Remarkable sketchbooks, rabbits and Easter
Week Thirteen is Baby Blue, Mint Green, Dusty Rose & Egg Yolk
We’re coming up to Easter with its traditions of eggs and rabbits. I also wanted to mention that registration is open for this year’s Sketchbook Revival Challenge happening next month. You are invited to join, I’m taking part once again and have recorded a fun pattern focussed lesson and bonus project for this event. Sketchbooks are wonderful tools to develop as an artist, and Coloricombo focusses this week on sketchbooks created by an instantly recognisable writer and illustrator.
If you’re in need of a creative spark join us and discover fresh ideas for creative projects in your sketchbook. From 11 to 21 April thirty five artists will be sharing some their favourite techniques and processes in brand new lessons that will inspire you to play and explore further.
There’s a wonderful freedom in letting marks, shapes and repetition guide us to create rhythm and patterns. In my lesson you’ll discover how patterns can become a language all their own.
Find out more and register here, there’s a free option with both extended access and a VIP bundle available as a costed option.
Beatrix Potter (1866–1943) is well known for her children’s books featuring animals such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit which she wrote and illustrated. Way before Peter Rabbit hopped onto the page, Potter had been filling sketchbooks with meticulous drawings of plants, fungi and animals. She was a keen observer of the natural world and this careful attention shaped everything she created.
Mainly home schooled by her governesses, she studied at the National Art Training School in Kensington but her real education came from watching and drawing her pets. Potter didn’t just imagine Peter, she studied real rabbits and watched how they moved, their anatomies and personalities. She drew them constantly which is why all her illustrations feel so real, even when they’re rabbits dressed in miniature waistcoats.
What I love about her approach is that she didn’t separate her art from the story itself. These weren’t just quick sketches to support the words, they were made with real care and skill. Her remarkable sketchbooks give an insight into how her work evolved from observational drawings to imaginary characters.
Over her lifetime, she wrote and illustrated twenty-eight books, including twenty-three of her Tales. Altogether they’ve sold more than 250 million copies worldwide. In later life she moved to the Lake District and became a passionate farmer and sheep breeder. Thousands of acres were left to the National Trust to protect the landscape she loved and you can still visit her farmhouse today. We were there in 2003 and I remember it well.
There’s a full documentary on Potter available here and you can see some of her sketchbooks held by the V&A Museum, including one when she was only eight, here and here.
This week’s colours come from her sketchbook when she was ten years old and shapes are taken from a selection of her drawings.
“Sketchbook”, watercolour on paper. Beatrix Potter, 1876
Colour Combination
The colours this week are Baby Blue, Mint Green, Dusty Rose & Egg Yolk. Use them along with a contrasting dark and neutral light colour to create an artwork in any medium or style. If you can think of someone who’d enjoy a weekly dollop of colour and creativity please share this post with them.
Shapes
Along with the colour prompt I am including some shapes inspired by the artwork which you can download as a PDF and print out to use as you wish
