I didn't really get into art until I started studying art (duh) while I was working on getting an Industrial Design degree. It struck me so much that I had to see it with my own eyes, to the point that I went to Italy with my wife for three weeks to see as much as I could. The Renaissance was my favorite period and right after. It was there in almost every building, many of these I saw on the walls and ceilings. It was an amazing experience that I would like to repeat some day. Do you have a favorite painting, sculpture, or building that is mesmerizing to you? Something that stuck with you after you saw it?

I have tried lots of different sketchbooks. Big ones, small ones, travel ones, different paper types, it's all been a real challenge trying to find what's really good for me. You have to find what's good for you, what suits your style. I know this blog is just trying to sell you travel sketchbooks, but it does have some useful information. The prices and the links only refer to a New Zealand shop but I've included it because I think you might find some useful information about paper weight for you technique. https://www.gordonharris.co.nz/blogs/news/choose-the-right-sketchbook-for-you?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&_kx=BW3EnmYuldV9zBQvkW3LjJa0qi6Bs9vic-jbUEHHpH8.SMLWPg

I went out with my urban sketching group the other day the sketch the local cathedral. The day was wonderful and the sun was really shining brightly. It reminded me to a sketch I had done years ago. The original sketch was drawn on an iPad or something similar. I searched all my devices and cloud storage, but I couldn’t find the original. Luckily, I had printed this for my daughter, so I was able to grab a photograph of the printed version. I often used to use a Wacom product that would allow you to draw on a pad and convert that to a digital image. Unfortunately, Wacom have now decided that they don’t want to carry on with this technology and now I find that the software is no longer updated for my iPad. So here’s the lesson, use a sketchbook and put the sketchbook on a bookcase.

I went to my capital city and sat down for a sketch of our national museum, Te Papa. The original photo had kids in it, so used AI on my phone to remove them. The sketch is all original though.

I'm thinking it would be nice for people to see how I get my sketches underway. I've created a step-by-step instruction and the only place I could find to create it was in the classroom. So there's a new lesson in the classroom and it's my step-by-step instructions on how I created the sound shell drawing. #Step by Step - Napier Sound Shell