The Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out 5 Is Fast Approaching

Above: The button for the fifth Minnesota State Fair Sketch Out (a.k.a. MSFSO5). The artwork is by artist Suzanne Hughes. Click on the image to view an enlargement.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013 is the date for the MSFSO5. 

Anyone who knows me knows I'm already excited! I am getting the word out here because it is a Sketch Out like no other—there are corn dogs and animals, and people doing very odd things, all within a "city" within a city. I wanted to let people know in case they are planning a summer get away and want to use that time sensibly with a high fun factor and lots of sketching potential!

There will be a meeting of the sketchers at 4:30 p.m. on that day. People who have been there all day will share their sketches, some people will just be arriving from after work, and will sketch into the night. Either way it's a great place to sketch, meet sketchers, and have fun.

While you do have to pay your own admission to the Fair, the Sketch Out and the button are free to all participants (while button supplies last of course). (The button is reason enough to attend.)

I will have more information on Roz Wound Up about the meeting location as we get closer to the date. (For people who know the Fairgrounds it will be between the Ag-Hort Building and the Food Building as it has been for the past several years.) I just wanted to give people an opportunity to make travel plans—and of course see this year's button.

If you would like to see more information about what I do at the Fair and how I prepare please check my blog archives from August 2009 through September 2009. I have quite a few posts on how to prep, what to bring, how to dress, and how to pace yourself, as well as tips on drawing animals and people.

In fact if you can't join us all this information will be useful to you wherever you decide to go sketching this summer (in the northern Hemisphere that is).

I hope you can join us to capture this fun Minnesota event. (For folks who don't live in Minnesota the Fairgrounds are located in western St. Paul, within easy distance to many hotels, etc., etc. In fact it's so close to the edge of Minneapolis you might be better trying to stay in Minneapolis.)

accordian-fold 'granny nanny' journal

I just returned from the second of two trips to Texas to provide childcare for some of our grandkids. For each trip, I sketched in one side of this accordian-fold journal, which I bought from Cathy 'Kate' Johnson on eBay last year -- I call it my 'granny nanny' journal.

The first side was done in March when our eldest son took a group of students to Alaska on a mission trip and I helped out at home with his kids, Jayna, Josiah, and Judah. Now I have just returned from Texas again -- this time staying with our daughter's daughter, Mikala, while her parents were in Scotland.

side 1 - early March in Richmond, TX

side 2 - June in northwest Houston

This journal form especially worked well when Mikala wanted me to draw her new kitten, Oreo. At 9 months old, this Maine Coon cat is already as large as my over-sized 11 year old Maine Coon, Bearcat! We decided that he was too big for one page to contain him . . . . so he takes up 3 pages, along with sketches from her volleyball workshop and a day we picked blackberries:

Individual sketches can be seen on my blog, in the March 2013 and June / July 2013 entries. I also took a watercolor Moleskine with me --- haven't finished posting the sketches from it yet.

Summer Classes at ImaginaryTrips.com!

Tuscan Gold
7.5 x 5.5 inches on Arches Cold Press 140 lb. paper
Watercolor

It's summertime and the travel is easy—just take an Imaginary Trip to a wonderful location and never leave home! No packing, no fatigue, no hassles with luggage or security lines.

Come take a look!

Imaginary Trip to Italy 2012 - Six weeks to visit the wonderful country of Italy. This class starts tomorrow, so hurry! More information can be seen here.

Imaginary Trip to Australia - This ALL NEW class starts this Thursday, July 11th. We'll take six weeks to travel around "down under!" You can sign up for the class here.

Imaginary Trip to New Zealand - Another ALL NEW class, we'll be headed to this fabulous country starting August 29th. Come and join the fun here.

Imaginary Trip to New Orleans - This city ROCKS! Come and join the fun starting September 3rd. For more information, click here.

I hope you'll join me on one of these fun adventures. The classes are very flexible and allow you to work on the assignments at your leisure so you can still get in plenty of playtime outside.

As always, we laugh, we learn and we come home with a great sketchbook full of the places we've seen, the things we've done and the experiences we've shared.

Please let me know of any questions you may have!

~ Laure

Garden Journaling

It seems like every year, I add some permanent things to the garden: tools, pots, sculptures, feeders, etc.

When you bring them home all shiny, it's a good time to have them star on a garden journal page.

Plus, they hold still and let you sketch them, unlike many other things in the garden.

This page was done with pan watercolors in my Stillman & Birn Beta journal.

Click the page to see it larger.

jessica

Gabi Campanario, Urban Sketchers founder, has a fun new project!

Check out The Day in Sketches, at http://storify.com/TDIS/the-day-in-sketches-06-20-13/slideshow --of course, that's the link to TODAY'S entries.  Sign up for updates!

Tip 'o the page to you!

 

Ever have a journal with paper you just really didn't like or got bored with?

I bound too much Arches Text into this one and discovered I really don't much like it.  I had a whole signature to plow through...so I tipped in two more pages of paper I DO like here and there.  Frankfort ROCKS...

Sketches, Studies, or Paintings?

VERY fast sketch of the pileated woodpecker that visited the other day...along with one of my "gratitude" lists...

And a much slower, more detailed study...admittedly, this one was from a photo!

People sometimes ask the difference between sketching and drawing or painting...but that's a pretty subjective difference, I find!

I sketch, a lot.  Especially when time is short, when I need to respond quickly, get something DOWN before it's gone.  Sometimes I just like to keep my hand in, improve my hand/eye coordination.  Celebrate, notice, capture the moment, pay attention.

(And of course sometimes when something really doesn't work, I tell myself "it's just a sketch"!)

That is not to say, really, that a sketch is somehow a lesser being, inferior...it's not.  Sometimes I like the sketch very much better than a finished painting; it captures more of the life, the excitement, a kind of truth that can get lost with a longer, more contrived piece.

A sketch is not a specific medium to the exclusion of another.  You can sketch in watercolor, acrylic, oil...

A study may be more of a detailed, attentive sketch...when I'm curious about something in nature...and when I have more time.  Recently I pulled a sapling from my garden and discovered it still had the walnut the squirrels buried attached; the root went down, the sprout went up, and the color was stunning!  I had more time, so I moved out onto the deck with my paints and took my time...

Generally speaking, a painting--for me--is something I might mat or frame, something I've spent more time on.  Sometimes larger, and generally on a separate sheet of paper or a watercolor block.  It's more formal--usually, but not always.  I sometimes sell them (and NEVER journal entries, unless it's a print.  My journal is my journal, after all!) 

I've also done what others might consider a painting, in my journal.  It depends on my mood, the subject, the amount of time I have...

See what I mean?  Very subjective!  I don't have a hard and fast answer...even for myself.  What do you think?