Making art during this heatwave
Plus last chance for earlybird pricing for faith journaling
Lots of people are dealing with massive heat! Sometimes that kills off our motivation for creating, or just becomes physically impossible as the temps rise.
I’ve been lucky thus far; I live in the pocket of the USA that’s been back into late-spring again for a few weeks. We even had a thunderstorm this week, and a wee bit of rain with it.
However - it appears summer’s finally going to kick our rear-ends too, and I thought maybe I’ll write up a few ideas on how I get through the heat and still make art. As someone without air conditioning - that’s the perspective I’m coming from.
I time my art to follow the sun. Or unfollow it? The studio faces the dawn and is much cooler until afternoon, so I get up extra early to get work done while it’s tolerable, and by late afternoon I just know I won’t get more finished, and I’m okay with that.
Are there places you can go for a sketch outing with air conditioning? Sketch in the mall, or a coffee shop, anywhere in town that’s got interesting things to draw. Maybe you’ll even think of a spot you’d not considered before!
Sketch outside only in places with shade! Find a big old tree to hang out under, or a tent or whatever you can find. I’ll be going to a music festival today and will be getting there way early to stake out some shade.
Stay hydrated! Take lots of water, electrolytes if you need ‘em, wear a hat, and taking a little battery-powered fan can be a big help. Our dollar store sells them for…$1.50! So no excuses that you can’t find one cheap.
Use the hottest hours of the day to sit “in the dark” and do your art research! Take your tablet or phone into a cool dark room (for me it’s the bedroom), keep the lights off or low, and scroll for inspiration. Watch videos and take notes, research photos you’d like to paint or draw, and if you can have lights on without too much lightbulb heat, take a little sketchbook into your cool sanctuary.
Need a little something to inspire you? My friend Marty was the demo artist on Friday at Daniel Smith’s zoom call, and she’ll make you want to get out your pink watercolors. Watch the replay on Facebook here, and follow Marty here! I painted this little gem after watching her….it’s not my style, but it was fascinating to see what happens with REALLY wet paper!
Notes from the studio
The Faith Jounaling Workshop is coming right up on the 21st and 22nd! Two days of inspiration, ideas, and perspective, and I’ve got an exclusive nature journaling page to share with you. Have you signed up yet? Let me know! Early bird pricing ends the 20th, and today’s the 19th, so get on it. Only $37 for a ton of value!
Come back on Wednesday for a FREE Substack live! We’ll explore Goethite - with the subject prompt “Cardboard.” Which could get very interesting! Be sure you’re signed up as a free or paid subscriber so you get the reminder in your email.
Tutorials this week
Tuesday I posted an inadvertent part 2 about trees…
Drawing trees part 2: Learn to see trees as shapes
Last Tuesday my drawing group took a field trip - we’re on break from hiring models and paying for the room we’re usually in, but some of us decided to go meet in a park and sketch trees instead.
Saturday I created a playlist to capture all these color studies - and I’ll keep going with them, it’s been fun to experiment with other colors not in my palette!
Comparing 3 Daniel Smith Transparent Oxide watercolors
Lately I’ve been doing more color exploration - and especially with the daily color prompts to match with the World Watercolor Month subject prompts! I’m trying colors I don’t remember playing with, even though I had a tube, and I know I swatched it years ago…ha!
Dad jokes
How do you let a deer know you like her?
You fawn over her.What did the deer say when it left the barbershop?
“I feel like a million bucks!”What game do fawns like playing at sleepovers?
Truth-or-deer.Why did the deer get braces?
He had buck teeth.