Sketching the winter away

ToostiePop   7x9 pastel   ready to frame $45.

One of my favorite things to do on an otherwise mundane evening is to go thru my reference photos.   As many others discover, that super scene you had to get a photo of falls flat in picture form.   And is why plein air is so great!    But, its been subzero and I ain't that tough!

   So I go thru them, fairly quickly.   If they are just another ho-hum average, they get deleted immediately.    If I cant' use them soon, no reason to hold onto a zillion photos I will never be able to find later.   Often its just a little part that I needed, i.e. a cloud that would be nice in a painting that's on the easel.   Keeping too many only clogs the works.    In the book Alla Prima, Richard Schmid suggests to use it immediately, so you can still feel the breeze, smell the air, etc.   Wait too long and its just another flat image.

I follow lots of blogs, one is from an artist I took a class from, Marla Baggetta.  (still using my notes from that one!  highly recommend!)  She had some book suggestions dealing with sketching, and I picked one that looked interesting.   And I'm really enjoying it!   Its not a how-to as much as a why....it showcases many artists with different styles, including Marla's, and what their thought processes are when sketching.  
 I dont' know many artists who don't mutter at times the need to sketch more, including myself.   Going quickly thru my photos, I make these super-fast thumbnail sketches in ballpoint pen.  (that's a Marla trick, and a good one)   Now I have a dozen or more ideas that are ready for me to get to work.   It sure beat watching more mindless tv too!