Well, don’t wait for the trip of a lifetime! We don’t even need to wait for our vacation or the weekend. Sketching opportunities are all around us. We don’t have to invest a whole day, or even a whole hour; this moment is what we have.
“When” is when you make it. I keep my eyes open for bits of time while waiting for dinner at restaurants (or while I cook it), at doctors’ offices (there always seems to be plenty of time to wait), on planes or in parking lots while my husband shops.
I hate shopping, so I have no shortage of parking lot sketches. Our local grocery store overlooks an open valley, a car dealership, a small state highway and a railroad track, and my journals have a dozen views of these places. It’s a wonderful way to pass the time and keep the hand-eye coordination in shape with a quick-sketching technique.
Find one thing a day that really captures your attention. Try to pick something you love, something that touches your heart and asks a question that piques your curiosity.
Do a quick sketch, and if you have more time, develop it more fully. I almost guarantee you will feel that you truly lived during that period of time; you will remember just that moment, however brief or long.
This is my husband Joseph’s sketch, on the spot at the Angeles Crest Highway overlooking Los Angeles.
This sketch was from my very first North Light book in 1987. The little pots on my back porch caught the winter sunlight and were warmed beautifully. I sketched quickly before my fingers froze!
Find a parking place that faces the most action and do some gesture sketches of people that take you no more than 5 or 10 seconds. If you can’t finish one before they move on, just add the legs from another person or draw however much you can of each. These aren’t portraits; it’s the fun of being there and doing it that counts.
You can sketch while watching TV (though I find I have much more time to be creative since I turned mine off 17 years ago). Many artists I know sketch the actors or newscasters, animals from nature programs or their cat on their own lap as they sit in comfort. Essentially, it’s a window of time that you can use however you want.
Sketch the kids at soccer or dance while you wait to ferry them from here to there, or capture your spouse cleaning the gutters—I have.
It’s fun (and great practice) trying to capture quick gesture sketches as people walk by. My fellow shoppers offer wonderful opportunities to observe, learn and practice fast-sketching skills. I enjoy working on toned paper because you can get dimensional effects quickly, with lights and darks.
I often find myself overlooking this field while my husband does the grocery shopping. My glove box lid made a fine sketching table as I tried out several different approaches in the time I had available. An old calligraphy pen worked well for this one, as did the watercolors I always keep in the car.
When you don’t have much time, choose the simplest of materials or tools. I keep a mechanical pencil handy. It never needs sharpening, and it has its own soft, white eraser if I need it. An ink pen is often my tool of choice, and I can add color later if I wish. A single colored pencil is a great fast-sketching tool. I often use a 90% Grey Prismacolor pencil, but Indigo, Black Raspberry or even red can give you a wonderfully exciting vibration.
I keep a small, homemade accordion journal in my bag. The paper is left over from a more ambitious bookbinding project. It’s handy for quick sketches like this; small and lightweight, it is also unobtrusive. It’s also fun to use an unexpected color for sketching, like this Black Raspberry!
Set aside a special time for yourself. We all have busy lives, but if you prioritize and turn off the TV or say “no” to an obligation, you can find at least a bit of time for art.
Just like the Boy Scouts, you should always be prepared. Carry the basics with you: a small journal or sketchbook, a tiny watercolor kit, and a pencil or ink pen. I have a kit that I carry in my purse at all times, one in both vehicles, and a more complete outfit by the front door for larger works or longer trips, ready to pick up at any time as I go out.
Of course, “be prepared” doesn’t just apply to when you’re out and about. I like to keep the basics for sketching in various places around my house: near the couch, at my computer, in the bedroom, and even in the kitchen! You never know when something will inspire you, or when you’ll have a few moments to sketch.
I sketched fellow artist Don Colley with a simple, inexpensive fountain pen with a flexible nib as we visited in Kansas City’s Union Station. I added color and written notes later, at home.
You may feel more playful and less stressed with a small watercolor set like these, and perhaps, more encouraged to grab a quick sketch.
Clockwise from top right: my homemade kit made from a candy tin; two tiny lightweight kits made from a children’s set (pop out the colors and add your own artist-quality ones); and the handy Pocket Palette.
Maria Coryell-Martin’s kit is truly small and lightweight—it’s no larger than a card case. She does amazing things with it, as you’ll see later in the book!
It often works best, when time is short or you’re on the move, to draw in a single medium. In this case, I drew with a dark gray wax-based colored pencil and then added color later from memory. It helps to not get hung up on trying to match the sometimes-confusing local color. The added advantage is that working in stages like this helps to train your color memory and capture the essence or mood of the scene.
Set the alarm to get up a half hour earlier, or stay up a bit later. After the kids are in bed, you may be too tired for a tour de force worthy of framing, but not for a 10-minute sketch. Those lost bits of time do add up!