Community, Canal-Side Sketching, and New Projects
Hello hello, dearest sugar plums! Gahh, it has been a while, hasn’t it?
Fear not, I have been a busy bee in many areas of life, growing, learning, reflecting and, of course, illustrating. While the blog posts have been few and far between as of late, I have been tending to my writing practice elsewhere, in my personal journal and slowly on Substack, where I am cultivating a reflective and more intentional newsletter on a creative life. Join me there for a soothing cuppa and musings for the soul, dipped straight into your inbox every other week.
Today, I wanted to share some of the community meet-ups I’ve orbited this season.
Urban Sketching at Castlefield
After months of unheard-of sunshine in Manchester (seriously, we’ve never had anything like it), we held our summer Drawn In meetup on a rainy Thursday evening by the canals at Castlefield. We were joined by Matt Gibbons, a self-taught illustrator who made the leap from the non-profit sector to full-time creativity, and who specialises in watercolour, ink, and drawing on location. The evening began with composition fundamentals, where we were asked to capture a specific part of the landscape in just five lines. Matt explained that this forces you to skip the detail and focus on the important parts of a composition. As someone who felt a little out of habit with urban sketching, I was surprised by how such a simple exercise helped us all loosen up and pick out the highlights of a landscape. Matt celebrates a loose, gestural style over tight lines, which helped us feel less precious about our wonky lines and inaccurate perspectives (or was that just me?!). It’s all part of the exploration and creative play, after all!
We then moved into value studies by simplifying the scenes into four monochrome tones; from black to grey to white. This not only helped us understand where to place colour, but it’s also a great technique in general for creating depth in a piece. Intentional tonal placement can help direct the viewer’s eye right where you want it to land. After this masterclass in watercolour painting from Matt, we ended the wholesome evening at The Wharf, complete with cosy armchairs and festoon lights. A perfect farewell to summer.
Stepping into a New Role at Sketch and Cafe
In other news, I am happy to share that I have officially graduated to host of Sketch and Cafe! You may have read about this sweet group on here and over on my IG page in the past. I have been part of this community for a good three years now, and I met Jenny (the founder) at our very first Drawn In event back in October 2023. If you want a blast from the past, you can read about that event here. We were babies back then!
I remember the evening well. I was nervous, feeling sorry for myself fresh out of a relationship, and the night before had set the intention to find my tribe. That certainly came true. Years later, through Jenny, I have met so many incredible friends. I’ve grown alongside them, travelled to Bologna Children's Book Fair with them, journeyed The Artist’s Way with them, and celebrated many of them publishing their own children’s books. I’m so proud to know each and every one of them. At the centre of it all, Jenny has always been there.
I’m honoured that she has now entrusted her community to me and my friend Nathan. As she begins her new chapter in Hong Kong, we have gladly taken up the mantle. Nathan and I have been very intentional about keeping the core spirit of the meet-ups the same; creating purely for fun and supporting each other through welcoming community and friendship. I hope we’ll see you at one of our meet-ups very soon! They happen twice a month.
On the Drawing Board
On a more personal note, this season I am working closely with my agent on a book proposal plus exploring some new characters that emerged during a divine trip to Paris and since dedicating some intentional time to my newsletter again. I’m feeling all in all inspired, excited and balanced which, to have all three at once is a rarity believe you me!. I have worked through many heavy beliefs in my creative practice and personal life over the last year and a half, and I feel as the season shifts, I am at a place where I not only feel more confident, but more grounded and quite frankly a little less precious about it all! I have shared a little more about this on my newsletter, which you can read here.
Embracing the messiness from here on in! Thank you for reading, as always friend <3
C xo