A peek inside my studio and a very quick sketch

I have been busy reorganising my studio/office over the past week
with a little help from my sons for the heavy jobs.

If you are anything like me,
you love seeing pics of other artists' studios
so I thought I'd share mine with you.

This is my computer desk area.
I painted that bald eagle many moons ago.
He was done with acrylic paints on canvas.

My storage baskets inside the built-in robe are all reorganised and labelled now
so I no longer have to pull out all the drawers to find something.
SO much easier!

On the opposite side of the room is my art desk (view from doorway)
which is actually two tables from IKEA side by side.
The set of three drawers consists of the following...
top drawer is filled with bits and pieces
such as favourite sketch pens/palettes, rulers, mechanical pencils, erasers, etc.
second drawer is filled with many ballpoint pens all sorted by colour
the bottom drawer is filled with many markers and ink pens.

When it comes to art supplies,
a girl just can't have too much, right?

More art/sketch-related storage in the built-in wardrobe
and a cosy bed for Cody to lie in while I'm working.

A different view of my art area
All those books are art/sketch-related organised by spine colour.
The framed print of the girl and butterflies was done by daughter, Michelle.
It makes me happy and I love it!

And that's about it for my in-house studio.
I do have other art supplies stored in the garage
which are more related to my acrylic painting.

It's still slow going with my recovery from carpal tunnel surgery.
I'm just past week four and
 the wound site is still very tight, lumpy, and tender.
A couple of little mishaps over the past few days have set me back a bit too.
One of them being where I inadvertently put some of my body weight on my hand
when I went to help myself up from the floor.
It only took a split second to realise what I was attempting
because the pain was massive.
My hand was so sore for the rest of the night
and I was getting shooting pains too.
Thankfully, it settled down within 24 hours.
Lesson learned!

I did manage a simple sketch today.

It's the first sketch I've done since my surgery.

It was a little shaky and slow-going

as I have to be careful how I hold my hand to avoid pain.

Writing is easier to manage whereas

I need more wrist/arm movement with sketching.

I can't lean on the wound area either....it hurts.

I'm using a brush case to rest my forearm on

so that my wrist and hand are not actually touching the desk.

Despite the awkwardness

it feels good to be sketching again.

I decided to sketch the tube of ointment I use for the wound site.

Papaya Fade by PURE Phytocare

100% vegan ingredients and not tested on animals.

It's supposed to be great for scars and stretch-marks.

Moleskine watercolour notebook - A5 size, landscape format 

Graphite, PITT pens and watercolours 

I'm hoping to get back into the habit of daily sketching

so stay tuned....

366 Daily Sketch challenge - more portraits

I am happy to say that I have been sketching daily 

since my last post so let me get you caught up. 

Up first is the lovely Makenna Stardust, a Sktchy user. 

I used BIC ballpoint pens, 

the Cristal Pocket Scents range to be exact.

For the blacks, I used Faber-castell PITT pens for the blouse and glasses,

and a mixed black in watercolours for her hair. 

11/366 daily sketch
Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
BIC ballpoint pens, blacks are Faber-castell PITT pens and a mixed watercolour.
© Serena Lewis

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Next up is Nicola Fletcher, from Sktchy too.

Here is the initial pen sketch,
fast and loose.

I decided to use the BIC Cristal Scents ballpoint pens for adding colour to this one too.
The blacks are Faber-Castell PITT artist pens.

12/366 daily sketch
Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
BIC Cristal Scents ballpoint pens and the blacks were done with Faber-castell PITT pens.
© Serena Lewis

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Next up is a sketch of Alexandria Bryant, another Sktchy user.

After the initial line sketch in pen,
I decided to play with some Lamy water-soluble ink.
Below is the first layer.

And the final results

13/366 daily sketch
Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
Sketched using BIC ballpoint pen and Platinum Carbon pen, 
then brush-painted with LAMY water-soluble ink in black.
© Serena Lewis

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I had so much fun with the water-soluble ink,
I tried it again with today's sketch.
Subject is Susana Norzagaray from Sktchy.

First, the line drawing in pen

Then the first and second layers of water-soluble ink

Then the final results.
I really liked the painterly feel to this one.

14/366 daily sketch
Hahnemuhle D & S sketch journal - A5 size, 140gsm, landscape format 
Sketched using BIC ballpoint pen and Platinum Carbon pen, 
then brush-painted with LAMY water-soluble ink in black.
© Serena Lewis

I really do enjoy working with the water-soluble inks
despite having two mishaps in the studio today.

One - I actually had a different sketch under way this morning
until I pulled the lid off my Platinum Carbon fountain pen
and it splattered ink splotches all over my sketch. YIKES!
I should have been more careful as I've noticed
this particular pen seems to leak inside the lid,
not sure why??

Two - I had an ink spill while working on the sketch above.
I had reached across the table and
accidentally knocked my water tub over
which then spilled water into the ink reservoir
and it overflowed onto the table. SCREAM!!
Luckily, I have paper towels at the ready
so was able to quickly mop it all up before it poured over
 the edge of the table and onto the carpet. PHEW!
That was a VERY close call!

Black ink can be a scary medium to work with.
That said, I am loving the syringes for ink transfers though.
I learned about them from my pen guru, Rita McGregor.
I highly recommend them.
Easy to use and no mess!

So, that's about it for now.

I'll be back to share more daily sketches soon...