Worcester Stitch and Textile Art Group Worcester Stitch and Textile Art Group

Monthly meetings

Other meetings:

With Members

02 August 2022

As part of the meeting, Sian talked about her approach to sketchbooks, giving us hints and tips from her experience. What is it that keeps us from making a mark on that pristine white page? Is it that feeling of “I can’t draw” and what you put on the page won’t be good enough?

Sian offered various solutions to getting started.  She doesn’t think of the book as a sketchbook as that implies drawing, but as a list book, basically a reference book of ideas or images around a theme. If you are unsure of drawing, cut out photographs, make rubbings, print, make marks with sticks, glue pieces of paper down or spray over shapes.

As part of the meeting, Sian talked about her approach to sketchbooks, giving us hints and tips from her experience.  What is it that keeps us from making a mark on that pristine white page?  Is it that feeling of “I can’t draw” and what you put on the page won’t be good enough?

Sian offered various solutions to getting started.  She doesn’t think of the book as a sketchbook as that implies drawing, but as a list book, basically a reference book of ideas or images around a theme.  If you are unsure of drawing, cut out photographs, make rubbings, print, make marks with sticks, glue pieces of paper down or spray over shapes.

If you aren’t confident, try a small area or piece of paper and experiment on that.  Try looking at a small part of a leaf say, and recreating a curve or a toothed edge or a vein pattern.  Or try looking at that same leaf and, using a candle, freely draw some of the shapes you see.  It means you can’t really see what you are drawing until you put a wash of ink or paint over the wax drawing.  Both of these methods free you up and help you gain confidence.

Your book makes you look carefully, interpret what you see and translate it into stitch or textile art. Using a small card window placed over an image in your book, you can select areas that you would like to interpret and translate. Sian said it is important to remember that we all see things from our unique point of view, so nothing is wrong.  It is also important to explore your own creativity.

MW

MW