Exhaustion and the Creative Process
Chilly morning!
Rob and I recently spent a few days at the beach with our dogs. It’s great to feel like a tourist when you live in paradise. We rented chairs and an umbrella. The girls were secured to our chairs. They love all of the activity and protecting their terrier turf – whether they own it or not!
We arrived home late on a Friday. The October Bluffton SketchCrawl was the next day. I didn’t realize how much of an energy drain keeping two terriers in line was. I woke up Saturday morning and wished I could just roll over and go back to sleep.
The SketchCrawl was at Hudson’s Restaurant on the docks. Such a beautiful spot along the Intercostal Waterway. After wandering around and considering different subjects, I decided to paint the view with the bridge to Hilton Head Island in the background. I sketched with pen. The dock turned into a classic ‘what was I thinking’ sketching moment. See how in the photo to the right that you barely see the top of the dock? Somehow I thought I saw a whole lot more of the surface.
Look how wonky the perspective is in my sketch! And it’s in ink! Nice challenge for a tired soul don’t you think?
How can I save the sketch?
First, we sketchers took a break and enjoyed lunch at Hudsons. What a lovely way to wrap up an outing! I knew I didn’t have the energy to stay and sketch. When I arrived back at my car, I found some of my favorite native plants in the nature curtain that runs between Hudson’s and the Boat House Restaurants. I photographed them, knowing that I could finish off the page with some soothing touches of lowcountry autumn color.
As I rested that afternoon, sleep didn’t come, but the relaxation of looking at the plants I photographed and planning how I could finish off the page did the trick.
Sketchbook Used: Grumbacher Watercolor / 9×12 / 140# paper (not cotton). I’ve been using this sketchbook for our SketchCrawl outings since January. One side of the paper has a rough texture, the other is smooth like hot press wc paper. I find the paper warps a bit when wet, so I’ve only used one side of each sheet. Both surfaces have their advantages. This piece is on the smooth side.
Tip: When using ink, redraw prior to taking off what marks you don’t want to leave from the old drawing. This creates a smoother surface for your new drawing. And, sometimes a lot of your old lines won’t interfere with the new!
Pen used: Uni pin 0.1 fine line / water & fade proof /grey.
I tried erasing the ink lines and it worked enough for the error to be somewhat camouflaged with paint.
Net Result?
By the time I finish painting the plants sketched around the original scene, the ‘oops’ will not be front and center. Some that view the page may not even notice it!
My intention: make the pepper vine and poke weed the attention grabbers on the page.
But wait….
Yet another challenge came my way. . . Like dropping a loaded brush with yellow/orange pigment at the bottom of the page. Hahaha, some journal pages have all the fun. My ‘save’ was to make a color block around the date and use the same color to outline the illustrations.
Years from now when I look back at this page, I’ll have a good laugh at the art adventures had!
Happy Journaling!
Love this! Thanks for sharing your mistakes as well as beautiful pieces. It helps take the perfection factor away as well as gives it a sense of humor😁
Thank you, Wendy! There are so many times that ‘Oops!’ flies out of my mouth when working in a journal. But all is good. There are many ways to fix things and sometimes necessity makes us the mothers of invention. Having this info in hand, lets us go into the field with confidence : )