Author: Patricia

Art Books: One Drawing a Day – A 6-week Course

| Patricia

“To practice any art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow.”
~ Kurt Vonnegut

Years ago I purchased Veronica Lawlor’s book, One Drawing a Day – A 6-Week Course Exploring Creativity with Illustration and Mixed Media. Coming across it again recently, I thought it would be a good addition to my current daily art-making regimen.

The author opens her book with this quote:

“The important thing is to do,
and nothing else; be what it may.”
~ Pablo Picasso

Thinking about Picasso’s statement, I felt an easing of the grip of creative block that’s been haunting me for months. It’s not what I make that is the most important consideration. It is the action of creating, even something I might consider sub-par, that is at the heart of any habit we want to establish.

As Andy Warhol said, “Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.”

Angry Sky: Splashing Around with W&N, February 28, 2023

| Patricia

“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.” ~ Pablo Picasso

This is a quick watercolour sketch of a seascape, painted with a small travel set of Cotman Winsor & Newton watercolour half cakes. Testing a new watercolour paper to see how the paint flows, absorption, etc. I found the 90 lb. cold press stock too thin to stand up to the reasonably light wet-in-wet application in the sky area but handled the flowing liner brush strokes on slightly damp paper on the bottom half of the painting quite well. The paper was quite absorbent, grabbing the paint in some areas before edges could be softened.


These quick watercolour sketches, using a familiar subject I paint regularly, help me concentrate on the materials rather than the subject. I find that doing quick smaller sketches helps embed a sort of painting ‘muscle memory’ that gets easier the more often we ‘exercise’ it. While the travel set is great for tucking in your pocket for small on-the-road sketches, I still prefer using tube paint in studio.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2023

Sketchy Coloured Charcoal Apple, FEBRUARY 25, 2023

| Patricia

“The sweeter the apple, the blacker the core…” ~ Dorothy Parker

I’ve been using my DAILY PAINTING regimen to experiment with new materials, rather than working in just one medium or style. When testing new products, I generally draw a familiar subject so I only have to think about how the materials are working.

LOVED working with Derwent’s Coloured Charcoal pencils (included in their Derwent Sketching Collection).

Used a limited palette of Brown Ochre 5700, Terracotta 6400, Peat Tinted Charcoal TC18 and Burnt Earth Tinted Charcoal TC19 but I will definitely be checking out adding a larger range of colours.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White, 2023.

COLOURED PENCIL LANDSCAPE Work-in-Progress, February15, 2023

| Patricia

“Memory is the fourth dimension to any landscape.” ~ Janet Fitch, American Author

Coloured Pencil Landscape WIP February 15, 2023

Took a break from doing techie work to cleanse my tired brain. It felt like recess! 😉

This is just a quick little coloured pencil sketch of an imagined landscape. These small works stretch the boundaries of possibility for subject matter as well as the capability and limits of chosen materials. This sketch experiments with complementary color combinations. These small sketches often serve to develop concepts for a larger works.

Materials used include Faber-Castell soft pastels and Stabilo CarbOthello pastel pencils on Strathmore drawing pad, 5.5” x 8.5”.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2023.

Ink and wash Apple

| Patricia

“There never was an apple, in Adam’s opinion, that wasn’t worth the trouble you got into for eating it.” ~ Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Sometimes I sketch concepts on my iPad when an idea occurs and I want to get it down quickly or don’t feel like dealing with the mess of using analogue materials. I often tap the tablet’s screen when holding my Apple Pencil and it opens an Apple Notes page with the drawing tools panel open. Most times I take this as an unplanned opportunity to relax for a few moments and jot down some concept, scribble down an idea or draw a random object. I’ve drawn and painted a ton of apples these past months and this time I tried out Note’s new watercolour tool. I chose red, created a curving swath of ‘paint’ as the background, completing the object with an ink pen line drawing. I then enhanced the watercolour, added some splashes and the cast shadow.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2023.

Cloudscape: February 13, 2023

| Patricia

Cloudscape February 13, 2023

“When I do not walk in the clouds I walk as though I were lost.” ~ Antonio Porchia


DAILY PAINTING: Today it’s a quick cloudscape, this time with a bright colour space that brings an aqua-green into the mix.

Really enjoy these quick sketches that encompass movement, stretching the boundaries of possibility, taking my imagination to more expansive places.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2023.


Tree Sketch 2-12-23

| Patricia

“I wonder if the snow loves the trees and fields, that it kisses them so gently? And then it covers them up snug, you know, with a white quilt; and perhaps it says, “Go to sleep, darlings, till the summer comes again.” ~ Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland / Through the Looking-Glass

Lately I’ve been on a tree-drawing binge. This tree concept framework is based on some of my vintage pastels (see thumbnail below) worked in a style that I want to revitalize. I’ll build on this concept with various mediums going forward.


Art copyright Patricia White 2023.

Scribble Ornament Sketch FEBRUARY 1, 2023

| Patricia

“When I was a kid, my sisters and I used to get a little present in our stocking each day of December, usually an ornament, some sweets, or a little toy.” ~ Birgitte Hjort Sorensen, Danish Actress

This is just a wee scribble that turned into a hanging ornament. My mother used to gift me and my sisters an ornament every Christmas with the year written on it. It is one of the things I miss now that mom and dad are no longer with us.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2023.

Old Man Tree – January 31, 2023

| Patricia

“He that plants trees loves others besides himself.” ~ Thomas Fuller

Another tree sketch created in the same session as the Spotty Tree sketch, spurred by finding an old oil painting from 1972 I had gifted to my dad, retrieving it while cleaning out his apartment after his passing in 2006..

Old Man Tree began as a normally configured tree but I noticed some facial-like features in part of the image and it quickly transformed into a tree character with craggy twig-fingered ‘hands’ at the end of his ‘arm’ branches and twisted aging trunk ‘body’.

He may become a character in an adventure book that I’m writing.

Artwork copyright Patricia White 2023.