Sketchin'

Here is a little sketch I did this morning as a warm-up. I have a whole bunch of small scraps of nice Arches watercolor paper sitting around. It is great stuff to draw on-- wonderful texture. It's not my normal way of sketching. I normally draw on some heavy, very white, 8.5x11 copy paper (cougar opaque). It is also great paper. I like to use the copy paper instead of a sketchbook because there is no stupid spine to get in the way and If I do a crappy sketch, which I do quite often, I don't have the feeling that I ruined a whole book. Then at the end of the year I take my stack of drawings down to Kinko's and have them bound together. See, I still end up with a sketchbook, I just don't have as much crap filling it's pages. So, the cougar opaque is the only stuff I use--except for the little scraps. I'm a sort of paper snob. I think I got way off track here. My point is that while I'm working on paintings I'm not sitting next to my copy paper so when I am bored or have the urge to sketch, I reach for the little scraps. And, because I'm sitting at my drawing table next to my paints, It's easy to do little color studies. It is a really refreshing break and sometimes it gives me just enough of a boost to make my normal work tolerable. These sketches are usually quick. anywhere from 5-20 minutes from start to finish. That way I don't feel like I'm wasting too much time. That is until I waste a hour trying to put it in a blog that was only meant to be a couple pictures and a quick comment. Oh well..