IPCA Members Share Their Photos and Ideas about Sketching

There are as many ways of approaching art as there are artists. Last year we asked members to share photos of their preliminary sketches and finished work as well as any thoughts they have about how sketching is important to their process. The responses were surprisingly varied! Some artists sketch each step in their process, including cane-making. Some sketches are just jottings of shapes and proportions; others include amazing detail, text, and color. These quotations and photos may inspire you to be more methodical in planning your work. 

Photos courstesy of Gera Scott Chandler

Planning a Cane with Pencil and Paper

Emilee Elder (http://emsgems.com/) of Pennsylvania writes, "I've been doing caneworking with polymer clay since late 1992, but recently started sketching my designs out first. I don't always have the patience to put a lot of detail into my canes, but sketching them beforehand gives me the incentive to put forth the extra effort. Sketching my designs makes me more conscious of my color combinations and in the long run, leads to much less clay waste and better canes. I occasionally revise my sketches when a certain part of a design doesn't ‘work’ for me." She shares with us the original sketch for her finished cane , which she explains was "worked up as a Christmas present for a friend's daughter who wanted ballet en point shoes in any colors but pink and black!"

Photos courtesy of Emilee Elder

Sketching a Handmade Stamp

Marlene Brady’s creative process from sketch to stamp to finished piece is recorded in her blog, "It's All About Creating," http://itsallaboutcreating.blogspot.com/2010/04/carving-your-own-pattern.html. She shared with her readers a free tutorial describing the process of making a raised polymer stamp from her original sketch. She shows us how she cut her design into the polymer, cured it, and applied more uncured clay to the stamp and then used it to create a finished pendant.

Photos courstesy of Marlene Brady

"The Reality of Head to Hands"

Susan O’Neill of http://www.11boldstreet.com/ shares with us three examples of sketches and "what actually happened in the studio...sort of the reality of ‘head to hands’," she writes.　The notes she makes to herself on her sketchpad record the material or techniques she may want to test out in the design: "cheesecloth--resin?" and they reveal how her work evolved from the sketch. (for example, what was originally intended to be "(black) lace" was finally realized as a deep ecru.

Photos courtesy of Susan O'Neill

Detailed Sketches Are Works of Art in Themselves

Gera Scott Chandler of A Mused Studio (http://www.gerascottchandler.com/)reports that she sketches her work before she even opens the clay packages. In the sketch for her mixed-media piece "Arbutus," Gera used every bit of space on the page to make notes to herself about what colors and media she’d use and about experiments she wanted to try ("photo transfer on acrylic paint--test heat"; "Google waterslide on acrylic--wood?") She also jotted down inspirational messages: "it isn’t what you’re looking for, it’s what you find." The resulting page is more than a roadmap to her finished work; it’s an exciting work of art in itself.

The color drawing for Gera’s "Among Friends," is lively and full of movement but only hints at the detail that would emerge in the finished work. It’s fascinating to note that the painting on the wall in "Among Friends," is Chandler’s "Meriel." By studying the sketch for "Meriel," which itself is a colorful painting, we can see how the work evolved. Be sure to note how the color palette and details like the hairstyle and the collar changed from the sketch to the finished piece. 

Photos courtesy of Gera Scott Chandler

"Arutus"

"Meriel"