pronounced "Kōsha”
I’m an artist and creative entrepreneur living in the Netherlands. I love drawing and I do it every day. On this website, I hope to inspire you to develop a drawing practice too, because it can make you feel good.
Photo by Rick Keus
I use my sketchbook as a visual diary, and it gives me ideas to start projects and challenges for myself. What project can you start?
You may have good intentions to draw every day, but you have to do the work. Make it happen. Take the responsibility, instead of blaming circumstances. Drawing makes you happy, so don't skip it. Treat yourself to that time for you and your sketchbook!
In today's sketchbook tour, I am talking about how you can sometimes fall out of love with a sketchbook, before you've finished it.
It's OK. If it doesn't bring you joy anymore, it's a good reason to move on and start fresh.
However, do not give up on a sketchbook just because you feel like you 'messed it up' by making a bad drawing.
Today, set up a little still life on your table. Let's draw! But we are not drawing all the elements that we see in this still life. Instead, focus on the spaces around the still life. It helps to have a contrasting background, so you can focus on the background only, and spot bits of the negative spaces better.
I'll take you outside to the park, to enjoy the last bits of bright yellow fall colors, using the background wash I made in preparation.
I was afraid that people would look at my drawing and see how much it would suck. For a long time, I didn’t draw in public at all, because location drawing just didn’t even come up in my mind as an option. But then, when I saw other people’s work done on location, I wanted to give it a try too. So I did.
We'll follow Vincent van Gogh's example, who would always be sketching and making studies of things, always learning. He may have used models for it, but your non-drawing hand can model just as well.
Everything is interesting when you draw it - which means inspiration is everywhere. Even a ratty old t-shirt, bought many years ago as a souvenir, can be a very interesting subject to draw, because it can hold memories that you then capture in your drawing.
When traveling, there are so many impressions, experiences and emotions. By sitting down to draw, you take it all in, and by being in the moment, you’ll capture great memories. So much more than you ever could by just taking a photograph.
In today’s video, I am taking you out on location, to draw in public. I went for a walk and decided on a whim to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather, by finding a good spot to sit and draw in my sketchbook.
I just finished this project that took me quite a while: I captured all the shoes I owned, in a watercolor accordion sketchbook (Hahnemuhle ZigZag book 14x14 cm). I’ll show it to you in today’s video.
Today, I am challenging my inner perfectionist, by deliberately letting go of control and drawing with my non-dominant hand.
Will you try it today too? It's a lot of fun!
I’d like to share a story one of my Draw Tip Tuesday fans told me quite some time ago. It stuck with me, and I think you can get something out of it too.
At the beginning of October, I went on a 12-day trip to Greece with The Blue Walk, where I taught a group of artists how to fill their travel sketchbooks. Travel with me today, as I take you on a sketchbook tour of my Greece Sketchbooks.
I was interviewed by Nishant Jain, for his Podcast The Sneaky Art Podcast.
Today I am showing you my favorite tools. Because you asked.
I am showing the things that found their way into my pencil case and stayed there. Of course I have tried many other tools, and I do swap out pens or pencils every so often, but these seem to be the evergreens.
Have you ever had an art crush? I have them pretty often – and sometimes they last for a very long time.
I’m listing my current favorites, all of which I try to channel a little in my own work:
‘I really want to make art, but I don’t have time’,
‘I procrastinate, even though I know I feel happy when I make art’,
‘I think of sitting down to draw, but then I don’t’.
Trust me, I’ve been there too. But after years of keeping a sketchbook habit, I found my ways.
Let’s have a look at what the elements of composition are, and how we can apply them in our sketchbook pages without losing spontaneity.
To create your own story in your sketchbook, you don't need much - except time to draw.
And you don't need to go far anywhere for it. Do it at home, with your sketchbook in your lap, a warm or cool drink by your side, enjoying the creative time you are allowing yourself to take.
