Sketching on the iPad

I have had an iPad mini for quite a few years, and last year my family upgraded me for my birthday as my old one wouldn't update some apps etc etc.  I use it constantly for emails, blogging, keynote presentations, note taking etc, but I know I've never explored it's full potential.

When I was away in Christchurch, I was pretty chocka luggage wise, and so I didn't risk packing a sketchbook.  And it was a pain, I was coming across lots of inspiration and getting heaps of new ideas - as you do when you travel - but I had no way to start processing them.  So I stuck with taking lots of photos, and hoped that I'd remember the ideas I had.

Then I thought about my iPad. That tends to go everywhere with me, and I know you can use it to make great art (check out Susie Monday, a textile artist who makes wonderful art inspired by and with her iPad, and teaches it too) so maybe it was time to have a play with some apps.

The one I've found that I'm enjoying playing with is Adobe Photoshop Sketch. I think it was free, and if it did cost, it wouldn't have been much. I don't mind paying a one off reasonable fee for an app, but I don't like to get hooked into monthly or yearly subscriptions!

Here is my first ever drawing using the app, trying to get used to the different tools:

And then I did this one:

Which I'm quite pleased with. I figured out how to import photographs, 'trace' them and then hide them again.  Which you can see in progress below. Yes, I made my daughter pose upsidedown on a chair for me! This is an idea for a quilt that's been floating (sorry!) around in my head for a while, so it was good to get it recorded.

My artist friend, Helen, says that when you record ideas in a sketchbook and then shut the pages, they all have 'idea sex' and when you open it up again, you'll get a whole lot of new ideas. I wonder if this will work with a virtual sketch book?!

Have you used your phone/tablet/device as an art tool? Found any apps that you love? Let us all know so we can share in the arty fun!

Sewing Machine Sketching

A friend was recently writing about keeping a sketchbook and it got me thinking.  I do keep sketchbooks, and I have a few for different purposes - utilitarian working out of ideas, decorated journal pages and true sketchbooks for drawing what I see.  But I don't use any of them on a schedule, and I probably should.  We all know that regular practice improves a skill.

My free-motion quilting skills have been languishing a little and I need to quilt some work that I don't want to stuff up.  I also want to improve my skills of drawing with the machine, not just doing pretty patterns.  Practice is needed.  So I've made up some fabric sketchbook pages, just 8 inch x 11 inch spray basted sandwiches, and I intend to use one every day to draw something.

I don't have one of those teflon slider mats (they are rather pricey and I'm trying to give the credit card a little rest) so I cut a tiny hole in one of my silicone pressing sheets and taped it down over the bed of my machine table. It made it noticeably easier to move my work, so a proper slider sheet is now on my 'when I'm feeling rich' list.

It's not bad for a first effort.  My teapot is not quite the right shape, but it least it's recognisable!  It's tricky when the picture disappears behind your presser foot and I'm not sure if I can turn the work and sketch upside down like you can when you are just making patterns.

I'll try and be regular about this practice and hopefully I'll see an improvement as I go.

Are there any skills you are using regularly to try and gain an improvement with?