November Sketchbook Pages

Sketching with a limited colour palette

Dear Reader,

Here are my pages from November.

You’ll see that I did a lot of sketching in a short period of time at the beginning of the month and that was linked to running my Creative Course with Pippa at Lowenek Studio.

I created a couple of concertina sketchbooks and spent a concentrated time drawing from the landscape- repeating scenes and re-drawing the beautiful trees and buildings that I saw on the farm. Here are some of the sketches.

Cosy barn

Capturing the movement of the wind

My favourite sketch

Trying something different for the trees

Foraged finds-really enjoyed sketching these

Love these clouds

I used a limited colour palette combined with a yellowish orange liquid acrylic background which you can see clearer below. I find the yellow gives a mid-colour background to work against and a warm glow to the sketches. Using a limited colour palette also helps me to get a large body of work done in a short amount of time as it’s one less thing to think about when I’m out in the field. I also like how it pushes me to work in different way with colours that perhaps I wouldn’t ordinarily choose.

Back in my usual sketchbook with a pinky ground-paired with the light blue makes it feel wintery

These next few sketches were drawn in response to my Autumn prompts I had set myself and certainly helped motivate me to go outside and draw as the weather got colder. You may notice the mark making is quite loose with limited details-this was due working within a time limit of 15 -20 mins.

Listen to me drawing these pages in my latest podcast Explore and Draw podcast episode

My final sketches here aren’t strictly from my sketchbook but I wanted to show you how the style, colour palette and subject matter of my earlier sketches in the month at Lowenek very much influenced and directed these drawings.

My handpainted DIY advent calendar- each window opens onto a nature inspired image with the final image opening on to the Christ child.

And on that note I’ll finish this post here.

You may hear from me again before 2024 arrives but if in case you don’t and I get swept into hibernation mode I wish you a merry Christmas and a healthy hope-filled start to the New Year.

Thanks so much for reading and following along, wishing you well

PS. I created a Sketching on location course, if you’re interested in taking it I’m offering a 20% discount for my newsletter subscribers. Use code SEASALT20 at checkout, valid until the end of January.