How loose can I go?
Liz Steel
by Liz Steel
5d ago
I haven’t been sketching teacups lately but a few days ago I was so in control of my unpacking that I could sit down quietly and do a teacup sketch. I chose one of my favourite cups to paint – Lady Carlyle by Royal Albert – and shortly after starting I realised that the result would be very loose. I did this teacup sketch to celebrate starting to put my teacups in a wall unit.  As mentioned in a previous article, my teacups were the first items I moved across to my new place so it makes me happy to have them out of my kitchen pantry and visible. For the first time ever they are on displ ..read more
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Sketching during a big move
Liz Steel
by Liz Steel
1w ago
If somehow you’ve missed it… I’ve recently moved home (and studio) and I wanted to sketch as much as I could during the crazy times associated with a big move. The last time I moved it was a much smaller task. I only intended to be in Lindfield for 6-12 months (it turned out to be 7 years!) so I only moved the essentials (the rest was packed and sent to my storage unit later). I remember finding it hard to sketch and only managed a coffee sketch most mornings (see here). This time the move was much bigger and except for the move day itself I managed to get out for a morning walk and coffee a ..read more
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My minimal approach to this year's OneWeek100People challenge
Liz Steel
by Liz Steel
1w ago
Last week was OneWeek100People2024 and I love doing this challenge! Some years I’ve been able to dedicate a fair amount of time to sketching people… but this year was not one of them. I’ve recently moved and so I was flat out building furniture, unpacking boxes and all the chores associated with setting up a new place. (BTW the packing and move all went very smoothly and I’m extremely happy with my new home and studio! I’ll share more soon!) I wasn’t sure how I would manage to get 100 people drawn but I did have a scheduled trip on the Wednesday night to the airport (picking up friends) so I ..read more
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The secret to looser ink and wash sketches
Liz Steel
by Liz Steel
1M ago
Ink and wash is a very popular technique for sketching and for good reason. It gives us lots of options for recording our scene in a limited time frame. But there are three common complaints that I often hear about working this way: ‘I end up drawing too much in ink. I often get lost in the details and the more I draw the more I’m afraid that my watercolour will ruin my drawing.’ ‘My work feels too cartoony’ ‘I want to work faster and looser.’ Can you relate to these? The secret to solving these three challenges is to think about edges and in particular to: prioritise the important edges ..read more
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Recent quick sketching in Sydney City
Liz Steel
by Liz Steel
1M ago
A quick update sharing recent sketching in Sydney City this year. I’m still managing to do a sketch each Wednesday before the mid-week meeting at my church. You will also notice an SOH sketch in this collection. (SOH = Sydney Opera House). I did this sketch while catching up with Alissa Duke who was visiting Sydney. As I mentioned in my last article here, when I don’t have a lot of time and/or can’t focus on my sketching I love using watercolour pencils.   The post Recent quick sketching in Sydney City appeared first on Liz Steel ..read more
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When I can't focus on my sketching...
Liz Steel
by Liz Steel
1M ago
As most of you know I’m moving next month and I’ve had the luxury of being able to give myself a generous timeline so that I can enjoy the process of sorting and culling. And indeed I am really loving it. I’m enjoying making decisions and letting go of stuff. In addition, at the moment at least, I’m not stressed! But I am finding it harder to sketch! I have less time to devote to my sketching and I’m finding it harder to focus (too many distracting thoughts and other things to do). While both lack of time and lots of distractions are always part of my daily life, they seem to be affecting my ..read more
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This year's OneWeek100People challenge: 11-15 March 2024
Liz Steel
by Liz Steel
1M ago
I’m really excited to announce that Marc Taro Holmes and I are hosting another One Week 100 People challenge this year: 11-15 March 2024. The goal is to sketch as many people as you can in 5 days either from life or from photos and see if you can reach 100. You can do this any way you like – simple pencil/pen drawings are totally fine  – and you can take more time if you need! The idea is simply to push yourself to do more people sketching than you would normally do.  There is something special about striving for a big goal of 100 people sketches! Find out more about the challenge o ..read more
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Watercolour Landscapes
Liz Steel
by Liz Steel
2M ago
We have just finished Lesson 2 of the Live Version of Watercolour and I had a lot of fun doing some watercolour landscapes in the past week. I love painting landscapes but normally don’t have many chances to do them from life. Even when I go on road trips it can be hard to find somewhere to pull off the road so that I can get my paints out and record the countryside. Typically the occasions when I do the most landscape sketching are during trips to Scotland. My sister lives on the Isle of Lewis and so in the past week I’ve been looking through some of my sketches from previous  Scottish ..read more
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Reduced teacup collection
Liz Steel
by Liz Steel
2M ago
Last week I did a quick sketch of all the teacups that I currently have in my home. Only 14 in total! This collection represents my favourite cups to sketch and drink from and includes fine china teacups for my black tea, breakfast cups/ X-Large cups for my herbal tea and some earthenware for drinking coffee. And BTW I’ve never sketched more teacups in one sitting than this! ? But where are all the rest of my teacups gone? Well, I’m moving to a larger apartment (close to my parents – which is super special) and the rest of my teacups are already there. I won’t be moving to the new place unti ..read more
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Super fun watercolour experiments sketching fruit and veg
Liz Steel
by Liz Steel
2M ago
This morning I hosted the first livestream for the Live Version of Watercolour which started last week. It was so much fun! We were looking at ‘controlling water’ and I did three different demos and answered lots of great questions. In the second demo, I shared this sketchbook page that I did earlier in the week. Rather than doing a single sketch of a plate of vegetables (the exercise for this week) I had filled a double-page spread with small sketches of individual fruit and vegetables. In each sketch, I experimented with different types of washes – watery, juicy, and pasty – and I had a lot ..read more
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