Roses with lots of leaves in a blue vaseMay is almost over and I forgot to hit publish on my April Sketchbook.  Better late than never! My April sketchbooks consisted of florals, more sketchwalks, and some #Sketch50 captures.  The daily challenge was 30 Florals in 30 days a CreativeBug daily challenge taught by Pam Garrison.  This challenge was less about painting florals and more about being fluid and creative with florals being the vehicle and medium.    Exercises such as drawing with your non-dominant hand and using a laundry list of different techniques and mediums allows one to explore creativity.  Florals have always been my go-to doodle of choice and now following this class, I find myself doodling on different surfaces, with both hands, and experimenting more with florals. (30 Days of Florals Google Photo Album)

Piazza Scene with overhead lighting and shadows with plants around painted using watercolors

The more SketchWalks I continue to attend at the Apple Store, the more I learn about Procreate.  If you live near an Apple Store, I highly recommend signing up for a SketchWalk. The SketchWalk program is Free, led by uber-talented creatives at Apple, last 90 minutes, and you don’t necessarily need an iPad or Apple Pencil because you can borrow theirs! It’s a great opportunity to learn more and immediately apply and practice your new found skills.  Just a few things, I’ve learned recently:

  • How to Draw a Straight Line 
  • Fill shapes
  • Edit Brushes
  • Change Backgrounds
  • Alpha Lock
  • Masking
  • Automatic Shape
  • Build Palettes
  • And much, much more.

For May, I’m looking forward to diving deeper into digital art and complete the daily animal challenge using gouache on CreativeBug.  I also have realized as I learn these new digital techniques, I quickly forget them when not used. I realize I need to start creating short digital tutorials to help myself remember these new techniques. Not sure if May is the month to do that with the end of the school year but I see this in my future, at some point.