The Week in Watercolour #4
DIY equipment & mackerel!
Welcome,
Thankyou for being here as I approach 💯 (subscribers not years!) Things seemed to have slowed down in the rate of subscribers recently but I'm happy you are all still here and hope you are enjoying the read and keeping up with my gallery of sketches.
The time is whizzing by with summer becoming a passing thought. I've had little time to be out and about sketching and the motivation is lacking occasionally. If this happens to you too, I just want you to know - it’s OK. I know for me personally, something sparks inside and I'm off again.
Sketching Tools
I did make a useful gadget that I want to share with you here. I have to admit it was not my idea so will give credit to the guy I came across on Etsy. I found out he is in Cornwall too so feel I should give him a plug JustGoSketching
Made from a cheap bit of 5.5mm plywood, the whole sheet cost me £10. I decided on 12” x 9” then just cut the shape accordingly with a jigsaw, then smoothed the edges with sandpaper. I could probably make another 5 from the sheet at this size! This was ideal for my landscape 8”x 6” sketchbook and worked ok for the portrait verions around the similar 8”x 5” size.
I may try a smaller 8”x 8” version for the portrait sketchbooks so the wood doesn’t stick so far out on the right and left side. The clips were not as effective at reaching the wood and paper (as you can see in the middle picture below), so I just clipped the pages instead but a smaller width of 8” or 9” would solve this.
I found the magnet already in my shed, so cut that into the wood and glued it in. The straps were sewn together from waste elastic offcuts in Mrs J's sewing box. Then I varnished it and took it for a test drive. I have to say it worked a treat as I perched on a tiny wall to sketch the library & museum in Perranporth. The size may need adjusting a little but it wasn’t too cumbersome and would fit into the right size bag fairly easily. I carried the pens and other bits in a pencil case and took out what I needed for the elastic holders.
The paint tin is on the magnet and the water brush in the elastic. The other elastic was just useful for the cloth to stop it blowing away. I had the water containers and clips already, - here it is in all its DIY glory.
There you go, a useful plein air tool to keep everything together neatly. I’m sure it will make more appearances in the coming editions. I actually used the fude tip pen on this outing rather than the Unipin shown above.
Prompts
We are up to prompt #19 from the chat thread with mackerel as the theme. There doesn’t seem to be much regular engagement apart from one or two readers so it may not be helping people that much with their creativity or perhaps no one needs a prompt to get drawing? If you like this feature but don’t join in that is fine too, it would be helpful to know even if it is a quick thumbs up on the prompt. I’m still learning what engagement is all about.
These are my attempts. I do sometimes over use and over work the watercolour but enjoy the boldness and have fun.
Health
A little update. I uneventfully passed through my heart attack anniversary on the 8th Sept. The surgical team called and checked in on me. The anti platelet meds will be stopping in November which marks a year after surgery. I'm hoping to lose the beta blockers too as i have pretty good blood pressure. I’m still out on the occasional 5km run and cycling trip, but have cut it back a bit as my exercise was becoming a little obsessive. The anxiety is improving and I have stopped trying to find research regarding Cabg survival rates. It’s very much about phases and getting through them. I think my next big phase is getting past the 1 year surgery anniversary, losing some of the meds and trying to put some space in my brain between what happened a year ago and the present here and now. If anyone is going through this too I hope you are getting the support you need.
Next time in Capture your World in a Sketchbook
Some more urban sketches using my newly made diy tool.
Also, watch out for upcoming information on live video sketching and drawing, if I have a date I will send out a separate notice to subscribers with details and what we’ll be trying. It may even be a live virtual urban sketch!
I have created a Lu.ma page here ready for event sign for details and link and it would be hosted on zoom
Gallery
The gallery is being populated with my work regularly. I try and keep it in chronological order so there may be new stuff appearing further down the page.
Drop me a note if you find this useful I think it is for subscribers only.
Also…
Capture your World in a Sketchbook is a free newsletter. Your Coffee donations are greatly appreciated, they help to support & motivate me to carry on writing and sharing. Click the link below if you feel like donating a little to support my writing and art support 💚
(Sometimes, I may not be able to trace you back to your Substack name from Kofi but thank you for the generous donations)
Thank you for reading, I’m always happy to hear from fellow enthusiasts in the comments👇 Anyway ‘till next time, happy sketching. CJ
lol, I knew you would question that. It is an Aussie saying, I have no clue where it came from other than perhaps a very early ad for Vegemite. No I didn’t check the Etsy link, possibly because it was a bit early in the morning , I did see the link to JustGoSketching so I will now check it out. … Crikey, no wonder you made your own!! £34 and yours was a third of the price.
Aren’t you a clever little vegemite… Other than investing in a miniature easel or one of those boxed sets, you have come up with a way to suit all your needs whilst outside sketching, at a minimal cost. Well done with your new sketch. And don’t fret too much about followers for your prompts, they are probably out there doing them anyway but not telling you. And as for numbers, I have probably had more in the past couple of months than the last two years, but still don’t have 100 subscribers, not that I worry because many of those I do have have become good mates, and for me that makes up for it.