Let’s Draw UNDERWATER SEASCAPES! + a weekend PICNICS Pop-Up!
Plus a peek in my sketchbook & what I've been up to 👀
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 29 @ 7:00PM ET on YouTube & Twitch
This week feels like it might be a gentle breath after last week’s negative space animals 🧘
Underwater seascapes are filled with all the dreamy colours and so many fluid shapes that no matter where you look it’s simply a delight. Perfect if you want to play with loose abstracts or work on your linework - there will be no right or wrong way to tackle this week! (Not that there ever is with AHP!)
Special thank you to for helping gather references for this week!
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POP-UP! ART HANG PARTY!
SATURDAY, MARCH 2 at 10am et on YouTube & Twitch
Theme: PICNICS!
We will be having a special weekend pop-up ART HANG PARTY! to allow our friends in other timezones who have to catch the replays to join us LIVE!
I tried finding some good vintage/retro 60s/70s picnic photos but was having the hardest time finding ones that would work well as references, so we have some "vintage-vibes” photos courtesy of Pinterest. We’ll be setting the timer at 20 minutes for this session, plenty of time to add all the little details in these picnic settings!
Don’t forget to set your notifications over on YouTube for the sessions - it really helps to let YT know people are excited and that maybe they should let more people know about it 😉
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Next ART HANG PARTY! will be Thursday, March 7 at 7pm et on YouTube & Twitch
Theme: Choose Your Own Adventure Coffee Shop Experience!
Do you have an idea for a future ART HANG PARTY! theme?
Follow and DM your doodles to @arthangparty on Instagram to be shared on stream! Tag @arthangparty to be featured in our stories!
Join the ART HANG PARTY! discord! https://discord.gg/XztzrCkQT5 🤗💖✨ A place to share your AHP drawings, theme ideas, inspirations, artworks, and for us to get to know each other better! 🥰
Watch past ART HANG PARTY! replays here
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 19
Today was a holiday here in Canada so I had some bonus art time! (HAPPY FAMILY DAY btw!)
I decided to turn back to our Japan trip and the Japanese Garden at Shinjuku Gyoen National Garden and have a play with my oil pastels.
I’m not sure this is my most successful oil pastel piece - I don’t think there’s enough value variety (is that the right term?) and it feels little bit flat to me, but it was fun to make and that’s what matters!
In the evening I wanted to keep the playful theme going and try something new.
I wanted to draw real people so I pulled up the Beauty Uniform archive over on
’s Cup of Jo website and worked off the post thumbnails. First I blocked in the shirt colours using Inktense paint, then I went back with my Pentel pocket brush pen to add the faces.Like the oil pastel piece, these are not not my most successful people drawings, but they were fun!
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 20
I’ve had a project that I’ve been wanting to work on for years. YEARS!
Let’s say it was 5 years ago (though probably more like 7 or 8) that I wrote a cute little story that popped into my head. There are a lot of great visuals in it and I want to illustrate them. Make a picturebook, if you will!
I’ve started and stopped and restarted a few times, but I think it’s finally time to get to work. I want to play and experiment with new techniques, mostly traditional watercolour that gets turned into a digital collage to make finished illustrations. Have I seen this done before? I don’t think so. Do I really know how to do it? No but I will figure it out!
I have decided enough is enough. I’m telling you here (and I’m filming the process for my youtube channel, likely sprinkling it over a number of vlogs) for accountability reasons.
If YOU know about, I HAVE to do it!
So, when I show you these random blobs of colour that really look like nothing (but hopefully somewhat like suns and moons?) just know that these are the start of this new project!
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 21
Today for art time I really felt like having a play and drawing some old family photos that I’ve been keeping in my camera roll.
I used my black polychromos pencil and a few choice Neocolor IIs and I didn’t think too much about it!
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 22
ART HANG PARTY! Day!
Do you know when you’re really excited about something and then it finally comes and it’s a bit of a let down because you’ve already experienced all your excitement beforehand in anticipation? I was worried that would happen with Negative Space Animals week at ART HANG PARTY! but it didn’t!
This week was SO! MUCH! FUN! They are all always fun, but this felt like playtime. It’s always nice experiment and try new things!
If you remember, our homework was to prepare our papers with lots of colour that we would draw and colour over to carve out animals using negative space. I did one sheet of hot press watercolour paper with Kuretake paints (the more saturated colours below), and the other with some pastel watercolours I made with Holbein watercolours.
I used a black coloured pencil to draw the silhouette of the animal, then used a black necolor I to scribble in the background, then back to the pencil to draw in the details. Only once did I forget my order and go from silhouette to details haha.
I love them all but I think the seal and the bear are my favs :)
And then we ended the session with some very silly 30-second blind contour drawings!
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 23
It’s not very often that I play with clay, but I’ve had this idea for a little ART HANG PARTY! paint palette in my head for a while now, and as is the theme for the week (I guess?) it was time to do something about it.
I love my little 3-colour Holbein watercolour palette *see below*. If I could only ever use 3 colours for the rest of my life, give me Gamboge Nova, Quinacridone Magenta and Turquoise Blue. They are perfect and I won’t hear any arguments to the contrary.
They are also perfect for ART HANG PARTY! When time is limited, a limited palette is the thing. On their own the colours are bright and vibrant. Mixed together and you get some really interesting colours. So, I thought maybe I could make some little mini paint palettes to sell in my shop for people to use for AHP! and otherwise!
I used some air dry clay and had a play with a few design options, settling into the idea of the long rectangles. The more square one was my first idea, with a little mixing area, but it’s just too small to be functional, so away with it.
Anyway, they need to dry and then I’ll varnish them and go from there. If this is something you would be interested in please let me know!
After dinner I was a in the mood for some gentle creative time, so I turned on the replay of Sophie McPike’s Scribble Brigade from earlier in the week. She’s started doing the same theme for the month (smart!) so it was more retro National Geographic landscapes. Since I’d already done 2 sessions with Neocolor II scribbles, and since I had my 3-colour watercolour palette out it seemed like the way to go.
Sophie started the session with mayhem, limiting us to 5 colours (I pre-mixed a green, purple and orange, though barely used the orange) and then 5 seconds per colour! She counted down from 5 to 0 then we would switch colours and go again 😅
Then we moved on to one-minute per colour for the remainder of the session. I found with watercolours I didn’t actually need the full minute and I didn’t always use all 5 colours because I could mix on the page.
There is something about using watercolour (or gouache) for these quick landscape sessions that are so much fun. It takes the control out of your hands and allows for loose abstracts that I don’t think I could achieve otherwise.
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 24
At the beginning of the week I set an intention to play in my sketchbook. I think I have been doing that all week, but today was the ultimate!
It started with a fun drawing game
posted over on , where she listed out 10 animals and 10 humans, then you would pick 2 numbers between 1 and 10 and combine the two!SO! MUCH! FUN!
I used my homemade Neocolor II paints, a couple Neocolor Is, and a black pencil.
And then!
of opened up a zoom drawing session to the public and I decided to join!The them was 100 hats in 100 minutes. Char set up it up so the images would change automatically after one minute - no rest - no breathers - just one after the other! 😅
The references were great, so varied and interesting. Knowing I needed to be speedy I went for Neocolor IIs and a black pencil (I’m loving this combo for drawing people).
SO! MUCH! FUN!
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 25
I think all the scribbles of this week - negative space animals, 100 faces, etc. etc. have really done a number on my drawing hand. It is feeling very sore right now. Like strap-an-ice-pack-to-it-and-use-my-left-hand-for-everything sore. I’ve never really experienced this, so I’m not sure how much art I will be making today. I think I should keep icing it and let it rest. 🫠
Or maybe I’ll do some non-dominant hand drawing… we’ll see! But I’ll share that next week, if it happens.
✨ UPDATE ✨
I was feeling really weird not playing in m sketchbook this afternoon and so Ra suggested I should see if I could paint - just hold the brush really loose and don’t put any pressure on it and see what happens. And guess what!
I CAN PAINT!
I did a few more of Beth’s drawing game animal-human combo friends 🥰
Ok, now for some rest and more ice packs…
Basically everything above but in video form!
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Ok, that’s it for me! Thanks for reading!
See you Thursday (and Saturday!) at ART HANG PARTY!
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Finally catching up reading your Newsletter :) I always take a few days to get to the rhythm after a weekend offline! Looks like you really had an amazing and funny week artwise 🤩 how is your hand? I love your idea for the picture book, think it could be also a very beautiful idea for a zine (which you can do 'easily' at home and sell too) ☀️🌙 can't wait to the pop up live on Saturday ❤️
Aww hope your hand heals swiftly! Love seeing all the wonderful work you made with it though! ❤️🩹