Nothing to do but draw

by Dina | Apr 7, 2013 | 

So here we were at our beach house holiday. Our plan was to do nothing except draw, beach walk and photograph for relaxation.I have not drawn for at least 6-8 years and I simply wanted to get my hands back in action. So I kept it simple, my materials this trip were:

• white, medium density, sketch/water color paper pad
• black pastel paper pad
• artists black markers – set of 4 different thickness
• watercolor pencils
• pastel and graphite pencils

My aim was to resume my drawing style, about 15-20 years ago I was painting and drawing using a combination of line-work and dot painting techniques. I eventually got bored with the dot painting and moved into mosaic .. a more tactile version of the same piecemeal construction. Over the past couple of years, drawings and the use of simple black lines has continued to catch my eye. However I need to start again in this medium and what better way than to be inspired by the simplicity of the ocean.As an artist I think simplicity is the hardest art-form to capture, I know I need several years of continuous practice if I was to develop this technique into any form of mastery. But in the meantime, a dabbling to start me off is a good way to feel how much it interests me going forward.Sitting in the beach house with full length windows was a perfect location. Ray has captured a few photos of me dabbling along .. in my pjs! 

 
 

 
  

 
 

 
Sketching while at the beach was difficult thanks to the over-excited dog and windy days. 

 
I did get one rough pastel down. A very average scene, great colors .. but I have never liked using pastel in the past, and nothing has changed. 
 
I also got one line drawing down at the beach until Buck stood all over my grid so I gave up. 

 
Overall sitting in the beach house, I did get some rough ideas down on paper particularly of the wider scenery. It was hard to be inspired by the detail when the vastness was so captivating. Here are the few sketches below .. nothing to write home about that’s for sure! 

 
Above: tourists wadding in the water. 

 
Line drawing: Abalone shell. 

 
Above: Clouds on the ocean. 

 
Above: Sand dunes. 

 
Lastly, I did collect sea-shells to start my wire sculpture. There was not a lot of interesting stuff washing up on the days we were there, below is the collection and the idea I sketched up before leaving on holidays. 

 

Seaform sketch – Dina GoebelSo over the next couple of weeks I hope to create this sea-form sculpture and will post my progress.ALWAYS THE ARTISTDina