The curfews imposed in Sri Lanka meant that I could not do many of the things I enjoy – meeting friends, cycling, being outdoors, etc. It was a real challenge for me to find something I was passionate about, particularly as there was so much going on in my head with the IB exams cancelled, the German embassy possibly evacuating German citizens and other things. I did several things like playing the trumpet more regularly, working out, helping out around the house and taking an online Dutch course to prepare me for live in The Netherlands, where I will go to study (given that the COVID-19 situation becomes better).
One activity that I started is doing sketches of what I see. I like doing this as I would like to be able to quickly represent what I am seeing both accurately and creatively, and it is a good way to become better at perspectives, different values (particularly in pencil sketches) and so forth. I usually take a long time for paintings (for a Visual Arts piece I took over 100 hours painting, and additional time for planning, mixing colors and media testing) which requires a lot of patience, so this is a nice change.
The first thing I drew was more than a sketch. When I was in Borneo I photographed a Buff-rumped Woodpecker and thought its markings would look good in pencil. It was fun to draw the fine barring on the head and underparts. The texture of the branch ended up ok, but not as accurate as I hoped.
I am quite happy with the result. I still need to improve my techniques for drawing backgrounds, which should be blurry and smooth. What is always fun for me when drawing realistically is representing what I saw as closely as possible, because that sighting was special and because I feel all the fine details make a moment the was it was, so recreating those details is a way of reliving the moment.
From time to time I just did some sketches that help with shadows, shading and shapes. Below is one of those. These are important as it is crucial for me to learn how to apply certain drawing styles to create particular textures and light. This is noticeable in pieces where there is light and shadow, which are necessary to be distinctive to create more contrast. Not doing this makes the piece look plain and boring often.
I did several sketches of what I saw in my house. For example, the first shows the progress of a roughly 30 minute sketch I did from my seat where I did distant learning. I was not busy working so I took my sketch book and put what I saw on paper. The perspective in this one is quite good and I am happy with this sketch given the short time I spent on it. The second is a watercolor drawing I did from my balcony. It was a lot of fun to create as I sat outside on my balcony for about an hour and drew what I saw. Putting what you see on paper – and having the liberty to modify it how you feel – is very satisfying and relaxing. Although there are several flaws with the watercolor drawing, I am happy with it as I am not good at painting in watercolor and I partly wanted to make this piece to improve. One thing I am trying to do is using less color and making the piece appear lighter, with the white paper showing through in more places.
In summary, drawing and sketching is a fun and productive way to pass time in lockdown. I will continue sketching as much as I can, and I hope to see improvements. Drawing is a great thing I find, allowing me to recreate moments and places in a situation when I feel like it, and it’s always fun to look at a sketch from longer ago and remember where and when it was done, which also brings back memories from the place itself.