My Sketching Kit

When I announced I'd be doing my '30 Days of Daily Sketching' challenge, Jim Serret commented: "Good challenge, I sketch daily and sometimes it can be hard as to what to sketch, How about your sketch gear ? Keep it fun and remember its a process."

Thanks for the suggestion Jim! I do not yet have a time-tested sketch gear, but this is what I've been using lately. Or rather: part of what I've been using.

Tip of the day: if you're planning to add color to your sketches, make sure to use waterproof pens like the Faber Castell PITT series or the Prismacolor Premier. Unless of course you want to play with the effect of the line getting deluted... which I plan to do very soon.

As I'm still very much in the 'trying-everything-out-and-buying-way-too-much-drawing-supplies' phase, I'd like to know: what is your favorite drawing tool? 
Let me know by commenting here or on Facebook at facebook.com/regulascheifeleart. And keep those ideas for sketching coming!

Carrot Ginger Cake

Todays drawing for my '30 Days of Daily Sketching' was really fun!
I enjoyed putting this still life together and drawing it as quickly as possible... and then I started baking!

The muffins (not a cake after all) have just come out of the oven and smell heavenly! I think this recipe is a keeper...

Anyone recognize / know what the two dark brown things on the left are? - virtual cookies to whoever guesses right!

I realize I have not picked one of the suggestions I recieved, but keep them comming - I'll be collecting them all and will definitely pick an idea for one of my next sketches. Of course you can also follow me on Facebook at facebook.com/regulascheifeleart and comment over there.

Almost Live Drawing

It's the third day of my '30 Days of Daily Sketching'. Although it's Sunday I did not have too much time for drawing. I decided to make use of a great internet resource: YouTube videos that imitate a live drawing session! There are quick 1-minute warm up poses as well as 'long' 5-minute poses.

I did do the quickies but want to show you the long pose. I must say, quite a challenge!

I'll be getting back to your suggestions tomorrow, so keep them coming!

The 'Paradise Bakery' - Moser's in Baden

For the second sketch in my '30 Days of Daily Sketching' I kind of went with a suggestion from Angeline Marie who commented on my Facebook post: "something in your favorite store".
I wouldn't say a bakery / café is my favorite store, but then again... good coffee and freshly baked goodies, sitting outside in the early spring sun, people watching and sketching - sounds pretty perfect to me!

Moser's is one of the two main bakeries / cafés in Baden, a little town nearby. Every other Saturday I do some shopping in Baden.. and often have a coffee there. On Saturdays they have a little sales stall outside:

The bakery's slogan is "Backparadies" which roughly translates into "Paradise Bakery". Funny enough the other big bakery / café in Baden is called "Himmel", meaning "Heaven"... we really can't complain...
This sketch was done with a ballpoint pen 'on location', back at home I added the color. Beause it's so much fun!

Now - as every day of this challenge - I need your ideas of what to sketch next. I'll be collecting them all, but would love to pick one idea from each post to draw the following day. Of course you can also follow me on Facebook at facebook.com/regulascheifeleart and comment over there.

Colorful Cappuccino - 1st of 30 Days of Daily Sketching

Here's the first of my '30 Days of Daily Sketching'. Pamela commented on my last Facebook post and suggested I'd sketch a cup of coffee. That's definitely something you don't have to ask me twice, I just love a nice cappuccino.

The text reads: "Not really a lot of milk foam - it's already evening! Also: de-caff..."

I might have to explain that the cappuccino has NOT been standing around since the morning - it's just too late in the day to have so much milk. Or caffeine...

Since it was really fun doing this sketch I thought I'd share a few process fotos.
I started out by doing the lines first with a waterproof pen since I knew I'd use watercolors later on and did not want to smudge the ink.

Once I had this down... I went ahead and drank the cappuccino ;-)
And then took out my little watercolor kit and started by putting in the shadows. Not too wet, since I'm using a sketchbook that does not really 'love' the moisture...

And once this first wash dried the fun began: adding more color. And that's it. Wasn't that easy...?

Btw: this is probably my favorite coffee cup. I've had it for 20 years (but who's counting) and got it from York, UK. Love the bright, warm yellow that reminds me of all the daffodils that are in bloom all over York just around this time of the year.
Wouldn't it be great if someone from York read this post and commented? If you know someone, please send them the link to this post, I'd be so happy!

Now - as every day of this challenge - I need your ideas of what to sketch next. I'll be collecting them all, but would love to pick one idea from each post to draw the following day. Of course you can also follow me on Facebook at facebook.com/regulascheifeleart and comment over there.

Starting on a new Challenge!

Last month I was lucky to attend a wonderful workshop with Rose Frantzen - and I will write about that in another post.

But for now I've set myself a new challenge: '30 Days of Daily Sketching'.

To be honest, I wanted to call my challenge "30 Days of Art Journaling" because this does sound more sophisticated - and we should be sketching on a daily basis anyway (ehmm...).

But the thing is: I do NOT sketch on a daily basis. I need to start. Or at least get somewhere near to it... And later on... maybe... I'll do the Art Journaling as my next challenge.

The challenge is to do 30 sketches, one a day. Easy.
But I need your help:
Instead of choosing what to sketch I'd much rather have you tell me!
It can be anything: an object (like 'a pair of scissors'), a prompt ('something you can see from your window'), a concept ('something that makes you happy') - you get the idea.
Only condition: I need to be able to sketch it from life. So even though I'd love to sketch the Eiffel Tower, a quick day trip to Paris is a bit too much to ask for...

So: PLEASE tell me what to sketch by leaving a comment to this post and in the next thirty days to each of the sketch posts. I'll pick one idea and sketch it the next day and keep the rest on my 'to do list'.
Btw: you can of course also comment on my Facebook page www.facebook.com/regulascheifeleart.