Tuesday 19th September: The grass is greener in Vermont

Bert Dodson in Vermont
8" x 10" pencil and coloured pencil in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

What's the ultimate challenge? Well my personal artistic 'top ten' has probably got to include doing a quick sketch over lunch of the man who wrote one of the best selling books about drawing - and then trying to colour it afterwards purely from memory!

My sketch is of Bert Dodson, the author of "Keys to Drawing". This book, published by North Light Books, is on the shelves of many people keen on learning how to improve their drawing. It's certainly sat on my shelves for nearly 20 years ever since I was able to find time for art again after I finally came to the end of my long haul through post grad qualifications/degrees.

When I planned the trip to New England I had no idea that Bert lived in Vermont within a 'day trip' driving distance of Nicole. I knew he had a new book coming out as we had corresponded off and on. Anyway, he emerged from under all the page proofs at last and we suddenly realised that there was scope for me to visit and see his studio and for him to learn more about blogging - which he was interested in.

So on the Tuesday morning I set off for his studio in Vermont.

Bert with some of the page proofs of the new book - "Keys to Drawing and Imagination"
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Bert is lovely man and he's a lot more smiley than my sketch indicates - the photo is a much better image of Bert.

It was huge privilege to be able to see inside Bert's large studio on the third floor of a local community building. It was filled with images - drawings for different clients from children's books to the Metropolitan Opera House, postcards of images he liked pinned close together; large portraits hung on the upper parts of the walls of this high ceilinged room and current work covered his drawing tables and working space. I tried hard not to look too closely at the very many books on art that he had otherwise I'd have been dying to look at them all!

His main studio was however dominated by several large screens on which were pinned all the page proofs of his latest book which is about drawing and imagination. (Keys to Drawing With Imagination ). Bert told me that he emptied his sketchbooks into this new book and that it contains over 500 drawings by Bert and another 100 by other people including R Crumb and Maya Lin. Having seen the page proofs I know that the emphasis is very much on the visual communication of alternative options for stimulating imagination and the creative process. I also read little bits of the text and this seemed very succinct. I can hardly wait to see the real thing and be able to read it all through from beginning to end.

We walked his dogs before and after lunch and talked about the nature of the drawing process - how very often the issue is less about having a great idea and more about getting something down on paper and letting a drawing evolve from there. We talked about creativity and producing publications in a wider sense, he talked about how a book gets created and I shared my information about how a blog is created and shared with others. And we both pondered on the different ways information is shared and what really makes a difference. Bert has me tagged as maybe a 'connector' and probably a maven. Hence I read "The Tipping Point" for the first time on the flight back home and I think he might just be right on that one!

We also talked about how being part of a non-'work' peer group can be really helpful to both creative and critical processes. After I quoted from another one of my art heroes - Charles Reid - on the subject of the 'big blur' and how that carries over from painting into drawing, Bert showed me a photo of the group he used to paint with when he was younger. It turned out to include a couple of other well known names one of whom just happened to be Charles Reid! So nice to have it confirmed yet again that the people I like also like the people I like!

And the title for this post? Well - Vermont was very green - very few trees had changed colour, which I have to confess was a bit of a disappointment for me. We walked over some very green grass while walking the dogs. And quite a lot of people have made Vermont their home because of the quality of life it can offer. And it rained so much on the way home (we're 'New England' rain here - which is heavy!), it made me think there might just be another reason why the grass is greener in Vermont!

But it also brought home, in a very real way, how great it is to be an artist and illustrator who can live in a wonderful place and produce work for organisations and publications located many miles away. Small pause for thought...............

Links:

• Bert Dodson Bert Dodson is a painter, teacher, author and illustrator. He has illustrated over 80 books for children.He has authored two books on drawing; Keys to Drawing (North Light, 1985), and Keys to Drawing with Imagination (North Light, 2006).
• Keys to Drawing With Imaginationis due to be published in hardback at the end of November and is available from Amazon.
• Keys to Drawing
• North Light Bookstore
  
• Making a Mark: my blog review of Keys to Drawing
• Making a Mark: Bert Dodson and "Keys to Drawing with Imagination"

Technorati tags: art , Bert Dodson, drawing, keys to drawing

w/c 11th September: More sketching at mealtimes

The View at Breakfast 13th and 14th September 8am
pen and black ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

I really like sketching when I'm sat at a table waiting to order or for the food to arrive or when I'm inbetween courses - or even while I'm actually eating!

However, the latter is reserved for when I'm on my own - such as at breakfast at the place where I was staying in Chatham. It had beautiful gardens which could be seen from the window of where I sat for breakfast. I did the pen and ink drawing the Wednesday morning and then used the coloured pencils on the Thursday morning. I really messed around with this one and used lots of different colours to try and get the effect of the foliage which was looking post summer if not quite autumn.

Dinner at Squires, Chatham 12.09.06. 9.30pm

On the Tuesday evening, Sally did a slideshow presentation for the workshop people and members of the Cape Cod Pastel Society - which was very well received - but it did mean that we eat late. This pen and ink drawing of the sketch at Squires - a very popular eating place in Chatham - was done inbetween ordering and the meal turning up. The waitress was very impressed! Being with other people (Hi Colleen and Jeanne!) means that you really do need to be speedy while sketching. However, it great when you're eating with a couple of other people (or more) as that means they have somebody to talk to while I'm sketching!

The big thing about sketching while you're eating is that you can get lots of practice at drawing people in natural situations and you have no time for detail because:

• you can't see it
• you don't need it
• and, most important of all, you don't have time. The chances are they'll get up and walk away before you've finished - but this does help to practice holding images in your memory!

I go for the big shapes and values (always remembering Charles Reid and his 'big blur') and then work backwards towards more subtle changes in shape, vale and colour and get down what I can while I can - and don't worry about the rest!

The weather on Cape Cod became dull and then rainy in the latter half of the week and I was really glad I'd made the effort get out sketching on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings. In the next post I'm back in Massachusetts

Technorati tags: art , coloured pencils , colored pencils , drawing , eating out , moleskine , pencil, restaurant , sketching , sketchbook

w/c 11th September - More Cape Cod seashore

"Kite Surfer at Chatham Light" 11.09.06. 6pm
8" x 10", pencil and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The pastel workshop finished at 4pm each day. So, if I got my stuff packed up and stowed away reasonably quickly (which as many pastels artists will know is easier said than done!) I could get out in the late afternoon and early evening to sketch in the surrounding area.

The workshop was based in Chatham, so the first evening I went to see Chatham Light and its beach. (warning - parking is very difficult). The lighthouse was a bit too close to sketch easily - but looking out to sea I could see some people in the water. It turned out that they were kite surfing - using the kite as their sail and periodically taking off about 20-30 feet in the air. I'd never seen kite surfing before but it looked far more exciting that traditional surfing or even kite flying - even if the kite surfer I watched only managed to land and continue surfing in about 1 in 3 take-offs. The bit where he took off though was absolutely spectacular. I even managed to get a photo of a kite surfer in mid air which I was pleased about.

The evening light on the beach area was also pretty spectacular, so after some initial efforts at sketching kite flyers quickly (not easy!) I decided to combine the two - and waited until the next take-off in the area on the sketch to get the approximate scale of the kite surfer and the way the kite billowed. This was a very fast sketch as it was early evening by then and not warm when sat out of the sun - as I was.

The Jetty 12.09.06. 5.15pm
8" x 10", pencil and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

The following day I sketched in an area north of Chatham near where I was staying at Pleasant Bay. The sky was brilliant blue and was having a tremendous impact on the colour of the water. For those not familiar with Cape Cod, both sketches show places which look like ponds and, in fact, in the case of the latter was actually called a pond however the water in both sketches is actually the Atlantic Ocean. I'm assuming that maybe Crow's Pond has actually lost land due to coastal erosion on the seaward side and was maybe an inland pond at one point.

There are cetainly a lot of ponds all over Cape Cod which excellent subjects for artwork. However, getting anywhere near them with a car is another matter - even out of season! I parked by the side of the road for the Crows Pond view. The road was just above one of the holes on the local golf course and the bit where they stand to drive was just to the right. I think I saw a golf ball whistling past about 20 feet in front of me!

Crows Pond 12.09.06. 6pm
pen and black ink and coloured pencils
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Link:

• British Kite Surfing Association

Technorati tags: art , Cape Cod , drawing , coloured pencils , Massachusetts , moleskine , pen and ink , pencil, plein air , sketching , sketchbook , travel , travel sketchbook

Sunday 10th September: Cape Cod National Seashore

The Path to Nauset Beach 10.09.06. 5.50pm
8" x 10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencil in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Sunday morning I drove 130 miles down the 495 to Chatham on Cape Cod where the Sally Strand Pastel Workshop was to be held, starting on Monday.

Driving in a new place is quite exciting but can sometimes be very slow. Once over the bridge to Cape Cod, I drove south to Hyannis and tried to drive along what looked like a coast road but wasn't. It was also more touristy than I was expecting and when I turned nearer the coast I found out very quickly just how easy it is to get mixed up and lost on Cape Cod. There are endless small roads that twist and turn and I was very glad I'd borrowed my cousin's map of the Cape Cod area as I'd have been well and truly driving round in circles for hours without it! And I'm used to roads that aren't on a grid systems and don't go in a straight line!

Once I'd got to where I was staying in North Chatham and unloaded my 'stuff' I drove north up the Cape - to the Lower Cape (which is furthest from the bridges even if it's further north on the maps) through Orleans and Eastham (stopping to take a quick look at the outside art exhibition) to visit some of the Cape Cod National Seashore.

"A man may stand there and put all America behind him."
Henry David Thoreau

I'd bought Thoreau's Cape Cod the previous day at the Concord Museum and on Sunday evening after my visit to the foreshore read about The Nauset Plains and The Beach.

On early Sunday evening, the sea was looking an incredible navy blue colour and I wondered whether this was anything to do with Hurricane Ernesto which had been winding down and moving north the previous week. Nauset Beach has suffered very badly from coastal erosion in the past particularly after heavy seas associated with hurricanes. According to the website of the Nauset Light Preservation Society.....

"...the average natural erosion rate on the Atlantic Ocean side of Cape Cod had been 3.8 feet a year. However, in the area of Nauset Light, the average for the period 1987-1994 has accelerated to 5.8 feet. There may be little or no erosion in some years, and more than fifteen feet in other years."

In fact, the Nauset Light (see sketch below) has had to be rescued and moved 300 feet further inland to avoid it falling into the sea. The shoreline and glacial scarp cliff reminded me a lot of the area around Dunwich in Suffolk which is one of favourite places in the UK. The old town of Dunwich fell into the sea due to coastal erosion - and only a few cottages and a pub remain.

Nauset Light , Cape Cod (10.09.06. 6.40pm)
8" x 10", pencil and coloured pencils in Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Prior to the above sketch I had sketched the boardwalk path down to the lookout platform and wooden steps down to Nauset Beach (see top). The early evening light was giving a marvellous colour to the grasses and beach roses and the shadow of the fence was making interesting coloured patterns on the path and in the grasses. This one is definitely going to be developed into a more finished work - possibly in pastel.

That evening I sketched during dinner at the Academy Ocean Grill in Orleans. The main course was well prepared and very nice but the chap preparing the dessert 'special' went overboard with the gelatine and it was inedible! And so I retired to bed to get my kit sorted for the workshop starting in the morning and to read Thoreau!

The Academy Ocean Grill, Orleans (10.9.06. 9pm)
8" x10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in a Moleskine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Links:

• Cape Cod National Seashore
• Nauset Beach
• Cape Cod - e-book by Henry David Thoreau
• The Plains of Nauset
• The Beach

• Academy Ocean Grille
  

Technorati tags: art , Cape Cod , drawing , coloured pencils , Massachusetts , moleskine , pen and ink , pencil , plein air ,
sketching , sketchbook , travel , travel sketchbook

Travels with a sketchbook in New England, USA

(From top left, clockwise: sketches from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont)

This is my provisional summary of the next set of entries relating to my trip to New England in September 2006 and the resulting sketchbook.

Besides the links to posts for individual days (below), you can now also see galleries of my sketches done while on my travels in New England on my website:

• Travels with a Sketchbook in......the USA
  
• Travels with a Sketchbook in......Massachusetts
• Travels with a Sketchbook in...... New Hampshire and Vermont
• Travels with a Sketchbook in......Maine
  

The main purpose of my visit was to take a 5 day Pastel Workshop with Sally Strand on "The Colour of Light" (which will be covered in my other blog 'Making a Mark' as it's not really about sketching). This meant that my first week (11-15 September) was spent on Cape Cod - based in Chatham.

As I was in New England, I decided that this was the most wonderful opportunity to see as much of New England as I could within the usual constraints of time, budget and the different locations of people I knew. It makes such a difference when you travel to the home areas of people you know. I always get a much better understanding of a place when I do.

My main base was the Massachusetts countryside, northwest of Boston, with my cousin and her husband. As it turned out it couldn't have been better positioned for my different trips. Consequently I was able to see a bit of Massachusetts on the first and second weekends either side of the workshop. Then in the second week I travelled to see Nicole Caulfield in New Hampshire and Bert Dodson Vermont before travelling on the Wednesday across to Maine where I spent the next five days visiting with Kathy Ellis and her husband, before returning via Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

The itinerary went something like this:

• Friday 8th September - "A different mode of transport" (2 sketches)
• Saturday 9th September - "Concord and Caufield" Nicole's Birthday and a visit to the Concord Museum, Massachusetts, the North Bridge and the Alcott House (photos only)
  
• Sunday 10th September - "Cape Cod National Seashore" (2 sketches of Nauset Light and path down to Nauset Beach and 1 sketch at dinner)
• w/c 11th September - "More Cape Cod seashore" (1 sketch)
• w/c 11th September - "More sketching at mealtime" Squires, Chatham (1 sketch) and breakfast (1 sketch)
  
• Saturday 16th September - "A visit to an art store and Walden Pond" (sketch and pastel WIP)
  
• Sunday 17th September - "Rocky Neck and Rockport, Massachusetts" (3 sketches) A visit to Rocky Neck, the oldest working art colony in the USA and Rockport.
  
• Monday 18th September - "Apple orchards, maples and a chocolatier" (2 sketches) Apple picking in New Hampshire orchards with Nicole and Lizzie followed by lunch at the chocolatier in Walpole
  
• Tuesday 19th September - "The grass is greener in Vermont" (1 sketch) my visit with Bert Dodson in his studio. How much nerve does it take to sketch a man who writes books about drawing!
  
• Wednesday 20th September - "A friendly warning from the local police" (1 sketch and 1 drawing) What happens when you try to sketch a covered bridge
• Thursday 21st September - "In the footsteps of Winslow Homer - nearly" (3 sketches) Massacre Pond, Scarborough beach and Lake Sebago, plus a tour of Portland in the evening
  
• Friday 22nd September - "Pemaquid Light - from top to bottom" (2 sketches) One minute I'm trying to peer at a lighthouse through throngs of people and the next minute there's an eerie silence until the wave breaks................
  
• Saturday 23rd September - "The Farnsworth, the Wyeths and the rain" (2 sketches) A trip to Rockland to the Farnsworth Art Museum and Wyeth centre and an awful lot of rain.......
• Sunday 24th September - "The Interior of the Quaker B&B" (2 sketches) I stayed in a historic building and slept in a room with original stenciling by Moses Eaton Junior
• Monday 25th September - "Portsmouth, New Hampshire and Strawbery Bank"
  
• Tuesday 26th September "A trip to Harvard Yard and the airport" (1 sketch) - a report on art shop, a visit to "Under Cover" at the Fogg Art Museum (the report on "Under Cover" the exhibition of artists' sketchbooks is in my other blog Making a Mark) and the delights of driving across Boston avoiding the "Big Dig"!

The last sketch - at Logan Airport (note the wifi laptops!)
8" x 10", pen and sepia ink and coloured pencils in Moleksine sketchbook
copyright Katherine Tyrrell

Before I start I'd just like to say a big thank you to all the people who offered me hospitality - and most especially my cousin who had her washing machine and dryer on overtime for me on two weekends on the trot and my mother who got up very early two mornings to ferry me to and from the airport and provided a mother-substitute services for my two cats!

For animal lovers, unlike the last trip this trip seems to be completely swamped by animals from start to finish. It's got four moggies and a miniature poodle in Massachusetts, two Labradors in Vermont and three more Labradors in Maine. I even acted as the midwife at the birth of a new blog about Labs!

Technorati tags: art , sketching , sketchbook , travel , travel sketchbook