Hedvig

Sketching and crafting

It’s getting warmer outside and my green fingers a bit itchy. But the more I want to do outside stuff, the less time I actually have for it. For some reason the last couple of months before summer holidays tends to be crazy busy at work. But windowsill gardening is in full swing 🙂 And I’ve done some sketches.

Drawing needs to stay on the back seat for a while, since I’m focusing on finishing my school projects and I just can’t handle doing everything all the time. My big goal is to complete my crocheted tunic by the end of May.

Love,

Hedvig

Whimsical Linda Amalia

Art

Linda Amalia is an artist name for my dear friend and wonderful illustrator Liina. We actually studied textile craft together, but life happened and she began drawing instead. Drawing was an old love of hers and I’m super happy she has reconnected to it, because she is really damn good at it!

Her style is whimsical and cheerful, very graphic, which is a great appeal to me. Her drawings also have layers, a deeper meaning or sense of emotion. I totally admire her commitment and habit of daily practice that makes her enviably productive!

Only recently she opened her first exhibition and I was lucky to purchase two of her drawings. The only downside is I have to wait several months before I can hang them on my wall. But good things are worth the wait!

For more drawings and contact visit Linda Amalia’s Instagram.

Crafting a sketchbook

Craft

Last week the suggestion of making ones own sketchbook came up. That was a wonderful idea! I had some watercolour and vatman papers in A3 format just sitting in the cupboard, decided to use them both.

I cut the sheets into 4 and folded signatures, 2 small sheets per signature and 2 signatures per A3 sheet. I made 10 signatures for both paper types. Didn’t mind the paper grain, just worked with what I had. After folding the signatures, I left block under pressure, otherwise the sketchbook would be too fluffy.

My initial thought was to make a softbound book. I have some leather scraps I planned to use and sew the signatures through leather. But – softbound doesn’t give any support needed for drawing. Plus, there will be gaps between signatures, which would limit the use of sketchbook. So I opted for hardcover instead.

I used kalingur (sturdy thick cotton) strips for sewing supports. I do have a sewingframe, but these kind of small projects I prefer to make without one. My glue is Sitol, basically PVA, but dries a bit quicker. Note: with PVA you need to be quick, precise and definitely know, what you are doing, otherwise use paste. Dries a lot slower, but allowes to fix errors.

Rounded the back, sewed on headbands and Voilà! the bookblock is ready. For covers I used 1 mm thick cardboard, a little piece of leather for spine and some wallpaper.

And that’s it! My little sketchbook with two types of paper. My mind spiralled on to new ideas – black and white blocks, dos-à-dos and leporello bindings….

Happy,

Hedvig

Reflecting on drawing challenge

Art, Sketchbook challenge

As promised last week, I want to reflect my thoughts on the drawing challenge. It collides a bit with the Sketchbook Revival (SBR) event which has given necessary nudge to elevate my practice.

To start with sketchbooking habit, it hit me, that it’s a totally new thing for me. Despite childrens’ art school and art college, I’ve never sketchbooked. Maybe it’s because during the studies I had to create constantly anyway, but I almost feel missed out for not acknowledging the importance of daily art practice.

Embedding a new habit into your life is hard. However pleasant and fun the habit might be, we are so deeply set in our ways, that you need to make an extra effort to stop the autopilot and really consciously choose to draw. Additionally, I hadn’t drawn for years, what made it even harder to pick up a pencil. But I rembered the feeling of joy and satisfaction I got from drawing in college, so I decided to push through the awkwardness and clumsiness. Now, 45 sketches later, I’m glad and a bit proud of myself. I really feel the joy again, I trust my eye and hand, I allow myself to mess up and experiment.

SBR has pushed me to try different methods and practises. Sometimes I feel like a kid in candystore – I want it all! It’s really educational and eyeopening to work along with other artist.

This is my sketchnote (something I learned in SBR!) to sum up the whole experience.

I will continue sketchbooking. There’s no doubt about it.

Have fun!

Hedvig

Diving deeper into artsy mode

Art, Sketchbook challenge

Spring has arrived! It’s rainy and windy, but crocuses, snowdrops and hellebores are blooming, adding colour to the dull and grey surroundings. The next big step is to switch from winter coat to sneakers and light jacket.

This is my last week of “drawing for 45 days” challenge. It has actually taken 55 days. Also, this is the first week of Sketchbook Revival event, wich I’m very excited about.

SBR is an online sketchbook practice event. Every day for 13 days there are two prerecorded sessions with various artist to have a feel of their different ideas and ways for making art. Absolutely inspiring, eyeopening, playful project! This year the focus is on colour, so their’s a learning curve for me for sure.

Blobs with Koosje Koene and Mike Lowery, SBR’23

One thing I’ve embedded into my practise already is contour drawing. It creates loose, etherial lines which I really like. And I’ve been experimenting with portraits, which is intimitating, but thrillingly challenging as well.

Next week I’m going to reflect a bit deeper on my drawing and sketchbooking challenge, I feel I need to write it out of my head.

Check my insta and take care!

Hedvig

Just drawings

Art, Sketchbook challenge

You know, working from nine to five is taking up a whole lot of time 🙂 Life happens every day and the window for drawing is really tiny. Still, better small than nothing! Here are my sketches from this week.

Anticipating spring.

Art, Craft, Inspiration

Quite a busy week it has been. I’ve skipped a couple of days in my daily sketching challenge, but I did have an extremely good excuse – it was my birthday.

A rose for my dear friend, who also had birthday this week.

I just can’t wait for the spring to arrive! I do understand it’s only March, but still.. I’m so utterly tired of snow, cold and winter clothes. Birds have snuggled away somewhere and trees seem to be frozen in place.

I’ve done a wee bit of handicraft, a woolen machine knitted plaid is waiting to be pretty. The pattern is inspired by little rocks and grasses growing between them. Emroidery is still work in progress, but there’s not much left to do and soon I can share a photo of the end result!

Check my Insta!

Hedvig

Daily sketching

Art, Sketchbook challenge

It has been an emotional week. Last Saturday we celebrated our Independence Day and this week it’s elections for Parliament. All media is full of debates, civil and less civil campaign activities. It’s very intense and people’s capacity to tolerate is pushed to the edge. Thankfully it’s going to be over tonight.

Meanwhile I’ve continued my daily doodling practise. A couple of days ago I caught myself thinking it has gotten easier. I struggle less with the lines and overall character of things. Also I sense a habit forming, I just can’t end my day without making some marks on paper.

But theres another thought – is just daily practice enough to improve? I feel there’s some coherence in my drawings, but also that I should do more, do better. And I’ve wondered, is there an afterlife to my drawings, in a sense that are they turning into patterns for example? We’ll see.

I read a book “Show your work” by Austin Kleon and felt inspired and motivated. He emphasises the importance of showing ones work consistantly from early days and sharing the process. So that is what I’m doing – posting here on Sunday mornings and sharing my staff. And hopefully I can figure out my path along the way.

Happy Sunday!

With all the best,

Hedvig

Vabatahtlikuna muuseumis I / Volunteer at the museum I

Craft, Inspiration

Eelmisel suvel olin lühikesel praktikal Hiiumaa muuseumis. Õppisin muuseumiesemeid kirjeldama ning koopiajoonist tegema. Esemed kirjeldamiseks sain ise valida, eeltöö tegin muisis ja kohapeal vaatasime hoidlas ringi.

Minu valikusse jäi tikitud padi HKM _ 3532:2 Tst 9:16

Padja kirjeldamine ja mahajoonistamine oli paras väljakutse. Tundub, et mis seal siis ära ei ole, aga süvenema hakates on palju detaile. Lõpuks tundus kõige mõistlikum lahendus kalka padjale asetada ja tikand ettevaatlikult maha joonistada.

Värvidele otsisin kaasavõetud lõngajuppide hulgast vasted ning pildistasin padja ja tikandi iga nurga alt üles, et kodus joonist tehes kogu info olemas oleks. Valguslaual sai üsna hõlpsasti joonise puhtalt maha võtta. Vormistasin tikandijoonise koos kirjeldusega ja püüdsin teha ka värvidega koopiajoonist.

Värvidega joonist teha oli keeruline. Joonis oli üsna suur, 1:1 suuruses, mis muutis pindade katmise keeruliseks. Just tausta värvimine oli raske ja ega lõpptulemus liiga hea ei saanudki. On nagu on, otsustasin, et ei kuluta rohkem aega. Ja väga hull ju ka ei ole.

Last summer I was an intern at Hiiumaa Museum for a short period of time. I learned how to describe museum textiles and how to make a copy drawing. I chose the objects for describing myself, First I did some research in muis, but they allowed me to look around in the repository as well.

I chose an embroidered pillow for my first task HKM _ 3532:2 Tst 9:16.

Describing and drawing the pillow turned out to be quite a challenge. At first glance it seems like an easy task, but once you dwell into it, there’s a lot of details. After several attempts I decided to use tracing paper and precautiously copied the image from pillow.

To identify colours I had brought a box full of yarn examples, so now I just needed to find the right ones. I also photographed the pillow from all possible angles to be sure, that when I’m at home making a pattern and drawing, I would have all the info I needed. To make a clear drawing of the embroidery, I found lighting table very useful. To the drawing I added list of embroidery stitches used on the original.

Lastly I attempted to make a coloured copy drawing of the pillow. That was so difficult. The drawing is quite large, in scale 1:1, what made it difficult to cover the surfeces evenly. Specially the background was hard and I admit the result isn’t too good. But I decided to leave it as it is and not to spend extensive amount of time. And overall I think it’s okay.

Mõtlen ja joonistan / Think and draw

Art, Inspiration, Sketchbook challenge

Mu pea on mõtteid nii täis, et vahepeal tuleb neid maha laadida ja korrastada, selgust luua. Olen viimased umbes 5 aastat olnud mingis veidras keerises. Tunnen, et vajan muutust, aga ei tea millist; tahan teistsugust elu, aga ei tea millist jne. Mul on vist keskeakriis 🙂 Tänaseks olen enda jaoks sõnastanud eesmärgid, kuhu tahan jõuda, loonud endale selgust ja teen teadlikke pingutusi sihile jõudmiseks. Luban endale protsessi nautimist ja vajadusel eesmärkide ümbersõnastamist. Olen avastanud, et plaani sõnastamine aitab mul fookust hoida ja tegutseda, hoiab mõtted positiivsel poolel.

“Joonistan iga päev” väljakutse on samuti osa protsessist. Mulle meeldib joonistada ja mulle endale tundub, et tuleb päris hästi välja, seega tahan seda oma ellu tagasi tuua. Alguses joonistasin poolsalaja, sest olen oma ebakindluses haavatav, aga julgustav on kuulda, kuidas mu teismeline tütar peaaegu kiidab mind ja pakub teemasid joonistamiseks.

Sel nädalal katsetasin akvarellidega. Pliiatsiga on mul head suhted, aga värvid on minu mugavustsoonist väga väljas. Oh, kuidas mulle meeldis! Need on kiired visandid, viimased 15 minutit enne magamaminekut, aga nii toredad tulid.

My head is so full of thoughts that they need to be downloaded and defragmented to create some clarity. For the last five years or so I’ve been in a weird turmoil. I feel that I need a change, but don’t know what kind, I want to live differently, but don’t know how etc. Maybe it’s a middle age crisis 🙂

For now I’ve figured out the goals I want to reach, created at least some clarity for myself and am making conscious efforts to achieve my goals. I’m allowing myself to enjoy the process and rephrase the preset milestones if necessary. I’ve realized how laying out a plan helps me keep my focus and keeps me actually doing things, helping to keep my thoughts on the positive side.

“Daily drawing” challenge is also part of the process. I really do like to draw and I think I’m pretty good at it, so I want to bring this practise back into my life. At first I kept my drawing semi secret, because I’m very vulnerable in my insecurity, but lately it’s been assuring to hear my teenage daughter almost praise me and she even offers ideas for my drawing!

This week I played with watercolours. I feel somewhat custom with a pencil, but paints are so out of my comfort zone. Boy, I liked it! These sketches are super fast, my last 15 minutes before going to bed, but they turned out really nice!