How to grow as an artist - daily Sketches!

To really develop an artist you must push yourself! It’s easy to do the same thing day in and day out producing work that looks “nice” but never moves beyond the comfortable. Which is why I’m on a “Sketch a Day” challenge while we’re travelling the canal.

The trouble with challenges though, is you can’t always predict where they will lead. So what did I learn from yesterday’s challenge for my sketch a day.

1. Sometimes we moor somewhere spectacular when it seems you’re spoilt for choice. Then the next day the surroundings seem really mundane. There are a lot of fields and sheep by this particular canal, so do I do lots of fields and sheep. Well…I get bored, but because I get bored I look for interesting angles. I found this stretch of fence intrigued me. It led into the canal and was a bit run down but still functional. What you can’t see from this angle is just how pristine and precise the left hand mesh fence is behind the large post. Contrast that with the old gate stuck in, presumably to fill in the huge gap between the planks. I liked the barbed wire tied in knots on the post, serving absolutely no purpose at all. I can see a farm hand trying to put it in and ending up with this mess- a bit like when Homer Simpson does DIY!
2. I had to work at speed, there was no choice other than to work quickly. We were due to move.
3. Some of the detail and scaling is wrong as a result. I’m getting more relaxed about imperfect work.Don’t you just Love artistic licence, you can use it to explain anything!
4. Living moving animals included! I put some sheep in. I’m still worried about sketching moving animals. I think the nearest one has distinct piggy tendencies and the whiskers are a real worry!

But here’s my sketch near Long Buckby.