This video is sponsored by Skillshare. This also
might be the first video you’re seeing from me since I got engaged. So yeah,
he popped the question, we’re very happy! Now, on with the video!
Really living up to my namesake here. I don’t know what it is with me and painting things in
miniature. I've just always been fascinated by tiny things, like the furniture or little tea
sets from dolls houses. I’m a little bit obsessed. So I’ve done little drawings and paintings before;
my tiny landscapes and my miniature houses- and a couple of weeks ago, I made these
tiny sketchbooks- I’ll have that video linked up above and in the description as well.
I got so many great suggestions from you all on ways I could fill these tiny pages,
so today I’m going to do a mixture of lots of different things. Treat
it like my usual sketchbooks, with a bit of variety, just tiny.
There are 13 spreads in each of these, so 26 total. I’m just going to aim to fill as many
as I can in one day. Let’s see how we do. Starting, of course, with some landscapes.
I have to say, it was a rough start. It might not look it but I was really struggling at first.
I think because I haven’t drawn or painted anything in a good week or so and I was also
adjusting to working on such a small scale while also trying to make sure
it was coming up okay on camera. My hands were actually shaking for the
first painting. Also, I just out of habit, reverted back to my usual palette of colours,
you know the one I’ve been trying to get away from because it doesn’t give me the greens I
like in my landscapes. By the time I realised, I thought I might as well go along with it for
the first painting and then I switched things up for the next one and then got a lot more
flexible as I carried on, just adding in colours whenever I felt like I was lacking something.
It didn’t take long for me to settle in to the process and start really having fun. There’s
always something really mesmerising about painting landscapes and it’s the kind of thing I can do
quite confidently like, I’ve done them enough that I know when it gets to that point where
it starts going wrong or it doesn't look quite right- and there always is a point like that for
me in any painting- because I’ve done so many landscapes, I know that I can fix it because I
have so many times before. I know it all comes down to those last little details that pull it
together and make things look like less of a mush. I know we’re getting through these quite quickly,
I have a lot of footage from this day of making art. If you want, I can make a dedicated video
out of one of these paintings, potentially even real-time. Just let me know if that’s something
you’d like to see, which page you’d like to see slowed down and if you’d like it in real-time,
and whatever the most people opt for, I’ll make that happen.
Oh, I also just remembered, I decided pretty early on, pretty much scratch away,
that I’d just be sticking with the one sketchbook for this video.
26 spreads seemed like way too many as soon as my brush hit the page for the first time.
So the revised goal for this day was to fill the 13 spreads in this one book.
Alright, that’s a good 5 paintings down. How about some insects next,
that was a great suggestion from one lovely commenter. And while I get on with these,
let me talk to you about today’s sponsor, Skillshare.
The most recent Skillshare class I took was Organic Expressive Florals With Watercolor and
Ink- in fact, that’s a good idea, let's do a few pages of that next. But basically in this class,
the teacher, Ohn Mar Win- who is actually a top teacher on the platform- talks about how she,
as a recovering sketchbook perfectionist, has been able to create these beautifully loose,
expressive and effortless-looking watercolour floral paintings. The great thing about this
class for me was that it can really be useful for people at any point in their creative journey.
I make a living making art and I’m gradually building confidence in my work but it still
always helps to learn new things, especially when it comes to letting go of perfectionism to come up
with something truly meaningful and expressive in it’s own right. Also as a beginner I think a lot
of people put pressure on themselves and feel like giving up when things don’t go to plan,
and a class like this, practices like this really guide you in just going with the flow.
A word about Skillshare, Skillshare is an online learning community with
lots of great fine art classes as well as classes on illustration, graphic design,
creative writing, entrepreneurship… there’s just heaps to discover,
and there are real projects to dive into, plus a great community of supportive fellow-creatives.
There are already thousands of classes and their catalogue is always growing, they’re always
launching new premium classes, plus, because it’s all about learning, Skillshare is curated
specifically for that, meaning there are no ads, which is ideal for staying focused. All that
and it’s less than $10 a month with an annual subscription. That said, the first 1000 of my
subscribers to click the link in the description will get a free trial of Premium Membership to try
as many classes as they like, including the one I mentioned earlier and to explore their creativity.
Big thanks to Skillshare for supporting the channel,
now let’s work on some of these loose florals.
Right so, the only other way that I tend to use my sketchbook is as like a scrapbook or journal
so I'm gonna do some cutting and sticking and some tiny writing in there as well.
Today has been such a fun way to cheat my way to a full sketchbook. That is still
13 spread even though they are tiny. I’ve got to do all the things I love,
in one day. Painting, experimenting, sketching and journaling, all just on a smaller scale.
I don’t know if I’ll keep making and working in tiny sketchbooks but I would like to at
least bear in mind that I can fit in more varied work if I work a bit smaller from time to time.
I’ve been at this for about 6 or seven hours now so I think that will do for today.
I really hope you enjoyed this one. Thank you so much for joining me
and I’ll see you soon for the next one. Bye!