February's Sketchbook Theme

Laura C-W here, Welcome to February, the short month, for many of us a turning point in the season, and sometimes, here in the frozen North, a month of opposites. Winter Winter weather can be broken up by warm Chinook winds that melt away the ice and snow and bring us hope that Spring will arrive, eventually.

The theme for February is:

OPPOSITES

"Opposites" is my theme for you this month. This is wide open. You will make your choices as you go along. Consider this: the best way to enhance something in an image is with its contrast, its opposite. A warm color will be set off with just the right touch of a very cool color. Rough texture is emphasized by smooth surface. Agitated lines have a stronger voice when contrasted with gentle areas.
In the photo above, opposites include those of color, temperature, orientation in space, kinds of marks... and more.




This sketch is one of the follow ups to my "highly prized" drawing shared earlier: The birds, the feeder dominated that one. In this follow up sketch, I kept the feeder ( a house form) and juxtaposed it with a spiralling shell form.
Opposites: organic/geometric, open forms/closed forms, then there are the conceptual opposites (e.g. ideas of the elements).

I suggest you spend some time collecting visual opposites and tucking them into your sketchbook. You might brainstorm with words, or tear bits from magazines, flyers and newspapers, you could use your regular tools and materials to intentionally explore opposites you find interesting. If, instead, you choose to work directly with your pages, my challenge to you is this: Be aware of the opposites that might make your sketches or pages come alive.






These two sketches were made with graphite. A 4B woodless pencil made some very dark areas possible and a Derwent HB Sketching, light wash pencil allowed for blurring areas.




















The top sketch was made from a shell, the bottom from a piece of wood. Observing closely when I draw helps me focus, keeps my eye/hand trained and has a way of stimulating ideas.


Opposites include light and dark areas, textured and smooth, thick and thin lines, aggressive marks and gentle ones. Neither of these sketches took more than about 15 minutes. Both have prompted some ideas for me to follow up on.
What will your sketches bring you? How will you use the process of paying to attention opposites?
(In a follow up I will give you a mark making tutorial. Short and sweet. stay tuned.)

The theme for February is:

OPPOSITES

Create as many pages in your sketchbook related to this months theme as you like and post photos of them in the Sketchbook Challenge flickr group here or on your own blog if you have one.

How to be eligible for prize drawings:
In order to be eligible for one of this months prizes you must post at least one photo of a sketchbook page related to this months theme to the Sketchbook Challenge Flickr group and you MUST tag one of your photos with the code "FEB487".

IMPORTANT: PLEASE ONLY TAG ONE OF YOUR PHOTOS with this special code! It is not necessary to tag more than one and it will not increase your chances of winning prizes.

Photos of this months prizes can be found here and information on how to upload photos to flickr can be found here.

Winners will be chosen based on random draw on 2/28/11 and announced on the Sketchbook Challenge blog either on that day or on 3/1/11.

Get all the details on the sketchbook challenge here.