A Year of Daily Drawing

My favourite  spreads  from  each month  of a year of daily drawing  starting in January  with the #30daysketchbookchallenge. Plants recorded  from the garden; textile experiments , pieces of cloth and cakes were regular  subjects  and I've used a variety of techniques from drawing with pen; watercolours; collage;  stitch and photos of larger drawings and paintings.  My drawing has definately improved over the year , that's not to say that  everything was a wonderful piece of art , far from it, but each day was a fresh start.  

 I used Seawhite Eco A6  sketchbooks which contain 150g recycled cartridge paper , thick enough to withstand a light watercolour wash. I've  bought 12 more  to do the same next year

The last drawing of 2019 , looking forward to a new year, new decade and a new challenge, startting with the prompts of #30daysketchbook20

Daily Drawing: December

The last  daily drawing sketchbook  of 2019: Washing machine filter  with colour catchers (!) African textiles and jewellry; maps of impossible journeys; pots ; prints; coins: shells; seaweed; journal quilts; Xmas decorations and food; Iron Wharf abstracts .

Back to prompts in January  with #30daysketchbookchallenge, excited but rather daunted after doing my own thing for 11 months.  

CQ Journal Quilts 2019

Been catching up on my CQ Journal Quilts for September to December  and then looking through  my  blog posts realised I hadn't posted any of them here ( though I did post them on the dedicated albums on Facebook page ). Bad blogger ! 

The ' rules' this year  were A4 :with different patchwork/ sewing techniques Jan - April; alternative ' fabrics' eg paper May- August; different surface design techniques: Sep - Dec. I mainly repurposed old  or part started samples  

January 'Pebbles'  ( applique )   

February 'Spiral' ( logcabin) 

March 'Woodgrain' (chenille )

April ' Choppy Seas' ( pieced offcuts and trimmings )

May ' Meanwhile 1' ( Abaca tissue and paper) 

June ' Meanwhile 2' ( Abaca tissue and paper) 

July 'Frottage 1' ( Colourcatchers) 

August 'Frottage 2' ( Colourcatchers)

September 'Monoprint' 

October 'Iranian Door' ( printed photograph and monoprint) 

November 'Limpet Stack' ( appliqued photograph on fabric ) 

December ' Limpets: interiors/exteriors' ( appliqued photograph on fabric) 

Drawing Tuesday : William Morris Gallery

Drawing Tuesday on 10 December was at the William Morris Gallery in Walthamstow. What a delightful and interesting place, I  haven't been there before so spent most of my time looking round  with just a couple of drawings of  De Morgan bottles in the 'Shop' Gallery. Drawing images on curved shapes is challenging ( especially if you make the mistake of using more than one viewpoint!) 

 There were several school groups  there  , also sketching  and I learnt a lot eavesdropping on the teachers   ( they have some excellent  learning resources  here) . There was an activity room that contained original print blocks you could touch ( above)  and I was charmed to see William Morris's artist smock (  though not much evidence of paint marks on it, perhaps it was for 'best' )

The current exhibition ' Pioneers' explores the  connections between William Morris and the Bauhaus. Interesting textiles, furniture and ceramics  but what caught my eye was a couple of watercolours by Gerhard Marcks . 

 'Ploughing the Fields'  Gerhard Marcks 

'Workers Constructing a house' Gerhard Marcks 

The museum café where we  met up to compare notes was one of the best I've been in - well lit, a long table sufficient for our group and delicious coffee and food. I'll definately be returning...

Drawing Tuesday: African textiles at the Brunei Gallery

 Drawing Tuesday  last week was the fantastic African  textiles  at the Brunei Gallery , SOAS. I bought a copy of HALI  magazine which includes an article  on the exhibition  ( along with  many other delicious items ) but resisted the book at £50 

So much to choose from , do look at Margaret Cooters blogpost 

 I   settled for copying some of the amulet  designs on this talismanic cloth

And then I couldn't resist  these wonderful  hats from Camaroon