41 Comments

love your sketches! Really show that you had fun! And i’m also a fan of the teeny tiny mini clip on paint situations - i’ve repurposed a mini eyeshadow palette and it’s a game changer!

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Ooooh, that's a good tip! I wouldn't have thought of an eyeshadow palette!

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Wow, great sketches! I always dream of a sketching trip, but I end up barely drawing at all! Loved the tiny palette trick, and the wonderful drawings you made.

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I know what you mean! I always have big drawing plans for any trip and then feel very nervous about getting started. Discovering the tiny palette really helped!

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It looks great! One of the things that stops me is that I feel self conscious staring at people while I sketch them. Some of they approach and start staring. And my hand goes wildly shaky! 😂

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Lovely sketches! What is the source for the palette?

Check out the wonderful tiny palettes from the Art Toolkit. There is a teeny one, one the size of a business card case, and the larger folio. Excellent palettes!

https://arttoolkit.com/supplies

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Thank you so much for the link! I haven't seen those Art Toolkits before, they look great. Having magnetic pans is such a great idea and having a palette the size of a credit card would be ideal!

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I did an amazon search for tiny portable palettes, there were lots of sellers with identical palettes so I've lost the specific link. I'd seen Emma Farrarons using a small wooden palette for her amazing observational paintings and thought it looked a great size. I was surprised by how tiny mine was when it arrived but it's worked out so well!

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Beautiful sketches , full of life ! Thanks for sharing !

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That's so nice to hear! Thank you so much Heather!

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Such beautiful sketches! Lovely. That little palette is amazing, love how you clipped it to your sketchbook, I must get myself one!

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They're so good Lemady! There's tonnes of versions on Amazon (I know that's not the best retailer in the world, but it's one of the few that delivers to the island I live on!) Having it clipped on my sketchbook meant I could pull it out of my bag and start drawing with no excuses!

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hello,

wondering how long it takes you to draw a bar/cafe scene? do you take picture and then draw later?

scene like that always overwehl me and I never know wherte to start, and the next thing I know I'm only drawing a cup at my table.

where do you start with a bar/cafe scene?

thanks

john

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Hello! I know exactly what you mean about overwhelm, I have so many drawings of just my cup in a cafe! I got some great advice from another illustrator who said she starts with the bit she's interested in then just keeps drawing out from that until she's exhausted.

The busier double page drawings here took about an hour. I'm always surprised that it takes so long. The end result always looks like it was a "quick" drawing. I usually start by doing lots of drawings that go "wrong", but once I'm over that I can keep going on a single drawing that starts to work. That's when the overwhelm goes away and I get into a flow state and lose track of time. That doesn't always happen but it's great when it does!

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thanks this is helpful.

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So brilliant to see all your sketches!!! Loved reading this and tempted to change the colour of the ink in my sailor pen.

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Thank you Charlotte! I'm tempted to try one of those pen converters to see if I can mix a more interesting line colour. Sailor only have 3 cartridge colours that I've found. In an ideal world I'd have about 10 pens with different coloured ink 😆

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That would be good! What’s a pen converter? Sounds interesting.

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Hahah love that you gatecrashed a sketching group! 🫣😄😄😄😄

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Haha! They didn't know I was there! It was handy cover so I didn't stand out as the weirdo with a sketchbook! 😬 😆

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Great sketches Nanette!

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Thank you so much Nicola! x

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Wow...so simple, yet so many details too! Love your sketches.

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Thank you so much Martine! That is so lovely to hear!

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Such a cute mini pallette !

We were very lucky and went to Maui , I drew some of the beautiful trees there

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Maui sounds amazing! How exciting to see a completely different landscape! I bet your drawings from the trip are beautiful!

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I love your drawings!😍

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Thank you so much Jess! That's such a lovely thing to hear! 💚

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Beautiful artwork, and oh I love the tiny pallet!

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Thank you Zinia! The tiny pallet was a real gamechanger!

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Love those busts! ❤️ I too have been optimistic enough to take half an art store for our annual summer camping holiday and maybe doing 2 sketches 🫠

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Thanks Ben! I'm always so optimistic about how much I'll get done but the reality (especially with kids around) is usually very different!

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Lovely ! Thankyou !! So generous of you!

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Thank you so much Carole! That's lovely of you!

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Lovely free drawings Nanette - not lousy at all! Relate to carrying too much but hope springs eternal. And that teeny watercolour paint box looks great! Just found a few for sale at varying prices on Ebay so wondered if you recommended a particular link?

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Oh thank you so much Bridget! I'd seen Emma Farrarons using a small wooden palette for her gorgeous location painting so I did a search on Amazon for wooden travel palettes.

There were loads from different sellers, the one I got was about £7. I went as cheap as possible in case it didn't work out! The clip it came with was a bit rubbish so I swapped it for a standard big stationery clip which worked better. I squeezed gouache into the holes and let it dry. I was really surprised how well it worked out!

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