Still Playing in the Australian Piano Hinge Book...

 After multiple trips to the eye doctor and one to our regular doctor hubby is okay now from his eye injury, food poisoning, and shingles, and my visit to my retina specialist this week went well also. So thankful for both!

So, after completing my last Winsor Newton sketchbook, I've been doing a bit of sketching and a couple of collages, still in my handmade Australian Piano Hinge Book. For some reason I'm still sketching boudoir (bed) dolls. I love these dolls, and was gifted one from a Facebook friend a few years ago. 

These doll sketches are all inspired by Pinterest photos, and I'm having so much fun with them. They are sketched with various graphite, stablio, LYRA water-soluble pencils/stick, with a bit of India ink thrown in.

This one is a collage that started with an old brown paper bag with mixed media marks  and stenciling on it, a bit of newsprint with words circled, a piece of spattered teabag, a LOVE stamp, a printed photo of my grandpa's old homeplace, also where I live, just in a different house, a printed photo of my maternal grandparents when they were young, and some India ink applied with a stick. I wrote their initials on the brown paper beside them. I like it, and I miss them very much!

This one is just kind of random pieces glued around a brown stablio pencil sketch from my imagination, plus one of my favorite quotes/poems. The LOVE paper was the cover of a book of stamps several years ago that I couldn't throw away. The little envelope contained some spare buttons for a garment I had purchased, and it now contains a mini print of one of Toni Burt's drawing/collages. I love her work, and this print was a free gift from a class I took from her. The affirmation quote is from a free page of affirmations from Tamara Laporte. I have added a strip of black and white striped washi tape down the left side of the page since this picture was scanned in, which added a lot to it. Just a fun random page!

Just a work in progress that I may, or may not, ever finish. I made a selfie that I liked, which is rare. I'm not good at selfies, but I decided to try sketching from it. I don't have much of a likeness, but it's good practice. I used a couple of different graphite pencils, so far.

That's it for this post! It's almost 5:00 a.m., and I've been awake since before 3:00 a.m. It's one of those nights where I wake up with stuff on my mind that won't let me sleep, so I get up, fix me a cup of chamomile tea, turn the music video channel on without sound, and try to relax enough to go back to bed. This morning I decided to finish this blog post, so I accomplished something while I am up anyway. Plus, I'm enjoying the quiet and stillness, but I'm feeling a little drowsy, so I'm going to sign off and try to get some more sleep in before hubby gets up and brings the house to life. Ha!

Take care of you and make something you enjoy making!  

Latest Sketches in My Australian Piano Hinge Sketchbook

 I finished my last W/N sketchbook a couple of weeks ago with the acrylic sketch in my last post, and life's been happening, so I hadn't sketched much until the last few days, and these are all in my handmade sketchbook. They got a little messy, because I can't remember to put a paper under my hand when I'm sketching. Therefore, I smudge what I've already sketched, plus the clean sheet of paper on the opposite side. Also, because the paper is thin, sometimes when I sketch on the back of a page the other side shows through some. Oh, well! They aren't meant to be masterpieces, and every one teaches me something!

This one is from some paper that I had painted black acrylic onto and cut out some shapes for something else. Days later I picked the paper with the holes in it up and saw a vase and leaf shapes, so I glued it into my book and added some details with a micron ink pen and a white gel pen. The vase shape and leaves are actually the book page. The black part is where I scrubbed the black paint onto the paper that I glued onto the page. I thought it was interesting...

This was a paper that I cleaned the paint off my palette/brush while I was painting in acrylics. It resembled a tree with fall leaves to me, so I gave it a black trunk and a frame and glued it into my book. I like it!

I saw this photo on Pinterest and found her interesting, so I tried to sketch her using a large  LYRA water-soluble graphite stick, although I didn't use any water with it. It did help loosen up my sketching some though.

I experimented with different media and elements on a large sheet of paper while I was making pages for my Magpie's Nest Journal, then tore it into smaller pieces. Some I used in the Magpie's Nest, but I liked this one as is, so I glued it into this book. The quote is from Ivy Newport. For some reason I couldn't get this paragraph to align left. Sorry!

Another sketch from a Pinterest photo that I found interesting, also with the large LYRA graphite stick.

Also from a Pinterest photo reference with the large LYRA graphite stick...

And another interesting face from Pinterest with the LYRA graphite stick...

I switched gears and, since I love the old boudoir (bedroom) dolls, I decided to try a group sketch with the LYRA graphite stick. I've had these sticks for years, but have rarely tried to sketch with them. They do force you to sketch looser and not fiddle with the details!

I've discovered that spraying them with matte sealer gives them a softer fuzzier look, which I'm not crazy about, but my clear sealer wasn't handy.

There are also some pages in between these that I'm still working on, so I didn't include them in this post. Maybe they'll be finished by the next post! 

Thanks for visiting!

More Australian Piano Hinge Book Sketches

 Still practicing faces and shading. Two of them are from my imagination, three are from my original photo references, and one is from a paused TV image. I'm proud of how far I've come, but I still have a lot of practicing to do! All in my piano hinge handmade sketchbook.

I really like this sketchbook and am looking forward to making another one when I have the time and energy. Next time I will use better materials. I intended this one to be a learning experience and an example, but it's so handy to pick up and sketch in, plus I can easily take out any pages to work on or throw away. That's a plus! (Class instructions in Sketchbook Revival 2026-link on sidebar)

First Pages in My Handmade Australian Piano Hinge Sketchbook

 I made this journal in a Sketchbook Revival class as a sample, with no intentions of using it, so I did the rest of the classes in my Winsor Newton mixed media sketchbook. I used paper from a very large mixed media sketchbook that I had left over from some college classes I took back around 2000, so the paper is pretty old, but it is acid free and seemed sturdy enough for this purpose. The hinges are from the same paper, and I added some gold marker paint to them since I first shared the journal (not shown here). I also added some stenciling to the front. It still needs something to fasten it, but I haven't decided what yet.

Anyway, I had an itch to sketch the other day, and I had paint drying on my W/N page, so I picked up this little gem and started playing in it. I like it, and will definitely be making another one out of better, and newer, paper. (See previous post for more about it)

I used the first page to clean off my palette of acrylics with a brush, just randomly covering the page, then added some Anthraquinone Blue, which I thought was Indigo, around the sides and let it dry while I cut out some of my squiggly artwork that I had printed off previously. When it was dry, I used a UHU glue stick to glue the squiggle art and a word phrase from a printout by Tamara Laporte to the page. I guess I needed that message that day, because it's the one out of a page full that spoke to me. 

If you look closely at the bottom right corner, there is the suggestion of a woman holding a crystal ball. I love when images appear out of chaos! And I love the cat, who looks like she is saying, "Don't you know you're enough?" I sketched her from a vintage Pinterest photo, which she looks nothing like, but I loved that she had two bows on her head. The one line vase/plant is from my imagination.

The next page is an angel with unusual wings. I had MTV videos on and happened to look up while this video was playing. It was the group, The Warning, and they were all dressed like this, in white, with the tri-colored wings, which transitioned from white at the shoulders, to gray, to black. Red heads always draw me, so I paused the TV and quickly sketched her in ink and later added a bit of watercolor. The video song was "Ritual", and although I didn't particularly care for it, it did have some stunning visual images in it.

Then I skipped over the pages to a triple fold out page that I had put in and went crazy with different media and marks to make another wild garden, which was inspired by a Karen Stamper class that I took. There is a stamped cat face on the bottom right and a sun in the top left. I love doing these with no plan or worry about how it's going to come out!

Then I went back to the third page and tried to sketch a ceramic angel, that one of my best friends made for me, in pencil, but it was sitting on the fireplace mantel across the room, and it was pretty dark from my recliner, so I messed it up. Then I re-worked it in ink. It looks nothing like a cherub, but I like it better.

The next day, I sat the same ceramic angel on the table next to my recliner and tried again in pencil. I recently learned that the reason my faces always look long and thin is because I'm trying to sketch them laying flat in front of me. I tried this one with my book standing up in front of me on an easel. Sure enough, I got a much rounder face! This one does look like a cherub to me. I've tried to sketch this numerous times, and this one is the best, so far...

This one was from a painting show on a Prime streaming channel. She was giving tips on quick sketching from life with paint and a large brush, but I found her face fascinating, so I paused the TV and sketched her. Again, I got a much better face sketched by setting my sketchbook on the easel straight up. I don't remember her name, but I actually got a tiny bit of likeness. Not happy with the hard lines on her eyes, but it is what it is, and I learned a lot!

This last one I sketched from a photo of myself. Very little likeness, and it's a much younger version, but that's not what I was after. I think it does look kind of like she's daydreaming though. Again, on the easel instead of laying down. Good practice!

What I want to do is go through mine and my mom's photo albums and sketch from our vintage family photos. I'm just having trouble finding the time and doing it without feeling guilty that I'm not cleaning or something. Guilt over not doing what you're "supposed to be doing", according to other people, is not a fun thing, even at my age. :(

I know it's been a while since my last post, and I do have some more sketches completed. I just haven't scanned them into the computer yet to post. I also have a post started that is waiting for me to finish an abstract to include. It involves horse heads, so it scares me a bit, and I keep procrastinating about tackling it...

My health is not cooperating with me either, so there's that. I'm thankful that hubby and I are doing as well as we are. We are in our late seventies, and life gets challenging sometimes, but we are grateful to still be here and able to help each other, with God's help.

Well, that's it for this post! I hope you enjoyed your visit. When you feel like you're not gaining, and your tempted to quit, don't. You never know what the next minute will bring!