Hi lovely members 👋 Last weekend it was pouring in Manchester, so we ducked into Mackie Mayor, a big old market hall turned food hall. We got a corner table, ordered some nice food and a glass or two of wine, and spent a couple of hours drawing the people around us. 🍷 The best bit? My husband joined in. [ He won't let me show his drawings, though, sadly. Even though they were great ❤️ ] He has no background in drawing, but he has his own sketchbook now, and this is the second time we've gone off to a city together just to draw what we see. We both loved it. - - - - - ✏️ 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲-𝘄𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗲 People don't stay still, so you can't fuss over anything. You catch a pair of glasses or the curve of a shoulder, and move on. Nobody expects a finished portrait. My pages are a few little faces and one couple deep in conversation, with "Faces of Mackie Mayor" written underneath, and that page now holds the whole afternoon for me. 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘢 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘕𝘪𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘑𝘢𝘪𝘯'𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘔𝘢𝘬𝘦 (𝘚𝘯𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘺) 𝘈𝘳𝘵, 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘩 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘭𝘪𝘱 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘰𝘶𝘵. - - - - - ☕ 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗱𝗮𝘆 A café, a library, a train station or a park bench all work. Find a seat with a view, take one pen and a small sketchbook, order something nice and settle in. Let people walk out of your drawings and just start the next one. 💛 Bring a partner or friend along if you like. They don't need to be "arty". Or go on your own and enjoy the quiet company of your sketchbook. - - - - - 💬 Where would you go for your sketching day, and who would you bring along, if anyone? Have you tried this before? Would you like to try it? Tell me in the comments, and share a page if you've tried it. I'd love to see it. 👇

𝗪𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗮𝗴𝗲 ✨ 𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆'𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁: 𝗽𝘂𝘁 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝘁. Your shopping list, somebody's name, a line off the radio, what the weather's doing. Your own handwriting is exactly right, no fancy lettering needed. Then go over a few letters twice, or box one in, so it looks like it's meant to be there. ✨ 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁? Draw something small around the words. A border, a leaf coming off the L, whatever you fancy. 👉 Also in the classroom here: ❤️ 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 👇 The whole page, a tiny piece of it, or just type "done" if you're not ready to show it ❤️ ❤️ All count. Whenever you get to it, morning, teatime or midnight.

𝗕𝗶𝗴 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗼𝗹𝗱 ✨ 𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆'𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁: 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝘄 𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘀 𝗯𝗶𝗴 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂. One mug, one leaf, one shoe, filling the whole page. Use the fattest pen you own, a marker, a soft pencil, anything that makes a wide mark. Most of us draw tiny and apologetic in the corner. Today we take up the whole page on purpose. ✨ 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁? Let it run off the edges, so bits of it are missing. 👉 Also in the classroom here: ❤️ 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 👇 ❤️ The whole page, a tiny piece of it, or just type "done" if you're not ready to show it ❤️ All count. Whenever you get to it, morning, teatime or midnight.

𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗙𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 ✨ 𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆'𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁: 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁, 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗯𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗿𝗮𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝘂𝘁. A proper loose scribble, eyes half shut, ten seconds. Then turn the page round until you can see something in it. A face, a hill, a bird, a boot. Go over those lines a bit darker so everybody else can see it too. A blank page that's already covered in scribble is less intimidating. And it can really help your creative mind to flow and get unstuck. A great suggestion from one of our members here in the group, @Declan Gleeson You can see his post about it here . ✨ 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁? Do three little ones in a row and see what turns up in each. 👉 Also in the classroom here: ❤️ 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 👇 The whole page, a tiny piece of it, or just type "done" if you're not ready to show it ❤️ ❤️ All count. Whenever you get to it, morning, teatime or midnight.

𝗦𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗦𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻 ✨ 𝗧𝗼𝗱𝗮𝘆'𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗽𝘁: 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗰𝗵𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸. 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁'𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝘀𝗸. - A bus ticket, - a tea label, - a sweet wrapper, - a petal, - the corner of an envelope with nice printing on it. - Something you want to remember or keep - Or a piece of your-free autumn hedgehog printable that you can grab here until midnight. - Dont miss it 😊 - Glue, tape, a bit of washi tape - whatever holds it down. You don't have to draw anything at all today if you don't want to. If you want to, draw a line or two around it so it looks like it belongs there. Or add some text and thoughts, or a line of poetry or lyrics. ✨ 𝗙𝗲𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁? Build the whole page out of three stuck-in bits, and join them up with a few lines of text. 👉 Also in the classroom here: ❤️ 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 👇 The whole page, a tiny piece of it, or just type "done" if you're not ready to show it ❤️ ❤️ All count. Whenever you get to it, morning, teatime or midnight.