The Wobbly Line ~ 11

Moss, sketchbooks, & languishing.

Hello!

Welcome to The Wobbly Line ~ 11. Now, I know my pattern is to do these at the VERY END of the month but this month tricked me - 28 days only what is that about!! Anyway, see ya later Feb! You’ve been quite beautiful actually and provided some real glimpses of spring to come, so this banner is dedicated to all the nice colours that are en route! :) Here’s what I’ve been up to in Febbo.

February ~ agenda.

1. Moss, moss, moss, & lichen.

2. Video; Process of this month’s header.

3. Creative languishing - cured only by animals.

4. Whatcha been up to JB?

1. I lichen moss very much (I’m sorry).

My name is JB and I’m obsessed with moss (& lichen). I am very lucky at the moment to live in a beautiful house and garden with Ed & his mum - here, nature lives according to its own rules at every turn, mossy stones and tree stumps, lichen covered twigs, as well as heather and bracken and ferns and acorns everywhere… I spent a nice little time in the garden discovering all the moss there was to be found, as well as some lovely fallen oak lichen. I took tiny samples as not to disturb nature too much and I made some moss prints (not hugely successful) as well as some sketchbook studies. The making of the studies will be available for my paid tier on substack next month :)

2. Watch me create the header.

3. Animals cure my creative woes.

This month, and for the last few months, I have been creatively languishing - the dominant emotion of 2021 that seems to still have a hold on me in my creative self. This is how it goes for me; my brain enjoys watching people create art, I’m inspired hugely by artworks from history and contemporary sources, I know I am capable of making nice things, I have many ideas of what I’d love to do and my response? Sit down and not do anything. I am really trying to will myself on to do things at the moment and it feels like a great effort, though when I’ve done them I feel much better. Do you have any tips for me on this? Or do you feel the same as this currently? The biggest cure for this right now is looking to lovely animals; Ed’s mum’s dog Monty the ever loving and hilarious golden retriever, and all the birds in the garden (the naughty nuthatches, and the beautiful goldfinches - a rare but special sight). They cheer me up loads and have given me a real boost to expand my portrait offerings to pets. I know I’ve mentioned this before and will try and get things ready to launch for that next month (lots of cat practise because I find them so hard to draw!). Here are some recent doggos and a picture of Monty (examples from a few years ago and then a recently wobbly line drawing from Sarah Dyer’s patreon zoom).

4. What creative seeds have you been watering miss Brown?

4a. Life drawing & patreon sessions.

Here are some drawings I’ve this month courtesy of Sarah Dyer & Emma Carlisle’s patreons. I’ve been a patreon of these two for a long time and it’s 1 million percent worth it. Again I’ve been loving the oil pastels and quick mark making - I can see these becoming more staple in my work for the time being anyway!

4b. Sketchbook filling.

This month I did a stupid thing and said I was very tempted by a 100 day drawing challenge - safe to say I didn’t even do day 1. 100 days seems like a full on lifetime to me atm, so instead I put that time into filling some sketchbook pages with a random array of images that I want to include in my book. I was somewhat pleased with the result, the video of my process as well as a pre-draw and post-draw chat is available to my paid tier substackers (also you’ll know I called the shell below a mussel shell - I’m a buffoon and it’s obvs not a mussel).

4c. The scene that never ends.

I’ve been working this scene for too long - creating quick versions of it over and over. I think this is the journey I have to take when I tackle bigger pieces like this, that will have an ongoing narrative in several other illustrations. This illustration is included in my book and I just know once I’ve nailed this scene, I’ll have learnt so much about the materials and colours and style that will inform my other pieces for this book. Next month on my paid tier I am going to do a slow video of me creating this scene FOR THE LAST TIME I promise!

The end of The Wobbly Line ~ 11

I hope you enjoyed The Wobbly Line ~ 11. Thank you so very much for being here, it gives me so much joy and motivation to create work for this platform and I literally couldn’t do it without your support. Big love, JB x