Sketchbook PDF (Aug 2020) + Holiday Pictures

Hi everyone, 

Here's the Sketchbook PDF for August!

Sorry for the delay on this one, I was hoping to get more sketching done during the rest of the month, but that didn't really happen. 

I'll have the September PDF a bit later in the month also so that I can make sure it's a little more furnished than this one. 

I'll be honest, at the moment my sketching efforts are mostly focused on my Doodle Diary, and I am also concentrating more on creating bigger paintings which take time away from working in my sketchbook. 

I thought I would include the couple of paintings I managed during my holiday in this post also.
I painted these from life, which is something I struggle with but want to get better at. I have very little experience with plein-air painting, but I absolutely LOVE it (which you wouldn't be able to tell when I'm doing it, as I get so miserable and frustrated, haha).
I want to do more of it and actually found myself with more motivation and energy for it during these short holidays than I thought I would have. 

I painted these in watercolour, in my moleskine sketchbook, which, it turns out, does not take water very well, haha. I tried not to spend too long on each, partly because I was on holiday with friends, but also because I wanted to practice capturing the essential elements of the scene I was trying to reproduce, and avoid getting too bogged down with the details. 

This was our view from the patio. I sketched this in the evening, as the sun was setting and hitting the cliffs in the distance. I wanted to capture the beautiful orange glow coming from the mountain. I was sitting outside with our friends, having a drink, and although I am not all that satisfied with this piece, I love that it reminds me of that evening and how lovely it was. 

I find plein-air very hard and frustrating, but I have also noticed that, even if I am not happy with a piece I painted, it still helped me be more in the moment while I was working on it, and really ingrains a moment in my mind. Looking at this watercolour, I remember the moment in such stark detail, from the temperature, to the smells and the feelings of the time.
So rather than just feel down about not living up to my expectations of myself for the painting, I simply relive a lovely moment in time. It is wonderful. 

This plant was being hit by the sunlight in such a wonderful way that I felt compelled to sit down and paint it. Once again, I didn't achieve the effect I was going for in the piece, but I remember the quiet stillness and the warmth of the moment, and I feel happy that I managed to capture that memory simply by attempting to draw it. 

This one is unfinished, as I got gradually more frustrated by the painting process, but I learned so much just from the attempt at it. I experimented with using highlighters for the bright yellow and blues of the leaves and sky, and generally tried to relax and have fun whenever I felt myself tensing up and getting frustrated. 

Plein-air painting is such a good illustration of my relationship with art in general.
I am compelled and excited to do it, I can genuinely say I absolutely LOVE it, and am irresistibly drawn to it, but nothing brings me quite as much frustration, and makes me quite as annoyed and exasperated.

I do want to make sure to practice plein-air more often, as I find it is a perfect way to capture memories, and I always regret not dedicating more time to it when I experience something new.

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And now, here are a few pictures of our holiday!
I don't know if these will be of any interest to you, but I like sharing a little bit of my life with you every so often, and I hope that these can make you feel a little bit of the calm and beauty we felt when we were there.
Enjoy!

We first went to visit my parents, as I hadn't seen them since last Christmas.  We went on a short mountain hike with my brother, which made me deeply happy, as I miss hiking and the mountains in general. 

We then took the train down to the south of France and spent a week with our friends in Cassis. 

This was the view from our Airbnb patio. <3

Cassis is a really wonderful seaside village in the beautiful "calanques national park". Calanques are recesses in the coast where the sea creates small lagoon-like areas surrounded by tall cliffs. You can hike to 3 calanques from Cassis in about 3 hours round trip.
We attempted the hike ourselves, in the hopes of swimming in the calanques, but it was so incredibly packed and busy that we opted to view them from a distance. 

I have to say, this holiday wasn't exactly "relaxing", as the virus was definitely a source of anxiety, and the village was a lot more crowded than we expected, so we were very careful and tried to avoid people as much as possible. I have also been going through the hormonal ringer because of my new pill, which has been exhausting, but I think I am slowly leveling out.
It was still amazing to be able to get away for a little while, swim in the sea and enjoy the sun and the company of friends. 

I feel incredibly grateful to be able to do this.
I don't think I would have agreed to doing this holiday if we didn't have Airbnb credit from a holiday we had booked in 2019 for April 2020. We obviously had to cancel that one, but were able to keep the Airbnb money as credit, and as we hadn't bought our plane tickets yet, we were able to afford this august holiday instead. We managed to buy our plane tickets before air bridges were reopened, so we got very cheap ones, which helped too. I don't have much money left now, so will have to work extra hard for the next few months, but this holiday really helped me take a step back and breathe a little better, and I can't believe how privileged I am to have been able to afford it in the current climate.
Seeing my family in particular was a balm to the soul. I miss them so damn much, and I am so worried about them all the time, that seeing them was invaluable. 

It's in big part thanks to all of you, so thank you all so much for your support this year. 

The UK established a quarantine on anyone coming back from France while we were away, so we now have to stay home for 2 weeks, but to be honest, that doesn't really change us much from what we do anyway, as both my boyfriend and I work from home and are little hermits. We bought a load of food and are now self-isolating in our little den, which suits me fine. 

Anyway.
I hope you enjoyed this little update and holiday recap, as well as the PDF!

How are you all? What does your life look like at the moment?

I hope you are all as well as you can be,
Sending you love,
M