Shoe-off — Koosje Koene

In July, I finally started a project that I’ve been wanting to do for over two years: drawing all of my shoes.

The idea was planted in my head by my pal Jane LaFazio. When we met for the first time in person, finally, in California at Sketchbook Skool’s live event SketchKon in 2018, she noticed that I was wearing a different pair of shoes every day. And yes, I had to admit to her that I have quite a collection of shoes.

Not long after that, Jane sent me a social media post of an artist who made an accordion sketchbook and filled it with watercolor paintings of all of her shoes.

So I wanted to do the same. Fill a sketchbook by drawing my shoes. All of them.

I never got round to it, as it goes with great project ideas: “I’ll do it in winter, when I’m inside a lot”. “I’ll do it when I am done with this other project”. “I’ll do it when I have time” (hah!). Even when being home so much during lockdowns, didn’t push me to start. Even though I sill loved the idea of the project!
That’s procrastination for you.

Finally, halfway July, I had the headspace for it, and I cracked open a Zig Zag watercolor Sketchbook (from Hahnemuehle), and got going. Since this is a project I will be doing at home and at a desk or table, I figured I could use materials that I normally don’t grab for that quickly when drawing with my sketchbook in my lap, on location or on the couch. So I took out my India ink and dip pen. By the end of this project I will probably know a lot more dos and donts when it comes to using dip pen and ink.

It was only appropriate to begin with these cute shoes that got the whole thing started at SketchKon in 2018.

When I mentioned to Jane that I had started this project, it turned out that she was about to start a shoe-drawing-project as well. “So I guess we have a shoe-off now”, was her conclusion. Challenge accepted!

I am about halfway through my closet now, and had to glue a second zig zag sketchbook to the first one. I am pretty sure I am going to need a third one too. I am having so much fun with this project, doing a shoe drawing in this accordeon Sketchbook whenever it suits me. Which means sometimes I don’t draw any shoes for a couple of weeks, and then I’ll be drawing a pair every evening after dinner. It depends on my schedule, my energy level and my mood. There is no deadline. The only rule is to have fun with this.

Once it’s done, of course I’ll share the whole thing!

Materials used:
-Hahnemühle ZigZag watercolor Sketchbook, square (14x14 cm)
-Dip pen (sorry it has no brand, it was cheap and I picked it up years ago at some kind of craft store)
-Sennelier Indian ink
-Daniel Smith watercolors
-Da Vinci Harbin-Kolonsky brush no.10

Jane has already finished her Shoe-off project. Does that mean I have too many shoes? Or that she won our friendly competition? I think both.

Check out the video Jane made of her amazing shoe-off sketchbook on YouTube