Winter again. It’s the time of year that rain, wind and sleet grace the day. I’ve never been a huge fan of the cold weather. If you know me, you’d have seen me wearing multiple layers as soon as a faint breeze hits the air. I like the idea of sketching outdoors, but it’s not always the most comfortable endeavour. For now, I’ll show you some wintery sketches I did indoors.
Cosy Café
A trip to Exeter one chilly day started with the plan to draw some buildings, but quickly turned into a long cosy sit in The Undergrad café. This one is next door to an exotic plant store, and some of the plants from there decorate the shelves. On this day, the interior emanated a warm glow and I was enticed to draw, starting with the woolly jumpers of the customers as I warmed my cockles over a hot coffee. I remember feeling a bit shy as some customers glanced at my sketch as they walked past. This can be an uncomfortable for artists, especially those new to public sketching. The thing to remember is that most people don’t say anything, and if they do, it’s usually an expression of interest or encouragement. Sketching publicly is usually a worthwhile experience, if you can get past the self-consciousness. Anyway, this day, I kept going and was pleased with the result.
Winter Woollies
The cosiness of woolly jumpers continues… In Ireland, knitwear is a traditional craft. Aran sweaters have always been popular amongst seafarers and fishermen, these warming items often lovingly hand-crafted by their wives. Somewhere in time, the notion emerged that each husband had a unique cable pattern knitted into their sweater, so they could be identified should they wash up at sea, unrecognisable. I’ve found very little evidence to support this romantic idea, but it’s the regard that warms us…
Throughout my life, my mam knitted me jumpers. I recall a peach one, a pink one, a mink coloured mohair one, a white cardigan, a cream cardigan, a minty green jumper, a dark purple one, and this teal one, which she made and posted to me during the pandemic. Each one of these knitted items, laboured over for hours in her seat opposite the fireplace, have intricate cable stitch patterns which are so perfectly executed. The tension is remarkably even throughout the rows and twists and turns in the design. Whenever I’ve tried to knit, the wool becomes so taught that the needles squeak as I twist them through the tight wool. It creates the kind of vibration in the teeth that makes you wince. I’ve always admired my mam’s handiwork. The patterns are forever mathematically exact and symmetrical. This one has x’s and o’s, for kisses and hugs. A perfect gift from an Irish mammy to her daughter abroad.
Fuzzy Fabrics
It is possible to develop a habit that allows you to sketch at any time in the day. I like to draw from what is around me, usually picking something that is intriguing, inspires joy or resonates at some level. Comfortably sitting on the couch in fuzzy pyjamas one winter evening, I was curious to try capturing the textures I wore. Half watching a movie, I took out my sketchbook and started to make marks. I drew this partial selfie using thick and thin fine-liner pens to illustrate the thickness of the fabrics. The dressing gown being the chunkiest, and therefore drawn with the thickest line. Watercolour was applied in several patchy layers of red to communicate the texture of the dense fuzzy fabric. At first, I wasn’t sure what to do with the slipper, so I tried out a scratchy colouring pencil line to suggest its furry pile of threads.
From woolly and fuzzy to cosy, no matter what the weather, there are always interesting things to draw. Often, half the battle is deciding on one thing and getting to work. If you’re able to withstand the cold and draw outdoors, then do it for certain! For those of us who struggle with the lower temperatures of winter, let’s pick something indoors to warm us from the inside!