Sketching on the Road: 10 things I’ve (re)learnt
While we were on the road for the second time in 2021, I had picked up a sketchbook from Officeworks - the Born. A5 visual art diary - that really allowed me to free up my sketching on the road. I hadn’t really tried my hand at many landscapes before our road-trips.
On the first road-trip (Flinders Ranges), I’d realised some of these things, but I was still caught up in trying to create the sort of pages/sketches/paintings/illustrations I would at home. And getting frustrated. Not least because I was new to landscapes, but also because often I didn’t have as much time or space or energy after, during or before a long day outdoors to really paint the pieces I wanted.
Going over the sketchbook again now that I’ve almost filled it up, I’ve been thinking a bit about what I’d learnt from it. Mainly, I had to learn to let go, and I had a ton of fun once I did.
A bit more specifically, here are 10 things I learnt, often had to relearn, and if I’m honest will probably have to keep relearning. If you have other tips, I’d love to hear them too.
In a nutshell:
Keep materials simple
Simplify - look for shapes not details
Pick one or two features to focus on in the landscape
Paint just one thing
Try painting with just lines
Try silhouettes - this works especially well in the evenings.
Paint Small
Do colour studies
Have fun
Let it be imperfect - more considered pieces can be done later
1. Keep materials simple
Keep it simple. As much as I had a ton of paper, ink, pens, gouache, water cups and fancy brushes, for these sketches, I found keeping it simple best. Time was the key factor, and I didn’t want to have to set up a bunch of supplies just to quickly sketch.
So, I used my outdoor watercolour kit + a trusty waterbrush + sock, and I was ready to sketch standing or sitting. Every time I tried to do this with fancier materials or had too big a project in mind (the first time we were out), I found it a much bigger exercise and I often just wouldn’t do it.
2. Simplify the sketch - shapes not details
I struggle with simplifying my paintings especially when I have a lot of time to work on them, but out in the desert, I was forced to simplify, and I loved the results. I started to think in blobs rather than leaves, lines rather than branches, shapes instead of details.
3. Pick a key feature or two to focus on
Sometimes, when I’m somewhere so beautiful, I find it hard to know what to paint - everything is gorgeous, and I want to capture the experience, the sounds, smells, the birds, every tree and plant and the way the light hits the canopy - BUT - I can’t (definitely not yet) paint it all quickly and do it all justice - so focusing on one or two elements in the landscape really helped.
For example, in the sketch above, it was the gumtree in the foreground.
In the second sketch (above), it was the large desert oak. In the third really quick sketch (below) when we stopped on the road, it was the size of the wedge-tailed eagles and the beautiful mahogany of the earth.
In the Kanku-Breakaways (below) I struggled a bit more but ended up focusing on the furthest hill for contrast and making it all about the colours in this magical landscape. This one did take a bit longer than the others.
Then, there was this campsite (below) where the giant termite mounds really stood out against the scrub - I made sure to include the termite mound after the scrub was done.
The sketch after that one (below) - it was all about the tree in the front right, but I did get distracted by the background and you can tell.
4. Paint just one thing
In a similar vein, paint just one thing - a tree, a rock, parts of a tree, maybe even a leaf - I didn’t do this as much, but when I did I appreciated having that time to just focus on one thing, like this Desert Oak at the Owen Springs reserve.
5. Try Focusing on Lines.
I found this very fun when I accidentally created a long line across the page. I used the opportunity to focus on the lines I was seeing on the side of one tiny part of Uluru.
That prompted further line-focused simple paintings including this one of a part of the Watarrka (Kings Canyon) national park.
Or this one looking back from Ginty’s lookout.
In a tropical setting, this loose watercolour sketch (below) of a section of the Litchfield National park is very different from my previous rainforest paintings and illustrations (this was done after the fact though, on a day at home when I just wanted to sketch quickly and had about 5 mins).
6. Try silhouettes - this works especially well in the evenings
We spent quite a few days in Uluru and Kata-Tjuta national park, and tried to make it to a sunset or a sunrise each day.
After struggling to capture what I was seeing, I decided to try for silhouettes in the late sunset. Here are two super quick sketches done at sunset (above and below), while enjoying the beautiful view.
Here is an ink sketch from the Ikara-Flinders ranges national park.
7. Paint Small
For a long time, I would try to fill the whole page with my painting, but painting smaller is not only quicker, but forces me to simplify and really focus on what I need to capture, especially with limited time.
Watercolour postcards were a great way to get in the habit because I found it hard to section out parts of the page for a sketch. Like the one from Kata Tjuta in the previous section, and here is a post with some postcards from our Flinders Ranges trip.
8. Do colour studies
I’ve separately written about why I love the book Local Color by Mimi Robinson. I sometimes forget how much fun it is to just try to capture the colours in front of me, but on a few occasions on this road trip, I remembered, and was glad for it.
It was particularly useful when I was just so intimidated by a landscape, and the beauty I saw that I didn’t feel I could do it justice, but I still wanted to capture what I was seeing somehow - camera’s never seem to get the colours quite right.
9. Have fun
This is a bit of a throwaway/composite of all of the above, but really if I’m not having fun, is it really worth taking myself out of the beautiful place I’m in to paint? The answer for me is a resounding No. I sketch to capture moments, learn and understand so if sketching is taking me OUT of moments, it is doing the opposite of why I want to sketch.
I sometimes get caught up in wanting to capture EVERYTHING. In so many of the places we stopped at in the desert, there were a ton of birds and I was feeling a bit of anxiety around not having enough time to paint everything, which really took a bit of the awe out of being there - UNTIL - I remembered - yes silly I know - that I had a camera, and I could capture the birds that way, and with my microphone for now.
So I learnt to have fun with the camera, have fun sketching things that aren’t flying away, take notes, record the sounds I wanted to remember, or just take in the moment, knowing that I’ll have enough material between my memories, photos, notes, recordings, sketches and all of Scott’s photos to go back to when I wanted to paint the birds or other creatures I was missing later on. Like this variegated fairy wren we saw at Kata Tjuta that I painted while we’ve been in Darwin.
10. Let it be imperfect - more considered pieces can be done later
Similar to the above, I learnt to let things be imperfect. Just because I was only sketching a tree or rock didn’t mean it had to be perfect. Quick sketches definitely didn’t need to be perfect.
I just had to capture what I was trying to sketch in some way - whether that was a line or a blob or a bunch of blobs didn’t matter - could I recognise it? Will I remember where I was? Then great! These are my sketchbooks after all.
I (re)learnt to think of it as a fun, imperfect companion and I had a lot more fun and an easier time filling it with fun memories. And, when I have time, I go back and add to them or try for the more considered, detailed pieces in my head.
Thinking of on-the-road sketches and proper illustrations differently
I used to be really uncomfortable with my sketchbook pages that were ‘just’ pencil or watercolour pencil sketches. It felt like a ‘waste’ of a page, or that the sketches were incomplete somehow. As you might imagine, this got really frustrating until I embraced rough sketches. Sometimes I don’t want to do a full painting and I’m just trying to capture the shape of things. That’s really fun too.
I’ve started to think of on-the-road sketches and proper paintings/illustrations very separately now, and it has really helped remove the pressure to make something pretty when I’m outdoors. Outdoors = capturing moments. Indoors/when we have stopped somewhere for a while = pretty pictures, detailed pictures, more complete paintings (or not, whatever I choose at the time).
Overall Thoughts
So that’s it - 10 things that I’ve learnt (and often had to re-learn) while sketching on the road.
Each of the sketches featured took 20 minutes (sometimes less), and were done from the car or at a campsite or a beautiful spot in a national park. The exception is the variegated fairy wren in gouache above, which was a more considered illustration done at home.
The quick sketches have made for a very rewarding experience looking back at my sketchbook. I remember so much more about each spot we stopped at because of them.
Now, hopefully I’ll remember these lessons and not have to relearn them again when we’re next on the road!
Next steps: What I’m working on/improving
I’d like to get better at two things: simplifying, and perspective, so I’m going through some online courses and videos to improve these aspects for my sketches.
