‘TAKE TIME TO NOTICE’ – AN ARTIST’S VIEWPOINT.

Have you ever been to a place and struggle to recall anything special about it? Did you take lots of photos on holiday yet on return find they all merge into one: another seascape, another pretty cobbled street, another restaurant? And at home do days merge together with nothing marking them as special?
In this blog I’ll be sharing how I get under the skin of a place, how you can learn to notice like an artist. I’ll be introducing you to a simple but effective exercise that helps you STOP, NOTICE & RECORD what is around you and then looking back you’ll be better able to recall the day/time/location. It’s a method I use to peel back the layers of a place and what makes it special to me. It is also a brilliant starting point if you’re feeling stuck art wise or don’t feel you are particularly creative as it doesn’t need you to be ‘good’ at art.

REASONS TO TAKE TIME TO NOTICE

1. SLOW DOWN – life is busy. We’re often rushing from one thing to another forgetting to appreciate the now. This exercise gives you some space to breathe, take back control of your time and silence your thoughts by focussing. Perfect if you need a bit of time out.
2. KICKSTART YOUR CREATIVITY. The process of noticing can ignite ideas and get those creative juices flowing. The doing as much as the results will get you looking at things through the eyes of an artist.
3. CREATE A TREASURED BOOK OF MEMORIES. By gathering together what you notice you’ll be collating a little treasure of memories which when you look at in the future will take you right back to that time and place you first created them.

 
HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE?
It’s a perfect project which can take as little as 5 minutes at a time – something you can dip into when you need it. If you have longer you can spend longer repeating the exercise. After a while you will find that you can’t help yourself noticing and it makes going for a simple walk more interesting and inspiring – welcome to my world!

SO HOW DO YOU GET STARTED?
What you need:
A small sketchbook
I use an A6 softback sketchbook by Seawhite (16 pages). This size can just be tucked in a bag or pocket until you need it.
 
A viewfinder
Optional but it helps you focus in on a small area rather than getting overwhelmed by an entire view. A view finder is a plain bit of card (A6 is fine) with a square/rectangular aperture (3 – 4cm) in the middle.
 
Pen/ Pencil
Nothing fancy is needed – you can even use a ball point pen or felt tip!

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SO WHAT DO I DO?

1. On a walk take your time to look at things you normally rush past. Look up and look down. Stop and take it all in.  Notice what is catching your eye?
2. Once you have identified something get your viewfinder out and decide on a segment you wish to copy into your sketchbook.
3. If you haven’t done this before I suggest you draw around the viewfinder aperture on a page in your book and just copy what you see in the viewfinder into that small rectangle on your sketchbook page. As you get more confident you won’t need to do this.
4. Work quickly just putting in the main shapes / lines and then write notes around it about why it caught your eye.
5. Turn the sketchbook page and repeat. It’s as simple as that.

Tips: if you find yourself taking more than 10 minutes on a single image then you need to set yourself a time limit. You are not trying to create beautiful, finished sketches – by all means do this another time – but with this exercise you are just capturing a moment in time.
 
10 PROMPTS / IDEAS OF THINGS TO NOTICE

1. Ironwork details: e.g. shapes of railing finials, tree guards, handrails, hanging basket brackets, manhole covers
2. Roofline shapes / chimneys / the junction between the sky and roofline
3. Patterns: e.g. on tiles, wood surfaces, fabric, reflections
4. The play of light through trees and shadows cast
5. Changes in texture and surface materials
6. Interesting signs and different fonts
7. Negative shapes – the spaces between objects.
8. Having a coffee? – how about the shapes of the cups and handles
9. Colours – what colours do you like together?
10. Leaf shapes

 
WHAT NOW?

1. If you enjoyed doing this exercise then why not carry on and build up a collection of memory sketchbooks – you could even supplement them with photographs. I find it’s great to look back through my sketchbooks and remember the day I did mine.
2. If there is an image you really resonate with then why not go back and do a longer study or use it as a prompt for more artwork.
3. If you’d like to continue this journey but would like some support and guidance then join me at one of my sketchbook workshops.

Find out more about my workshops

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