The Simple Things

Taking time to live well
  • Home
  • Subscribe
  • SHOP
  • Newsletter
  • About
  • Work with us
  • Home
  • Subscribe
  • SHOP
  • Newsletter
  • About
  • Work with us

Blog

Taking Time to Live Well

  • All
  • Chalkboard
  • Christmas
  • Competition
  • could do
  • Eating
  • Escape
  • Escaping
  • Fresh
  • Fun
  • gardening
  • Gathered
  • Gathering
  • Growing
  • Haikus
  • Interview
  • Living
  • Looking back
  • Magazine
  • magical creatures
  • Making
  • Miscellany
  • My Neighbourhood
  • Nature
  • Nest
  • Nesting
  • outing
  • playlist
  • Reader event
  • Reader offer
  • Shop
  • Sponsored post
  • Sunday Best
  • Think
  • Uncategorized
  • Wellbeing
  • Wisdom
AliFoxon5.JPG

New hobby | Plein Air Sketching

Iona Bower April 10, 2021

Make a walk an event by sitting down to sketch the landscape for a short while

There aren’t many things that don’t feel just a bit more ‘alive’ for being practised outdoors; eating alfresco is so much more than just supper, sleeping under the stars turns a daily fact of life into something magic… And art? Well, painting a landscape, live, out in the fresh air, is like the difference between watching a BBC schools TV film of Julius Caesar and being in the Globe watching the RSC perform it live. 

‘Plein Air’ painting, the act of painting a landscape like a sitting portrait, with the artist able to better capture the changing light, weather and atmosphere, began in the 1800s, pioneered by Constable, whose painting, Boatbuilding, Near Flatford Mill was conceived and painted entirely outdoors. The catalyst, lovely though the great outdoors is, was the rather more prosaic fact of tubes of oil paints suddenly becoming available. Paints had previously needed to be mixed from raw pigments which did not lend themselves to being thrown into a bag for an impromptu day’s painting out in the fields. A few tubes fitted nicely into your artist’s knapsack alongside a Thermos and a cheese sandwich. 

The Plein Air movement soon spread to the continent, its high point coming with Impressionist landscapes; think the likes of Monet, Renoir and Pissaro with their dappled light and soft, outdoorsy colours. 

Perhaps it’s the fresh air going to our heads, but we think we might just be inspired enough to give plein air a go ourselves now the weather’s warming up. How hard can a few water lilies be to paint anyway? If you fancy trying it too, here are a few tips to get you started.

  1. Put together a bit of a kit. You don’t need a full-on pochade box, though. In fact, it’s best if you travel fairly light. Just a modest art kit (more on that below), something to keep warm if you’re sitting still for long periods, a hat if it’s sunny (or chilly), and we recommend a flask of tea and a generous slice of cake. Art is not fuelled on inspiration alone, you know. 

  2. If you’re painting you just need something to paint on (paper, card, a sketchbook or canvas), a couple of brushes of different sizes, something to put water in and a cloth to wipe your brushes. Watercolours travel more easily than oils but don’t be put off oils or gouache if that’s what you prefer. You don’t need to take them all either; just consider your location, and pick out a few tubes of paint to match the colouring of the scenery.  Plein Air fans often say they prefer to use ‘found’ water for rinsing brushes than taking their own. There’s definitely something charming about using water taken from the sea to paint your beach scene, or even just asking the cafe that features in your scene for a glass of water to paint with.

  3. Of course, sketching with coloured pencils or charcoals is lots of fun, too. We think if Monet had had the wealth of colours offered in a Faber Castell kit, he’d have given it a go, too. 

  4. Choose a location that inspires you. It doesn’t have to be a pastoral idyll; just somewhere that ‘speaks’ to you. It also needs to be somewhere you can easily sit undisturbed (so if the roundabout at Elephant and Castle speaks to you maybe think again). You also need somewhere comfy enough to sit, whether that’s a grassy hillock or a camping chair on a street corner. 

  5. Take a photo of the scene you’re painting just for reference later on. It’s very satisfying once you start to get a little bit good.

  6. Before you start, do a quick sketch of the scene you want to recreate; what plein air artists call a ‘thumbnail sketch’. It just gives you an idea of composition and what’s going where. Try to pick just one or two elements to focus on in the picture.

  7. Once you’re painting or drawing, your watchword is ‘speed’. That might seem to go against the whole ethos of the thing, but you’ll be surprised how quickly the light changes. If painting, use a broad brush and just block in colour. You can add more detail and colour on top later, but you need to get the basics in first so the light doesn’t change the colours and where shadows fall too much while you’re working. 

  8. Be prepared to chat to passers by and show off your work (or adopt the look of a serious artist who must not be disturbed by trivialities and wear obvious headphones). 

The photograph above is by Dr Ali Foxon, who we spoke to in our April issue for our ‘Walking with Purpose’ feature. Ali runs boggydoodles.com which organises green sketching events for groups. Turn to page 44 to meet Ali and more people who have added ‘purpose’ to their walks in different ways. 

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe


More from our April issue…

Featured
@Kemitelford pockets.JPG
Apr 18, 2021
Quiz | What's in my pocket?
Apr 18, 2021
Apr 18, 2021
Alamy (mention subs ad).jpg
Apr 17, 2021
Music appreciation | The Flight of the Bumblebee
Apr 17, 2021
Apr 17, 2021
Courtesy of Mills and Boon.jpg
Apr 11, 2021
Why we love | ridiculous romantic novel titles
Apr 11, 2021
Apr 11, 2021

More artistic inspiration…

Featured
Pottery Painting 2.jpeg
Apr 12, 2025
How to | Win at Pottery Painting
Apr 12, 2025
Apr 12, 2025
AliFoxon5.JPG
Apr 10, 2021
New hobby | Plein Air Sketching
Apr 10, 2021
Apr 10, 2021
Sketchbook Club Houses pic.JPG
Apr 10, 2020
Friday Sketchbook Club | Houses
Apr 10, 2020
Apr 10, 2020
In Escape Tags issue 106, outdoor adventures, painting, sketching, drawing
Comment
Photography: Carmel King

Photography: Carmel King

Primer | colouring colours we loved

Iona Bower September 6, 2020

September is ‘new pencil cases’ time for us. Join us in a celebration of colouring crayons

There’s not much that cheers our hearts more than the idea of a bit of new stationery. Once you’ve sharpened your colouring pencils ready for the new term, buy a copy of our September issue, in which we have a Sketchbook Club feature with artist Jennie Maizels to help you learn to draw beautiful birds. We also were lucky enough to visit her colourful home, and you can see those pictures and read all about it from p94. We particularly coveted her bright studio with its pots upon pots of colouring pencils, paints and crayons, and it reminded us of a time when we knew the ‘names’ of all our crayons and always had a favourite - definitely a top ten at least. 

So here, in no particular order and judged completely on whim and without reason, are our favourite Crayola Crayon colours. Do share yours with us in the comments section below. 

  1. Cerulean. Blue is repeatedly voted the nation’s favourite crayon colour. After all, it deserves some credit after all that stoic painting of skies and seas. Plus, we just loved the name. Why aren’t more children called Cerulean?

  2. Inchworm. Named for the bright green caterpillar of the geometer moth (which disappointingly is itself a sludgy brown). It reminded us of the Hans Christian Andersen song, too. 

  3. Macaroni and Cheese. A warm orange hue, named by a child as part of a competition Crayola ran in 1993 with Kraft Foods. 

  4. Purple Mountains’ Majesty. This scores points for just being really fancy - and giving Farrow and Ball a run for its money. 

  5. Corn silk. Back in the good old days, crayon colours were a bit educational, too. We mused for hours (while filling in suns and sandy beaches) over what corn silk might be. Turns out it’s the stringy bits on the top of a corn cob. Anyway, it’s a much better name than the brighter Unmellow Yellow… who wants their yellow UNmellow? 

The colourful array of colouring things in the picture by Carmel King above is from artist and founder of Sketchbook Club, Jennie Maizel’s home, which is featured in our September issue. You can find a tutorial on how to draw birds by Jennie on page 102. Jennie has run Sketchbook Club from her home and online for five years. For all the kit you need to get started, including paints, pencils and paper, visit: jenniemaizels.com and head to Jennie Maizels’ Sketchbook Club YouTube Channel for supporting ‘How to’ videos for these projects. You can also follow Jennie on Twitter and Instagram at @jenniemaizels.

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More from our September issue…

Featured
Keeping warm Kavel Rafferty.JPG
Sep 20, 2020
How to | stay warm outside on cooler evenings
Sep 20, 2020
Sep 20, 2020
Larks and Owls Shutterstock.JPG
Sep 19, 2020
Are you a night owl or a lark?
Sep 19, 2020
Sep 19, 2020
Good mood food.JPG
Sep 15, 2020
Recipe | Sweet potato with cauliflower and minted yoghurt
Sep 15, 2020
Sep 15, 2020

More Sketchbook Clubs…

Featured
Pencils.jpg
Sep 6, 2020
Primer | colouring colours we loved
Sep 6, 2020
Sep 6, 2020
sketchbook club botanicals.JPG
Apr 24, 2020
Friday Sketchbook Club | Botanicals
Apr 24, 2020
Apr 24, 2020
Sketchbook Club Camping.JPG
Apr 17, 2020
Friday Sketchbook Club | Camping
Apr 17, 2020
Apr 17, 2020
In Fun Tags sketchbook club, sketching, drawing, colouring, crayons, colour, issue 99
Comment
Illustration: Jennie Maizels

Illustration: Jennie Maizels

Friday Sketchbook Club | Botanicals

Iona Bower April 24, 2020

A pretty project that looks great framed in a kitchen or simply makes a beautiful page in your sketchbook

Welcome again to Friday Sketchbook Club! We’ve teamed up with illustrator Jennie Maizels to bring you a sketchbook project to do every Friday in April. We hope you enjoy them. Today we’re drawing botanicals. 

Jennie started Sketchbook Club because she believes that anyone can draw. Her principle is that if we treat art like any other creative pastime and follow simple instructions, just like a recipe, we would all be drawing as much as we are baking, sewing and knitting.

Each module comes with instructions, a ‘How to’ video, reference material and often, templates which you can ‘transfer’. They have been carefully designed to suit all ages and abilities. A note on materials: the projects were originally designed to introduce a plethora of different paints, collage and methods but all can be altered to use what you have available. Just substitute as you like or need.

Ready to draw the Botanicals ? Then we’ll begin. You can watch the Botanicals video tutorial here and find the references for leeks, passion fruit, and  tomatoes here as well as the transfers you might need. Alternatively, you can just follow the instructions below, using the picture above as inspiration, 

You will need

A sheet of A4 black paper or card
HB pencil
Set of gouache paints
One thin and one larger paintbrush (Jennie used a size 1 and a size 6)
Colouring pencils

How to draw your Botanicals

  1. Have a good look at the reference sheets and choose a fruit or vegetable to paint.
    2. Start by drawing out your composition. Feel free to transfer any of the images rather than copying them if you would prefer. To transfer onto your black paper, turn the chosen image over (it might help to cut them out first) and, using the side of your chalk, rub evenly over the whole of the back of your image, then turning the page over so the plant/flowers are on top, hold your transfer page firmly so it doesn’t move around at all, on top of your black paper. Then, using a Biro, draw over the whole of the plant or flower image.Carefully take the transfer sheet off to reveal the chalky template on your black paper.
    3. Work on your composition, making sure all the chosen illustrations are evenly spaced out, maybe filling any big spaces with some seeds or petal details.
    4. Next,start to paint the botanical illustrations. look at the reference, you may want to use a white pen once the base layers of paint has dried,for some of the detail (or your size 1 paint brush). Adding a little white to colour, especially the reds, yellows and oranges,will make them really jump out. For flowers or seed heads, you could use a sponge, working in darker then lighter colours, dabbing on lightly.
    5. For the lettering, first of all write it in pencil in ‘best’ italics, then paint over with cream or white paint using a fine brush, paint as thin as you can,adding depth to the lettering afterwards. You could write over the pencil using a white gel pen if you are nervous about painting lettering,it looks just as good.
    6. When the page is dry, add detail to the illustrations using coloured pencils. Try white pencil for very thin root strands and dark green for leaf lines.You might prefer to draw in the majority of details in pencil rather than in paint, for example, just painting a green circle for the top of the leek and once the paint is dry, drawing in all the little circles in a dark green pencil and a white gel pen or pencil.

There are many more modules available on Jennie’s website, Sketchbook Club (only £4 each.), where you can also buy art kits and supplies. For more inspiration, you can follow Jennie on Instagram @jenniemaizels or visit the website jenniemaizels.com. Look out for another Friday Sketchbook Club project with Jennie here next week.

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

More meetings of Sketchbook Club…

Featured
Pencils.jpg
Sep 6, 2020
Primer | colouring colours we loved
Sep 6, 2020
Sep 6, 2020
sketchbook club botanicals.JPG
Apr 24, 2020
Friday Sketchbook Club | Botanicals
Apr 24, 2020
Apr 24, 2020
Sketchbook Club Camping.JPG
Apr 17, 2020
Friday Sketchbook Club | Camping
Apr 17, 2020
Apr 17, 2020

From our April issue…

Featured
Picnic Pie Catherine Frawley.JPG
Apr 18, 2020
Recipe | a picnic pie for the garden
Apr 18, 2020
Apr 18, 2020
Ellen's cookbook Kirstie Young.jpg
Apr 15, 2020
Make | a hand-me-down recipe book
Apr 15, 2020
Apr 15, 2020
Newts Zuza Misko.JPG
Apr 7, 2020
Romantic introverts | the newt
Apr 7, 2020
Apr 7, 2020
In Making Tags art, drawing, sketchbook club, sketching
Comment
Illustration: Jennie Maizels

Illustration: Jennie Maizels

Friday Sketchbook Club | Houses

Iona Bower April 10, 2020

Join us in drawing these quirky houses in today’s Friday Sketchbook Club

Welcome back to Friday Sketchbook Club. We’ve teamed up with illustrator Jennie Maizels to bring you a sketchbook project to do every Friday for the next few weeks. We hope you enjoy them. Today we’re drawing rows of houses. 

Jennie started her Sketchbook Club because she believes that anyone can draw. Her principle is that if we treat Art like any other creative pastime and follow simple instructions, just like a recipe, we would all be drawing as much as we are baking, sewing and knitting. Each project comes with instructions, a ‘How to’ video, reference material and often, templates which you can ‘transfer’. They have been carefully designed to suit all ages and abilities.

 A note on materials: Originally designed to introduce a plethora of different paints, collage and methods. All modules can be altered to use what you have available - just substitute as you like or need.

Ready to draw houses? Then we’ll begin. You can watch the Houses video tutorial first if you like and find the instructions and house ‘references’ here or just follow the instructions below, using the pictures above as inspiration,

You will need

An HB pencil
Rubber
A small and a large paintbrush (Jennie used size 6 and size 2)Fineliner (thin one)
Scissors
Glue
Old book
Blue, white and yellow acrylic paints

How to draw your houses

  1. First of all, have a really good look at the houses for reference in the link above (you might also like to look at the hashtag #SketchbookClubHouses on Instagram for further inspiration).
    2. Next, following the reference pictures,start to draw your houses along the bottom of your page. Use a size one or two black fineliner and draw in as much detail as you can, like roof tiles and windows etc.
    3.Next, start to paint the background colour. Do this by mixing a lovely aqua blue acrylic, Jennie made her colour by mixing a mid-blue with a tiny dot of yellow and some white.
    4.While the background paint is drying, start to draw little clouds on an old unwanted book page (or newspaper if you can’t bear to cut up an old book!).Cut the clouds out carefully and once the paint is dry, stick them onto the background sky using a glue-stick. You might like to tear tiny strips out and stick down to make tiny plumes of chimney smoke, too

There are many more modules available on Jennie’s website, Sketchbook Club (only £4 each.), where you can also buy art kits and supplies. For more inspiration, you can follow Jennie on Instagram @jenniemaizels or visit the website jenniemaizels.com. Look out for another Friday Sketchbook Club project with Jennie here next week.

Buy this month's The Simple Things - buy, download or subscribe

From our April issue…

Featured
Picnic Pie Catherine Frawley.JPG
Apr 18, 2020
Recipe | a picnic pie for the garden
Apr 18, 2020
Apr 18, 2020
Ellen's cookbook Kirstie Young.jpg
Apr 15, 2020
Make | a hand-me-down recipe book
Apr 15, 2020
Apr 15, 2020
Newts Zuza Misko.JPG
Apr 7, 2020
Romantic introverts | the newt
Apr 7, 2020
Apr 7, 2020

More fun with paint…

Featured
Folk enamel tumbler.jpg
Aug 5, 2023
Make | Folk art enamelware
Aug 5, 2023
Aug 5, 2023
SIM68.TRYITOUT_Annie Sloan her very self.png
Feb 7, 2018
Life Skills | Furniture painting
Feb 7, 2018
Feb 7, 2018
Jul 27, 2017
Mindfulness | Colour therapy
Jul 27, 2017
Jul 27, 2017
In Making Tags sketchbook club, sketching, drawing, painting
Comment
Featured
  Buy ,  download  or  subscribe   See the sample of our latest issue  here   Buy a copy of our latest anthology:  A Year of Celebrations   Buy a copy of  Flourish 2 , our wellbeing bookazine  Listen to  our podcast  - Small Ways to Live Well
Feb 27, 2025
Feb 27, 2025

Buy, download or subscribe

See the sample of our latest issue here

Buy a copy of our latest anthology: A Year of Celebrations

Buy a copy of Flourish 2, our wellbeing bookazine

Listen to our podcast - Small Ways to Live Well

Feb 27, 2025
Join our Newsletter
Name
Email *

We respect your privacy and won't share your data.

email marketing by activecampaign
facebook-unauth twitter pinterest spotify instagram
  • Subscriber Login
  • Stockists
  • Advertise
  • Contact

The Simple Things is published by Iceberg Press

The Simple Things

Taking time to live well

We celebrate slowing down, enjoying what you have, making the most of where you live, enjoying the company of of friends and family, and feeding them well. We like to grow some of our own vegetables, visit local markets, rummage for vintage finds, and decorate our home with the plunder. We love being outdoors and enjoy the satisfaction that comes with a job well done.

facebook-unauth twitter pinterest spotify instagram