Today we are talking about drawing from life versus drawing from photos and which is best. And I think we know, now more than ever before, what a different skill drawing from life is since we started doing a lot more sketching trips out and about.

It’s really easy to rely on photo’s for practice, and while there’s nothing wrong with drawing from photos, it’s important to also practise drawing from life as much as you can.

In today’s interview, we are talking to Artist Ian Fennelly. Ian is an urban sketcher who creates and sells his amazing sketches. His work mainly features buildings which are painted with splashes of beautiful vibrant colours and use lively linework. Not only is Ian a fantastic painter he is also very entertaining and tells some interesting stories in this podcast.

Today we are talking about fun things you can do with a creative friend. Art can be a solitary activity, but it needn’t always be that way. Particularly now we have the internet. More than ever before we can connect with other creative people and find fun things to do together without even having to meet! In fact, Sandra and I didn’t meet in person for at least a year.

We can put so much pressure on ourselves to be productive and creative. Sometimes you really need to allow yourself a break to recharge ready to make new art.

Today’s guest is Illustrator and Urban Sketcher Lynne Chapman. Lynne has had a fascinating career and lots of tips to share if you’re an aspiring illustrator. But what made us reach out to Lynne was her amazing urban sketching. As you may know Sandra and I are both working on improving our sketching on location and whenever I’d google urban sketching tips Lynne’s name would pop up. So if you’re interested in illustration or urban sketching I think you’ll really enjoy this interview.

Today we are talking about the importance of going out specifically to sketch from life, and how to plan a successful trip.

Obviously, not everyone can dedicate a whole day to sketching on a regular basis. It might be that you can only spare your lunch hours at work, but we can talk about ‘snatching time to sketch’ in a future episode. Today we are focussing on arranging a dedicated sketching day trip.

Today’s creative guest is artist and illustrator Barbara Johansen Newman from https://www.johansennewman.com/

Barbara has had a fascinating career from puppetry to illustration to licensing. And now she has gone back to her first love which is painting. What is interesting about Barbara’s art is that although her figurative paintings are interesting in themselves, she builds a world around them using found objects and by painting on unusual surfaces.

As Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Art is never finished, only abandoned.” 

Sandra wasn’t entirely sure it was Da Vinci, but we’ve checked it now… Phew...she was right

Today we are talking about how to recognise when your piece of art is ready to be abandoned. Not knowing when to stop can be the difference between a beautiful piece of work, and something that is overworked and almost sterile.

We release a new episode every fortnight on a Monday, you can subscribe in all the usual places.

Today’s creative guest is Deb Weiers from http://debweiersart.com @debweiersart. Deb is a mixed media artist based in Red Deer Canada who creates amazing semi-abstract faces. Her art is incredibly distinct and she uses a very intuitive approach to create her art. It was seeing Debs Faces that inspired me to try creating a few semi-abstract faces myself for our Abstract April Challenge.

In today’s episode, we talk about why artists and writers often live with guilt and how to overcome it. Although everyone can feel guilty at times, the problem for creatives is that they tend to get a double dose. Artists and writers can feel guilty when they are creating and yet they can also feel guilty when they’re not. So this is where finding a balance is really important.