Wow, now that I have photographed all my sketchbooks (that I can show at least), I can clearly see that this month was very productive and I feel growth in different areas.

The most important thing that helps the growth of my mark-making and visual language is experimentation: trying new materials, joining live sessions, testing different subjects, playing with short versus longer sketches, etc…

Not every sketch is something to be proud of, but I’m okay with sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly 🙂
For me, it’s a way to get an overview of what has been happening, and I know that sometimes a lousy sketch can still spark something on another page.

I’ve been playing with different kinds of ink, making Nordic-inspired landscapes, more here.

Playing with old Ecoline ink, and testing how it reacts to acrylic paint. (forgot the date stamps on these)

I’m spotting a lot of birds this month. This one was an attempt at a more stylized approach.

My plan for the summer was sketching outdoors more often, but in all my enthusiasm, I forgot about the Swedish Air Force in early summer (aka hungry mosquitoes), then we got a heatwave followed by weeks of rain and storms. I know, all bad excuses from a rusty practice, but I did make some sketches this month:

In early August I joined my very first Patreon when I saw that they would be sketching Trixie that evening!
More about the Trixie sessions here.

I’ve been trying to make my own acrylic markers,… with mixed success. This dark grey one does work but the ink got rather transparent while I was hoping for the opposite.

Quick sketch for the Vansbro night swim illustration (which was canceled due to floods)

Then I read about Mount Etna erupting.

More birds coming atcha!
Sketches range from 2 minutes to (I think) 10 minutes.

This bird must be my spirit animal, it’s called: Blue Footed Booby.
They pick the partner with the bluest feet 🙂

With the changing seasons, I was craving some more muted tones for my sketch bag so I ordered a few pencils, markers, and inks. More about that here.
I’ve been using these colors daily now, so they seem to be a good match.

Being obsessed with blue, I gathered some blue pencils, markers, and (soft + oil) pastels to play:

And then I did a page with some colors that I hate, or just not use very often. Often, these are the kind of colors that come with a box of something. Like the Neocolors. I dislike the bright green and bright blue. I almost never use bright yellow. I’ve been trying to mix and layer some colors, but I need to try again.
Note: This is all about play and seeing what might happen when you mix, scratch, layer, cover-up, etc. It’s not supposed to look pretty or represent anything.

Whale watching session with TJ Marston:

Style icon Iris Apfel celebrated her birthday: 102 years old! Such an inspiration!

I love how my markers bleed through the pages and that’s also the reason why I started a new sketchbook with this kind of thin paper. It makes me curious what’s happening on the other side 🙂

Live session with Emma about favorite places: