Sometimes what grabs our interest or sparks inspiration can come in simple everyday moments. Like picking apples in your grandparent’s garden. Taking the time to notice these things and record them down is something that I value more and more each time I do it.

Sketching supplies in hand, I revisited an art exhibit I visited earlier in the year. The Ruskin Collection rotates out occasionally, and this time the exhibit was themed around colour. Watercolour pigments, natural fabric dyes, colourful paintings, and old sketchbooks filled with studies. One looking particularly like how I use my own...

Sketching moving animals from life is a unique challenge, but is there a way to help prepare yourself for it? In this post I share how I prepped for a sketching trip at Yorkshire Wildlife Park, and a simple exercise to do at home that helps bridge the gap of drawing animals from reference images and animals from life. I also talk about how I choose my art supplies for the travel kit, and how preparing my creative mindset is integral to my self-studying practice.

After a surprise visit to the Ruskin Collection in Sheffield, and taking my sketchbook out to draw there, I ponder the benefits of observational sketching, developing and artists eye, and creating our own collections of oddities and curiosities for still life studies.