Day 28. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

We did a month - YAY!

This last post for the month has been a tricky one to get out. With poorly kids again and then some idiot decided to pour near-boiling water on her hand (me - doh!) it took a couple of days, but we did it!

This was a particularly lovely family sketch. It seemed to go on all evening. We'd looked after our neighbour's dog again and everyone was in a chatty and relaxed mood. It really has been a joy all sitting around the table together, talking and drawing and I think we have all really progressed.

Day 27. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Thunder and Lightning!

Tonight's family sketch session felt like therapy. There was a HUGE storm. Hubster and the boys were at home when lightning struck just behind the house. They said it shook the whole building and the power went. 

I was over at a friend's with Freya. We had a rather stressful drive back. Several storms were raging and forked lightning was on both sides of the road. I've never been so nervous driving over Woronora Bridge! I'm not sure I've been in a storm when I felt the car shake from the thunder before (whilst driving).

Day 26. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Good days and bad days

We all have ups and downs, with everyday life and also creativity. Isn't it funny how the daily grind can leave you feeling flat, creatively?

I was excited about sketching some of the people I care about most from a photograph yesterday, and somehow I managed to catch a spark. Today, no matter how hard I tried, my pencil felt alien and wouldn't draw what I could see before me. I couldn't even see the shapes I needed. Nothing really made sense. 

Day 25. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The inspiration for our Blog

On the inside.

We've been stuck with the slight difficulty of short nights during winter here in Australia. Whilst wanting to get outside and be drawing the beauty of the natural world, we also want to draw as a family. As Hubster doesn't get home until well after dark, we have to choose - draw as a family or draw outside. 

So, inside it is. And almost a month in, inspiration can be tricky. So, we turn to books, objects around us and the pictures inside our heads.

Day 24. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Wild Thing!

Our kids have always been into natural history. They've had a thing for anything wild and natural since they could point, from creepy crawlies to huge reptiles with massive teeth. 

One of the wonderful things about this sketching project is that the two interests easily combine. Having indulged in a spot of weekend family documentary watching, everyone was fired up (spot the pun on Hubster's drawing) about the natural world. After learning and watching, we could draw what we saw.

Day 23. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's

New Scanner!

We missed a couple of days because our printer/scanner broke. Playing catch up, but all good again and ready to roll...

No Hubster on this post, but he will be on the next!

Bit of a still life theme today. The boys are moving forwards trying to add depth with shading, whereas I'm still doing a simple line drawing.  I find depth hard - maybe that's a reflection of my character ;)

Day 22. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

The Romance of Drawing

I didn't quite realize what the Hubster was drawing today. It was me. But NOT in a onesie!

He sketched my image from our wedding photograph. I found myself quite emotional. The care and time he took over tracing the lines of my face, my eyes, my lips. I was looking at him in the original photo. There's something rather intimate about drawing a person, isn't there?

Well, I'm a blubbering heap. And rather touched.

Day 21. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog 

Three weeks in!

No Hubster sketch today because the kids and I disappeared off to The Boatshed while he was still at work.

The Boatshed is a treasure of a place, a real gem, tucked away between Woronora River and Forbes Creek. It's a hub of creativity too, with paintings on the wall from local artists, pottery and the most amazing view. 

There was so much to chose from when faced with a blank piece of paper - the equivalent of writer's block. We sat with our hot chocolates, bobbing our marshmallows, contemplating the beauty around us. What to draw...

Day 20. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

School Holidays

Well, I thought that sketching in the holidays would be leisurely and relaxed. There would be plenty of time to spend time sat round with sketchbooks away from the school routine.

Or not.

Actually much harder. I had forgotten just how busy the kids' social lives are!

However, we're still going!

Day 19. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog 

Drawing Workshop at the Library

How lucky that in the swing of this project there's a drawing workshop at the local library.

The kids had a lot of fun. I'm afraid Mike and I didn't quite fit into the age bracket  no matter how much we stooped.

It's interesting that they have all produced the same drawings and were led through them step by step. 

Day 18. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Glorious sunshine and outdoor air!

It was a beautiful day, so after a bush walk, we sat down with a picnic and sketchbooks by the river. Inspiration would be easy in such a beautiful place, right? Lots of people, kids playing in the park, a football match, the stillness of the water only broken by the occasional boat, kayak or jumping fish. Maybe draw the bridge? Or the Boatshed? A Pelican drifted by, Kookaburras called and parrots flew past in groupings that would easily rival the Red Arrows.

BUT WHAT TO DRAW?

Day 17 Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's  5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog 

PAPER PLANES!

A quick one today! Yes, there was drawing, but drawing on paper planes.

We watched the movie, Paper Planes . Feeling immediately inspired, as a family, we acted in the only responsible and sensible way possible. We had a paper plane throwing competition.

Day 16. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Going our separate ways...

Tonight, Freya, Mike and I wanted to continue what we learnt in Shoo Rayner's Vlog about Cartoon Style drawings. Whereas the boys had their own plans.

Although it was nice for us all to follow the instruction together, almost as a lesson, it was okay to do our own thing. As it turns out, the boys watched Part 3 of Cartoon Style Figures but then opted to draw characters from a movie.



Freya and I both had a few difficulties. Seeing what you want to draw, knowing exactly what it looks like, but somehow the pencil marks on the page not matching up to your hopes and expectations, can be frustrating.

Day 15. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Learning from Vlogs!

From a recommendation, we took a look at Shoo Rayner who has a website and a Vlog teaching the basics of drawing.

We all had a crack at basic cartoon style drawing, which we are told is 'a form of two dimensional illustrated visual art.'
So now I feel extremely very clever and artist-like. 

Day 14. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Two weeks - yay!

To draw every day as a family and to post every day does take time and patience  - but we've made it half way through our month! And we've almost hit 1,500 views which is great.

Today is special, not just because we've hit our halfway mark, but because we got mail!

Day 13. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

New Pencils!

Oliver opened the new set of pencils he was given at the weekend.

How things have changed...we sat round in excitement as he revealed his 'Woodless Graphite Pencils'. Ooooh. Fancy. HB, H2, all the way up to H8 (there's an EE but none of us knows what that means).

We formed and orderly queue (sort of) to experiment with the hardness and softness of each pencil. Come on people, this is breaking news! Just as exciting as when we got to try out the Trailer Tent, no? 

Everyone is making preferences for different paper thicknesses and whether it's rough or smooth. I say everyone, Hubster and I tend to get what's left after the kids have grabbed the good stuff (ah, life as a parent).

Day 12. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Take it outside!

We're almost half way in our challenge to draw every day for a month.

I don't know if we've hit a lull because of coughs and cold, or whether it's just that mid-way point. The year 9 of high school. February. The sticky bit. The middle part of the journey. 

Are we nearly there yet?

But this is fun. And the journey IS the point.


So, we've only got one image today. Or rather, several photographs to make up the single image. We all had fun doing our sketches outside. An old family favourite of using chalks on the 'patio'.

Day 11. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The inspiration for our blog

Happy Father's Day!

With William the last man standing (without a cold or a cough) it would've been tempting for all of us to hide under the duvet today.

But it's Father's Day and we all wanted to show Granddad and Grandpa that we're thinking of them.

One of the aspects of this blog, that we didn't anticipate, but has been wonderful, is its connectivity. The 12,000 mile gap has been bridged between families through drawing. 

I know that family have been following our sketchbook journey almost like a journal. The great thing about art, I guess, is that it's great fun to do, but also to share. You get the image, but you also get a snapshot in time. Particularly with the children, they are drawing what interests them now - this might not be the same in 6 months or a couple of years. So, we're getting to chart not only our drawing development, but actually what matters to us.

Day 10. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Coughs and colds. Urgh.

Almost didn't post today - feel a bit rubbish. Sniffle. 

But, the kids - with their eternal energy and enthusiasm convinced me otherwise. They've brought lots of colour to brighten the day!

Loving William's primate picture. Cheeky monkey!

Freya's Watership Down picture. I love the ears on the brown bunny, he looks curious.

Oliver's picture of that computer game that he really likes and that I don't understand. I think it's the eyeballs with teeth that stump me.

A tad uninspired. My sketch for today. This is an accurate self portrait.

The Hubster. It's the weekend - put the laptop down...

Day 9. Project Laureate - Family Sketchbook

Chris Riddell's 5 Point Plan
The Inspiration for our Blog

Hi everybody! 

I'm Freya and this is our blog post for today.

Mum says we've had over 1000 views to this blog. Wow - that's a lot of people! I didn't know people were so interested in our work.

I love doing this blog because I get to practice and get better at my drawings like my last one, Mum thinks it's amazing! For example my dad is getting better everyday. I think he is the best in the family now. But I didn't even know that Dad could draw just like that. Even though he helped me all the time I never saw him draw. Now we draw together. I like that. It's a big difference.