{"id":24632,"date":"2022-11-25T17:27:15","date_gmt":"2022-11-26T01:27:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.howtopastel.com\/?p=24632"},"modified":"2022-11-25T17:27:20","modified_gmt":"2022-11-26T01:27:20","slug":"a-sketchbook-of-thumbnails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.howtopastel.com\/2022\/11\/a-sketchbook-of-thumbnails\/","title":{"rendered":"A Sketchbook Of Thumbnails"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The October 31-pastels-in-31-Days Challenge is well behind us now. The primary purpose of the Challenge is to get something painted each and every day. And this can be oh so hard!! One thing that helps me make this daily practice happen is having a sketchbook of thumbnails.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why is this useful? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because a lot of the hard work has already been done!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Imagine. You get to your studio ready to paint but first, ack!, you need to decide what to paint. If you\u2019re painting from photos, you need to choose a photo. Then you need to select what part of the photo to use. Then you need to simplify\u2026and create a good composition and also determine a strong value pattern. You have to figure out what format to use. So much to do before you actually put pastel to paper!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And that\u2019s where a sketchbook of thumbnails comes in. The work\u2019s already done! Here’s a sheet of thumbnails – all except one was used to paint from last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"A<\/a>
Dogwalkers and gallery goers<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Each day of the Challenge (and this is true of any day I’m in my studio to paint something representational), I just flipped through my sketchbook and chose a thumbnail that jumped out at me. Then it was a matter of grabbing some paper and sketching up the piece. And yes! then it was time to jump into pastels. (The sketching-up-on-paper process could always be done the day before. It doesn\u2019t require creativity so doing it at the end of the day works well. The next morning, you can jump straight into pastels. Whoot whoot!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you\u2019re painting from life, eg from a still-life set up, you need to do the same things in preparation to apply pastel. It\u2019s trickier to create a sketchbook of thumbnails already completed though, so this idea works best when using photos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"A<\/a>
Here\u2019s one of my sketchbooks with a number of yellow post-it note tags. They represent a page with thumbnails that I haven\u2019t used for paintings yet. Still LOTS to go!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Many of the thumbnails I worked from in this year\u2019s Challenge were created last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s an example. Most of the thumbnails on the page below were used for the 2020 Challenge. There are two that weren\u2019t used. In 2022, I selected one of two unused thumbnails to paint from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"A<\/a>
A page of thumbnails from previous years<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"Rhythm<\/a>
Gail Sibley, “The Red Circle,” Unison Colour pastels on UART 320, 8 x 12 in. Available. $600. I love that the red circle in Miro\u2019s painting is the thing we see in this boy\u2019s phone. I wanted to make Miro\u2019s painting the star of this piece and then have the second red circle (and figures) noticed secondarily. \n\nJoan Mir\u00f3, \u201cFigure in Front of the Sun,\u201d 1968, acrylic on canvas, 174 x 260 cm, Miro Foundation, Barcelona, Spain.\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Here\u2019s another example. Thumbnails done and painted from last year, one thumbnail used this year, and one possibility remaining.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"A<\/a>
Thumbnails – Miro selfie used this year, three others used previously, and one still to go. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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\"Gail<\/a>
Gail Sibley, “Selfie with Women, Birds, (Gallery Goers series),” Unison Colour pastels on UART 320, 10 x 10 in. Available $625. After I taught a destination retreat workshop on the coast of Spain, I headed to Barcelona for some \u201cme\u201d time. I adored the Miro Foundation and many of my Gallery Goer paintings have been set in this wonderful museum. I smiled when I saw this guy trying to take a selfie with this gigantic piece by Mir\u00f3!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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So When To Do The Thumbnails?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Whenever you don\u2019t have time to do a full-blown piece!<\/p>\n\n\n\n