Feeling Sketchy

Hopefully while you are reading this I am pausing on a mountain trail high above Zion National Park, sketchpad in hand, recording important details for a future painting.  Hopefully....but no guarantees.
Why am I so sketchy about sketching?  Lots of reasons I'm sure but a few include the embarrassment of someone peeking over my shoulder at a less than perfect drawing, the pressure to execute a finished piece regardless of time, and the fear that without the help of paint I cannot achieve the depth I desire.  Excuses all....and all to my own detriment.

Sketching is the foundation for good art work, sketching is what helps you record impressions and fleeting moments, sketching is what gives you artistic license over the composition.  And yet many of us find it difficult and challenging to do. 

To conquer that fear I have really tried to use my sketchbook more often.  To take away the fear, I have pushed the results bar very low...so low that if all I do is get a few lines down then I have met my goal.  I took the pad hiking, I took it picnicing and I took it to the winery.  Things are getting better:  I am losing the fear of drawing in public and I am happy that marks are on the page...

very simple line drawing of some things I saw on a waterfall hike

 

these are quick drawings of a couple of scenes I might later want to paint

and a written reminder about the wonderful smell of pine

 

finally, some easy renderings of faces in a Modigliani-esque fashion

for an idea I am squirreling away for a future series...

 

 

Now that I have stated this fear/goal (and put it in black and white!) I do feel an obligation to give it even more emphasis in my continuing study.  So, cross your fingers that my fingers will grip a pen or pencil for some of next week and make sketches, no matter how simplistic, of the western canyons we are about to visit.  oh my......