived the fire.

What about the Digital Library?

The Digital Library is the virtual extension of the Brooklyn Art Library and contains over 25,000 complete scanned contributions to The Sketchbook Project.

We are seeking a digital partner to help maintain the digital library for years to come. As of now, it will remain up. It will not be monitored or worked on until we have a partner, so it is possible for it to go down for some time, or to shut down completely. 

You can find the Digital Library at https://www.sketchbookproject.com/library

How to get your sketchbook back

A streamlined way to get your sketchbook back - if it still exists - has been set up. 

You need to read and REQUEST BOOK HERE: http://www.brooklynartlibrary.org/bookreturn

You will have until February 10th, 2023 to request your book(s) back. We are asking for a $15 dollar fee that will cover shipping, materials and the time to get the book back to you. After February 10th, your book will be sent to a partner organization to live on with other parts of the collection and you will not be able to get it back. Any excess funds will go towards helping the partner organizations get set up.

However you have to bear in mind just one member of staff is dealing with all such requests.

Making A Mark is 17 years old

Yesterday was Making A Mark's 17th Birthday. 

This sketch appeared in my first post titled Two of my favourite occupations. It's of people lunching in the Club Gascon in Smithfield and was the first ever sketch on Making A Mark on 13th December 2005. None of these people were posing for me. I was sat on the banquette at the side having a very nice lunch on my own and they were all sat in front of me having lunch and talking to the other guests.

A tutor once said to me "If you can draw people, you can draw anything" before making a strong recommendation to draw regularly and to draw people as often as I could.

It marked the start of some very steady sketching in restaurants and cafes of people eating and the food I was eating 

....like the National Cafe at the National Gallery.

Lunch in The National Cafe (October 2007)
11" x 16", pen and ink in Sketchbook

......which subsequently got posted to a second blog I started called Travels with a Sketchbook - which sadly died as I started to have a lot of trouble with walking and osteoarthritis.

This reminds me of an idea I had of going out once a month to somewhere nice to eat - and drawing the people and the food. I maybe ought to resurrect that idea in 2023! Now that I'm walking better and without pain, I should make my walks end at more interesting destinations - and maybe take my sketchbooks out again.....

The sketches I used to do generated 

• a page for all my blog posts called Eat, Drink and Sketch! Interior landscapes with food - a Sketchbook 
• which includes 10 "Dos and Don'ts" for how to draw people while eating

Below are a very few of my favourite sketches from past jaunts to various venues in London, the UK and abroad

The Distance Drawing Course (weeks 1 - 4)

 The Rokeby Museum has been posting blogs posts about a Distance Drawing Course.
The course is inspired by a correspondence course about drawing undertaken by 13 year old Rachael Robinson Elmer (1878–1919) and taught by Courtney Clinton, Rokeby Artist in Residence

From 1891 to 1893 Rachael studied illustration with a New York artist named Ernest Knaufft (1864–1942) through the Chautauqua Society of Fine Art. The course cost $5 dollars a year and offered instruction in freehand drawing and the pen and ink technique used for book and magazine illustration at the time — with today’s inflation that’s still a bargain at $150.

There are six lessons in total and they are posted every two weeks.

• Below you can find the links to the first four lessons - and a note at the end about the two still to be posted.
• The posts include some simply wonderful drawings - of their time - which can be appreciated without reading the accompanying text. However that is also worth a read - particularly if you want to learn more about drawing.
• Don't skip the interesting historical documents - also worth a read!

WEEK 1: VISION

This is the link for Vision

Seeing Rachael’s drawings and writing side by side gives us a new way to think about the practice of drawing. In her sketchbooks, Rachael uses drawing to take visual notes. With her art, she is recording and testing her understanding of nature.

For this week’s exercise I invite you to start a sketchbook practice. Over the next two weeks, go for walks with a sketch book and make small sketches of the different things that you see. Try to do five botanical sketches a week.

Don’t know where to start? Don’t worry, we are in this together! Below is a step by step guide to start your first sketchbook.

View this post on Instagram

In my first #RokebyDistanceDrawing lesson I invite students to start a sketchbook and develop a practice of engaged observation. Don't worry this doesn't require any deep breathing. ;) . . Through this exercise I want to challenge the idea of art as a kind of creative expression and instead present art as a kind of visual research. . . Most young artists assume that because they know the world around them they also understand it. When asked to put pen to paper and draw something as simple as a tree most flounder and draw a 🌲 not an actual tree. Many assume that this means they don't have any artistic talent. . . With first lesson my aim is to throw out this idea of talent and get students to start thinking about the connection between observation and drawing. . . Learning to draw is about training your eye. It means sitting in front of your subject for a sustained period and working out it's structure and mechanics. . . Of course the ultimate aim of art is expression but this research into observation will allow a young artist to better articulate and inform their ideas. . . For the lion's share of this course we will focus on training our ability to see. Near the end of the course we will shift our attention to creative expression. I can't wait for you to see how all of this time spent looking will fuel your creativity! . . Lessons are free and materials are kept simple (paper and pencil). Each lesson comes with step by step instructions! The course is hosted on the @rokebymuseum website! . . #artcourse #draw #drawing #sketch #sketching #sketchbook #artist #art #arttraining #creativity #artist #art #CanadianArt #canadianartist #vermontart #museumart #fineart #illustration #illustrator #outdoorart #landscapeart #pleinair

A post shared by Courtney Clinton Artist (@clinton.courtney) on Jul 28, 2020 at 6:42am PDT

WEEK 2: COPYING

This is the link for Copying

In the same way that Rachael learned to work with magazines by emulating her father’s career, she learned art theory (proportions, shading, and line quality) by copying the works of accomplished artists.

Bixby Bridge, Highway 1 and Big Little Lies

We've started to watch Big Little Lies - and I love the opening sequence which includes the Bixby Bridge. I'm afraid I bounce up and down at the beginning of every episode as the Bixby Bridge comes into view, all the while exclaiming "I've been there - that's Bixby Bridge. I stopped there. I drew that!"

Maritime Inversion, - Bixby Bridge, Big Sur
8" x 12", coloured pencils on Arches
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

In July 2006 - on a trip around California, Arizona and New Mexico, my third 'big trip' involved flying to San Francisco, picking up a Chrysler PT Cruiser and then, after a short stop in Monterey, driving at a fairly leisurely pace all the down Highway 1 - the Pacific Coast Highway - from San Francisco to San Diego - all on my own! Something in excess of 550 miles.

This road is almost next to the coast and it follows the coastline - with views of the Pacific Ocean en route - almost all the way down

I'd planned to sketch the views from the Highway as I progressed - and post about my travels in my sketchbook blog "Travels with my Sketchbook".

What I hadn't planned on was the marine inversion due to the heatwave which was taking place inland. Having experienced the 100 degree heat while crossing deserts earlier in the trip, I'd looked forward to it being cooler - but would have preferred cooler with more sun!

Which explains why my sketch (below) and then the more developed drawing above both feature the low-lying cloud of a marine inversion - where the cold sea meets the very hot land.

Bixby Bridge, Pacific Coast Highway
8" x 10", Pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
4.50pm on 28 July 2006

You can see what the weather was like in the layby where I parked just north of the bridge - grey, grey and more grey!

This is the Bixby Bridge - as seen in the opening credits of Big Little Lies

Below is the rest of my third "big trip"

Road Trip #3 - Pacific Coast Highway Trip from San Francisco to San Diego

San Francisco to San Diego along the Pacific Coast Highway (26th July - 30th July 2006)
(link goes to a Google Map)

On this trip I found out that the marine inversions on the coast tend to accompany very high temperatures inland!

• Tuesday 25th July - "a rest day" ie unpacking / washing / drying / repacking plus last minute bookings for Road Trip #2 - the Pacific Coast Highway Trip from San Francisco to San Diego!
• Wednesday 26th July - "Driving Highway 1 - the Pacific Coast Highway" Road Trip #2 from San Francisco to San Diego involves flying from San Diego to San Francisco; then oicking up a car and driving down to Monterey armed with Ed Terpening's guide to plein air painting spots ("The best spots painting tour") and dinner in Pacific Grove (3 sketches)
• Thursday 27th July - "Carmel by the Sea - and a marine inversion" (4 sketches) with a description of what it feels like when it's more than 50 degrees cooler than the weather experienced on Monday!
• Friday 28th July - "The greatest meeting of land and water in the world" Point Lobos State Reserve (sketch and photos)
• Friday 28th July - "Driving down big Sur - at last" the drive along the Pacific Coast Highway down Big Sur (1 sketches plus photo)
• Saturday 29th July - "The best breakfast of the trip - at the Big Sky cafe!" San Luis Obispo to Ventura (2 sketches plus photos)
• Sunday 30th July - "The end of my drive down Highway 1 and the start of concretefreewayville" - Back to Louise in Santee via Brunch in Malibu and crossing LA by freeway (2 sketches)
• Tuesday 1st August - "Flying home and some reflections" on artwork produced and travelling in the USA - after trying to work out on Monday what went home and what went on to New England.

As well as sketching details, my posts also include details of

• routes I travelled
• places I stayed and/or visited
• descriptions of places where I ate meals (which often became the subjects for sketches)
• PLUS places to buy art supplies .

What's been the best road trip + sketching that you've done? Answers to my Facebook Page

"Sketch" 2017 - sketchbook exhibition opens at Rabley Drawing Centre

The 2017 SKETCH Open Sketchbook Drawing Prize aims to promote diversity and the importance to contemporary creative practice of both:

• drawing and 
• the role of the sketchbook

100 artists’ sketchbooks selected for the Prize - selected from over 500 submissions - are now on exhibition at the Rabley Contemporary Drawing Centre and Gallery at Rabley Barn, Mildenhall, Marlborough, Wiltshire SN8 2LW - opening today and on display until 17th June 2017.

The exhibition will also tour to the following venues

• 22 July – 3 September 2017 - Black Swan Arts, Frome, 2 Bridge Street, Frome, BA11 1BB
• 9 September – 6 October 2017 - Plymouth College of Art - Gallery, Tavistock Place, Plymouth PL4 8AT
• 20 November – 15 December 2017 - Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster Arts, Great Hall Complex, Lancaster University LA1 4YW

There are less selected artists than sketchbooks which I guess means some had more one sketchbook selected! The artists who created the selected sketchbooks are listed below. I've highlighted artists I know or know of.

If you want an image of your sketchbook displayed on this page please contact me with an image of your sketchbook and preferred website address.

• Nidhi Agarwal, 
• Nilofar Akmut, 
• Lucy Austin, 
• Peter Avery, 
• Michelle Avison, 
• Naomi Avsec, 
• Richard Baker, 
• Garry Barker, 
• Brian Bishop, 
• Andy Black, 
• Kate Black, 
• Patrick Blower, 
• Julie Bolus - a reportage artist based in Norwich who I know from Urban Sketchers
• Neil Bousfield, 
• Meg Buick, 
• Robbie Bushe, 
• Tom Cartmill, 
• Becca Collins, 
• Eugenia Cuellar, 
• Yael David-Cohen, 
• Mel Day, 
• Anne Desmet RA - an artist who specializes in wood engravings, linocuts and mixed media collages - and a member of the RA
• Clare Dudeney, 
• Cameron Duke, 
• Richard Eastwood, 
• Peter Esslemont, 
• Anny Evason, 
• David Ferry, 
• Coral G Guest - a flower painter I know who now also draws and paints landscapes. I was extremely pleased to get to include her drawings in my book about drawing and sketching

Iceland - Light into Dark by Coral Guest
The page shows a sketch of snow capped mountain in the Thorsmork Valley, Iceland.

• Nikki Gardham, 
• Yolanta Gawlik, 
• Chris Gilbert, 
• Christopher Green, 
• Beatrice Haines, 
• Lesley Hicks, 
• Tracy Himsworth, 
• Eunju Hitchcock-Yoo, 
• James Hobbs - co-founder with me of London Urban Sketchers; my sketches are in one of his books and his sketches are in mine!  [Update: This is his blog post about Sketchbook show opens at Rabley Drawing Centre]

James Hobbs's Sketchbook - double page display

• Louise Holgate, 
• Hilary Owers & Graham Hooper, 
• Laura Hudson, 
• Neil Irons, 
• Lily Irwin, 
• Paul Jackson, 
• Alexander Johnson, 
• Anne Kristin Hages, 
• Karen Lorenz, 
• Christine Mackey, 
• Tony Martin, 
• Patrick Martin, 
• Lynda Marwood, 
• Anna McDowell, 
• Ruth Miemczyk, 
• Julie Moss, 
• Stephen Mumberson, 
• Liz Myhill, 
• Maureen Nathan - wrote to tell me she has two sketchbooks included in the exhibition. An image of one of the pages from one of her sketchbooks can be seen below. She wrote about one of them in Not Moleskine on her blog

Maureen Nathan Sketchbook

• Simon Nicholas, 
• Maureen O'Leary, 
• Alison O'Neill, 
• Beñat Olaberria, 
• Edith Pargh Barton, 
• Simon Parish, 
• Helena Park, 
• Stephanie Parr, 
• Chitra Parvathy Merchant, 
• Caroline Pedler, 
• Howard Read, 
• Chloe Regan, 
• Margot Shores, 
• Julie-Ann Simpson, 
• Serena Smith, 
• Barbara Sykes, 
• Sadie Tierney, 
• Luke Treece-Birch, 
• David Willetts, 
• Melanie Wickham

The panel of Judges were

• Tom Hammick, painter and printer; 
• Peter Randell-Page RA, sculptor; 
• Gill Saunders, Senior Curator (Prints), Word & Image Dept, V&A Museum

Lucian Freud Archive of Sketchbooks and Drawings gifted to the nation

A Lucian Freud Archive of sketchbooks and drawings has been gifted to the nation by The Estate of Lucian Freud in settlement of £2,940,000 Inheritance Tax following the artist's death in 2011. 

The Archive comprises

• 47 Sketchbooks spanning his career from the mid-1940s up until his death
• additional drawings; 
• a collection of 162 childhood drawings and 
• a collection of letters from Lucian Freud

A Sketchbook Drawing from the Archive of Lucian Freud
allocated to the National Portrait Gallery, London,
as part of the Arts Council England’s Acceptance in Lieu Scheme
Copyright: The Lucian Freud Archive

The Freud Archive's permanent home will be the National Portrait Gallery which hosted a fantastic exhibition of his portraits in 2012 - Lucian Freud Portraits. It became the Gallery’s most visited ticketed exhibition. 

See my blog posts about the 2012 posthumous exhibitions about Lucian Freud which all opened in London in February 2012

• Review: Lucian Freud Portraits at National Portrait Gallery 10 Feb 2012
• Video: Sue Tilley talks about modelling for Lucian Freud 08 Feb 2012
• Other Current Exhibitions of Work by or about Lucian Freud 11 Feb 2012
• "Lucian Freud Drawings" - a life in line 16 Feb 2012

I now know what the "very exciting exhibition" next year that the NPG staff could not tell me about last week! The National Portrait Gallery plans to:

• make the archive, which has never been published or exhibited, accessible to the public.
• display a selection of representative items from the archive in early summer 2016. 

The Lucian Freud Archive

Lucian Freud (1922 – 2011) was one of the most important and influential artists of his generation. 

The importance of the Archive is that it will:

• invaluable insight into his working practice - several drawings show the beginnings of portraits, such as Lord Goodman’s, often starting with the nose and eyes before developing outwards.
• how he used his sketchbooks - he apparently used them as they came to hand rather than in any chornological or or thematic sequence. One of the sketchbooks – originally an 18th Century ledger – contains drawings of Caroline Blackwood that relate to Freud’s early masterpiece Hotel Bedroom, 1954. 
• be a major resource for the study of his work - they enable researchers to trace the evolution of Freud’s portraits from the stage of initial conception.
• extend its understanding of the artist’s portrait work - the archive includes numerous studies which relate to major works by Freud now in significant collections. 
• give added context to the two works by Freud in the Gallery’s Collection, a 1963 self-portrait in oils and a charcoal drawing of Lord Goodman. 
• compliment the Gallery's portraits of Lucian Freud including 
• a FrankAuerbach etching; and 
• an extensive collection of photographs by David Dawson, Bruce Bernard, Cecil Beaton and others.

The Childhood Drawings

The collection of childhood drawings by Freud date back to when lived in Germany, before his family fled to England in 1933 when Hitler came to power. 

His mother used to keep and archive all his childhoold drawings which she then annotated with a date to indicate his age at the time he drew them and a place to remind where they were living at the time. I saw a number of them in the exhibition of his drawings at the exhibition of Lucian Freud Drawings opens at Blain|Southern Gallery - and was extremely impressed. They're absolutely fascinating - and you can see some of them in my review of the exhibition

The Acceptance in Lieu scheme

The Acceptance in Lieu scheme (AIL) is administered by Arts Council England. 

• The Acceptance in Lieu Panel advises on whether property "accepted in lieu" is of suitable importance and offered at a value which is fair to both nation and taxpayer. 
• AIL enables taxpayers to pay inheritance tax by transferring important works of art and other important heritage objects into public ownership. 
• The taxpayer is given the full open market value of the item, which then becomes the property of a public museum, archive or library. 
• In the last five years (2010 -14) the scheme has bought objects to the value of £150m into public collections (see the Cultural Gifts Scheme and Acceptance in Lieu Report 2014)

Book signing: Books on Sketching at the Mall Galleries

Book signing

Tomorrow (Thursday 5th March) you can meet me, see some of my sketchbooks and get your copy of Sketching 365: Build your confidence and skills with a tip a day signed at a "Meet the Author/book-signing" event in the bookshop at the Mall Galleries between 3pm and 7pm.Sketching 365: Build your confidence and skills with a tip a day

I'll be joined by fellow urban sketcher James Hobbs who is author of best-selling Sketch Your World who will also be bringing his sketchbooks.

The Mall Galleries is going to do a discount deal for anybody attending the event between 3pm and 4pm - you'll be able to buy both books for £20.

Pastel Society Exhibition & Art Event Evening

My book contains a section on pastels and a number of wonderful images by Pastel Society member Felicity House.
If you come to the book signing you might like to stay on and

• see the Annual Exhibition of the Pastel Society
• see pastel artist Peter Vincent PS doing a demonstration in the gallery 
• attend the Pastel Society's Art Event Evening which starts at 6pm. This is a chance to work alongside members of the Pastel Society and possibly win a prize. Models and still life are available to draw. (This is ticketed event - click the link for details)

Moleskine sketchbooks have changed - or have they?

The new Moleskine Sketchbook wrapper

In a panic about whether Moleskine has changed its paper as well as the wrapper for its very popular sketchbooks - as reported - I ordered some.

The sketchbooks arrived today - and it's interesting

My order included:

• a large A4 size sketchbook with the new wrapper (I've previously ordered the Folio Sketchbooks with the dark mauve wrapper) and
• a normal 'large' sketchbook  with the old lilac wrapper (with a double page spread of 8" x 10")

Comparison of the NEW and old wrappers for Moleskine sketchbooks

I then dug out an old Moleskine that had an empty page, my latest Moleskine and I photographed them all together - and this is what they looked like

Moleskine sketchbooks - the paper is different but not how I expected!

Moleskine Folio Sketchbook

It looks like the Folio Sketchbook has dropped the old dark mauve wrapper for a new lilac edged wrapper. They're still called Folio Sketchbooks on the Moleskine website

The Sketchbook A4 has 96 wide pages in high quality heavy paper, ideal for tempera colours. 160 g/m2 top quality acid free paper

The paper in this NEW version of the Folio Sketchbook is described thus

Back of new Moleskine sketchbook wrapper

• Size (inches): 8 1/4" x 11 3/4"
• Size (cm): 21x 29,7
• 96 pages
• 165 g/m2 (111 lb acid free paper)
• ISBN 13: 978-88-6293-193-9

Interestingly the back of the wrapper describes the paper as now having better absorbing paper.

Now since this is NOT the watercolour sketchbook this seems an odd description. I don't particularly want the paper to be absorbent. I use coloured pencils and much prefer hard sized paper because the colours remain far more vibrant if they don't sink into the paper. The old description was this

• A4 plain pages in high quality heavy paper.
• 160 g/m2.
• Dimensions: 21 x 29.7 cm - 12 x 8.5".

Back of old Moleskine Folio Sketchbook wrapper

On the face of it the NEW PAPER is lighter in colour and it feels as if it possibly be a little lighter in weight despite the assertion that it is in fact heavier 165g/m2 as opposed to the old 160 g/m2.

So far as I am concerned the weight and smoothness of the paper is everything. I wouldn't buy Moleskine sketchbooks at all if they lost either of these characteristics.  I also don't want a soft sized paper - I want a paper where the ink and coloured pencils I use sit on top of the paper and don't become absorbed by the paper and lose their 'edge'.

This is the link to the Folio A4 Sketchbook on the website

This is the link to the Folio A3 Sketchbook on the website (Not to be confused with the Moleskine Folio Plain book - with the old mauve wrapper - which only has 100 g/m2 acid free paper and is now listed as 'out of stock' by the Moleskine Store)

I found these first by putting sketchbook in the search window. I eventually found them through using the link to Creativity Notebooks and Albums

Using the top line menu I can get what's called the Art Plus collection (under Creativity). Just to confuse matters this seems to include a new size with an odd name called Art Plus Sketch Album - BUT note this only has 120 g/m2 paper not the 165 g/m2 paper of the Sketchbook.

So the moral of the story if you want the heavy weight paper is STAY AWAY from anything which is called

• Notebook - the paper is not suitable for sketching if you don't want marks to show through the paper
• Plain Book - 100 g/m2 acid free paper
• Sketch Album - 120 g/m2 paper
• Red Notebooks - this is flimsy paper that I use for my notes of exhibitions (however note that there is a Red Sketchbook which has a cover which claims 165 g/m2 paper)

I haven't tested the paper yet - watch this space!

[UPDATE: For those confused between the Folio sketchbook and the Folio book with plain paper this is how they were described when introduced in 2009.  

The Folio Collection will launch five new products, providing consumers with formats for both creating art and for professional use:

• Ruled book : 176 pages, available in the A4 format

• Plain book: 176 pages, available in the A4 and A3 formats

• Portfolio: an accordion-style tool featuring big pockets in cardboard and cloth, available in A4 and A3 formats

• Sketchbook: 96 large pages in high quality heavy paper, available in A4 and A3 formats

• Watercolour Album: 60 pages, heavy paper, 200 gsm, cold pressed, available in the A4 and A3 format

Note the Plain book does NOT say it uses the heavy weight paper.]

Moleskine Classic Large Sketchbook

As per the image on the right in the top photo, this has traditionally been described thus

• ISBN 13: 978-88-8370-115-3
• Size (inches): 5” x 8 ¼”
• Size (cm): 13X21
• Pages: 104
• Collection: Notebooks and Journals
• Model: Hard black cover notebooks
• Cover: Hard Cover
• Colour: Black
• Layout: Sketchbook
• Format: Large

The new Large Sketchbook states

• 104 pages of top quality heavy weight acid-free paper
• Size (inches): 5" x 8 ¼"
• Size (cm): 13 x 21
• ISBN 13: 978-88-8370-115-3

What surprised me when I put the Large Sketchbooks together was the difference in the colour of the paper. I've not been using my current Moleskine much - and now I see why!  The colour is way different to normal and the brand new Sketchbook I that has just arrived is much more like the 2007 one. Seems as if somebody lost the plot on quality control.

I've yet to try the new Moleskine sketchbooks - but will report back when I have.  (Initial trials of hatchling in pen and ink on the back page suggests the paper seems pretty similar.)

Sketching slideshow - iPhoto to slideshow to Quicktime Movie

Today I learned how to create a slideshow of a sketch I did yesterday when we visited the wonderful garden at Great Dixter in Kent.  I've already written about the visit on my Travels with a Sketchbook blog (see A step by step sketch of the Long Border at Great Dixter).

However I wanted to see if I could create a slideshow for this blog and Facebook of the step by step photos I took of the sketch as it was progressing.

First here's the slideshow, then I'll tell you how I got it!  I personally think it looks best in HD format on Facebook.  Apologies to those who saw this post early and got the wrong size version!



Those who know me well will realise I'm writing down the instructions of how to do it next time otherwise I'll try to do it again and won't be able to remember a thing about what I did.

How to produce a slideshow for your blog

I saved my six photos as 1000 pixels wide @72 dpi figuring that should be about right for Facebook!

Then came the search for the bit of software which would put them together in a slideshow which I could put on this blog.

It didn't start well!

First I reviewed both PS Elements 11 and iMovie to see if either would allow me to produce a short slideshow from six slides and concluded this wasn't going to be easy - and I couldn't see how it was possible!

Next I tried out searching for "how to" and came up with virtually nothing other than dodgy chaps who wanted me to try their app.  I'm "app averse" unless it has a good reputation and lots of people have already adopted it so that closed off that avenue.

Finally I took a look at iPhoto - and it transpired this has a "create a slideshow" option.

Here's what you have to do to create a slideshow of an art process or paintings or whatever you want it to be about

1. Identify the photos you want to use.
2. rename them with the titles you want to use as captions if you want captions to show
• If you review the slideshow you'll see I gave mine a narrative description of the stage of the sketch eg add coloured pencils
3. Import photos to iPhoto and identify their location
4. You need to add any information to the image at this stage
• click the little "i" bottom right hand corner of the photo to add information
• locate photo on a map to show where it was taken if appropriate
• provide a description of what is happening in photo if appropriate
• provide a title for the photo/slide
• repeat for each photo in the slideshow if you want there to be a commentary on what's happening
5. Click the + sign at the bottom left of the screen in iPhoto
6. Choose slideshow from the drop down menu
7. Save the slideshow with a title - these are the words which will appear on the first image as the title for the slideshow.  There's no scope to add copyright info so I started the title with the copyright symbol and my name
8. Review how long each slide should appear for -  I used 7 seconds
9. Review themes, music and the rest of settings - all fairly self-explanatory
10. Bottom right of screen - click Export and this exports the slideshow to a move format which was Quicktime in this instance.
11. Choose the size based on where the movie will be viewed.  I chose 960 x 540 pixels which gave 30fps and an 8.8MB filesize
12. Upload to Facebook and YouTube and/or video host of your choice and make sure you've chosen the right size file!

That's about it.  I bet I've forgotten something! ;)

Let me know what you think about the video.

Please also share with us how you create slideshows as videos.

Lichenstein at Tate Modern

Tate Modern Shop
- and the Lichenstein Retrospective Memorabilia

I had a quick canter around Lichenstein: A Retrospective at Tate Modern yesterday before going to see the Spring Exhibition of the Royal Watercolour Society.

I intend to go back and visit the exhibition again when I have more time and when it's a bit quieter. (Apparently it's quieter on Saturday and Sunday evenings after 7pm!)

I'd RECOMMEND this exhibition to anyone wanting to understand a little bit more about how he came to develop his style.

Halfway round I was reminded of how much more satisfying it is when an artist works in series - it makes for a great retrospective!

The early work comes very late in the exhibition - presumably to avoid interfering with the telling of the story of how his particular stye came about.

It was interesting to see how the work became progressively more sophisticated over time - I particularly enjoyed the two series on "art on art" and "the artists studio"

The landscapes were also very interesting - particularly those that borrowed from nineteenth century Japanese woodcuts.

Lichtenstein is renowned for his works based on comic strips and advertising imagery, coloured with his signature hand-painted Benday dots. The exhibition showcases such key paintings as Look Mickey 1961 lent from the National Gallery Art, Washington and his monumental Artist’s Studio series of 1973–4. Other noteworthy highlights include Whaam! 1963 – a signature work in Tate’s collection – and Drowning Girl 1963 on loan from the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

The artist’s rich and expansive practice is represented by a wide range of materials, including paintings on Rowlux and steel, as well sculptures in ceramic and brass and a selection of previously unseen drawings, collages and works on paper.

I also noted from the working drawings and sketchbooks which he kept to develop a new work that he often worked using coloured pencils - or "graphite with colour" as the Tate has labelled the drawings!

Here's  a video about the Roy Lichenstein.

Urban Sketches - printed, matted, framed, and hung!

Sketches by Katherine Tyrrell hung in The Art of Urban Sketching Exhibition at Foyles

Who's made a mark this week is going to be published tomorrow.  I've been a bit busy yesterday and today converting sketches in sketchbooks into prints, matted and framed and then transported from my kitchen floor - see below - to the wall of The Art of Urban Sketching Exhibition which opens at Foyles tomorrow.

Sketches of London by Katherine Tyrrell
for The Art of Urban Sketching Exhibition at Foyles Bookshop
16-22 July 2012

This exhibition is being held this next week - 16-22 July 2012 - in The Gallery at Foyles, Third Floor, 113-119 Charing Cross Road. Foyles is an independent bookseller who won the prestigious National Bookseller of the Year 2012.  The Charing Cross store is its original and flagship store.

The exhibition is part of:

• the Urban Sketchers London Events Programme relating to the launch of the new book about Urban Sketching by Gabi Campanario and the other Urban Sketchers
• the Foyles Sketching the City Season events programme.

See:

• The Art of Urban Sketching - at Foyles in London on Travels with a Sketchbook for more details.
• The Art of Urban Sketching Exhibition - my contribution for more about the location of the sketches in the above images

Exhibition Poster - in Foyles window fronting Charing Cross Road

There will be a post on Urban Sketchers London with photos of exhibition - including each set of sketches and the correspondent who produced them.

How to produce prints of sketches for an exhibition

Here's the process I used for getting sketches framed for an exhibition

1. First I selected those pen and ink and coloured pencil sketches which looked like they might read across a room 
2. I chose two themes - art galleries and a favourite sketching location - Kew Gardens
3. I scanned or photographed the double page spreads
4. Then converted the image file into a tiff file (lossless compression) - to improve the quality of the printing.
5. I produced a printed version of the image on an A4 page of Somerset Enhanced Velvet (which is a matt paper with some tooth)
6. I had to restate the coloured pencil to get back to the colours and values of the sketches in my sketchbook.  Fortunately the paper is very accepting of coloured pencils
7. I then matted - using Daler Rowney Mountboard in Antique White - and framed them in frames which were either A3 size or 30cm x 40cm
8. They were given a glass clean inside and out before my better half applied the brass mirror plates for screwing the works to the wall of the gallery.
9. Finally many thanks to Nathan Brenville (Tinmouse) who helped me by screwing the frames to the wall. (My right hand doesn't grip too well!)

I'd be interested to know if anybody else has ever tried converting sketchbooks to prints - I'm still umming and erring about the authenticity of the centre fold in my double page spread sketches!

PS Anybody notice the consistent theme to my sketches?

The London Sketchbook Challenge - Call for Entries

The legendary bookshop Foyles is having a summer season of exhibitions devoted to Sketching the City of London.  London is, of course, expecting a few more visitors this summer!

This post is about a chance for anybody who has sketched in London to have their work included in an exhibition about Sketching London!

A Foyles Summer Season of Exhibitions devoted to Sketching the City

The Art of Urban Sketching

Next week, Foyles Gallery on the 3rd floor of their flagship bookshop at 113-119 Charing Cross Road will be devoted to an exhibition about The Art of Urban Sketching.  The exhibition includes extracts from the book by Gabi Campanario and members of Urban Sketchers all over the world - plus sketches by correspondents for Urban Sketchers London - see The Art of Urban Sketching - at Foyles in London on my sketchbook blog.


Which means you'll be able to see a larger version of some of my sketches! :)

However if YOU too would like to have one or more of your sketches included in the subsequent exhibition - this is what you have to do.


The London Sketchbook Challenge

Foyles' next exhibition is one which is being specially created in response to the London Sketchbook challenge.  The work it will include will be created by those who currently sketch in London.

This exhibition aims to create a vision of London by those who know it best - you. As London builds up to the Games this summer all eyes will be focussed on the city, with an influx of new visitors discovering its well-trodden streets and a transformation that may or may not feel like the London you know and love. We want to capture the real London - that melting pot of different cultures, traditions, residents and visitors who make it what it is - by transforming the Gallery into a vast, walk-in sketchbook.

This is where you come in - we're asking you to submit as many of your own personal sketches of the capital as possible - not just skylines and monuments, but the hidden corners, the secret hideaways that make London yours. They can be drawings, paintings, collages or even poetry, we just ask that entrants comply with the requirements below.* We will then collage the walls with as much of your work as possible, and will select and frame some of our favourite examples to showcase in the space.

You can read the details requirements on the Sketching the City page on the Foyles website

Requirements:

• All work must be two-dimensional and must not exceed A4 in size
• Sketches should be done on paper or light card that is easy to display
• Media: drawings, paintings, collages or even poetry

Timescale:

• delivery of sketches: 23rd of May 2012 and the 9th of August 2012
• exhibition in Foyles Gallery: 27th July - 12th August 2012 (Monday - Saturday 9.30am - 5pm and Sunday 11.30am - 6pm).  The Gallery may be closed when instore events and meetings are taking place

Delivery:

• Deadline: 9th August 2012
• Sketches of London should be left at one of the designated drop-off points on the ground floor of Foyles Charing Cross Road
• or email them to gallery@foyles.co.uk

Caution:

• There is no guarantee that you will get your work back - and it's possible it may be damaged.
• Exhibitors should be able collect their work from the Gallery on Monday 13 August between 10.30am and 5pm, but Foyles do not guarantee that work will be returned after the show.
• Work will not be displayed if it does not comply with the size requirements or is deemed unsuitable to show

I'd suggest that if your work is in a sketchbook that you scan it and email them a file