What's in my sketchbook [VIDEO]
- Fiona Stewart
- 14 hours ago
- 2 min read
Updated: 2 hours ago
My early sketches aren’t about getting everything right, they’re about figuring out what I’m actually trying to say.
Often, I’ll start down one path and end up in an entirely different place. I usually fill an entire book before I’m ready to put anything down on paper or in this case, burlap.
In this video, I take you through the sketchbook which inspired the final pieces for the 'Where the birds cast shadows' collection.
At this stage, I’m looking at the general shape and composition. For the ‘Where Birds Cast Shadows’, I started looking at landscape forms; I wanted something which felt deconstructed or human-like. This then moved towards more abstract figures. Again, I’m just figuring out where I’m going..
Eventually, I started looking as lines and waves, which became wings. I love when ink bleeds through the page.
The bleed through felt like a shadow of a life lived. I spent quite a bit of time exploring wings and shapes here - some of my favourite sketches. In the future, I’d love to do an entire series on paper based on these sketches.
By the time I’d filled the sketch book, I knew I wanted to work a material. I tested out various weights of linen and canvas, but in the end opted for burlap.
In a previous blog I explain why I made that choice - see here.
I love how ink and oil pastels look on burlap there is a coarseness which feels lived in.
I love the texture and how it keeps the artwork feeling alive.
Each of the finished pieces has shadows of a life lived. I think about how something as structurally delicate as a wing carries so much history and place.
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