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Friday, September 27, 2013

The Sketchbook Challenge Blog Hop… and a giveaway!


Welcome to today’s stop on The Sketchbook Challenge Blog Hop! This is the ink sketch I made for this month’s theme — Houses and Hideaways — based on this photo of my house:


Perspective is always an issue for me, since I never learned it formally. One thing I do sometimes is to put a piece of tracing paper over the photo and sketch in the main lines. Then it is easy to see how the lines get closer together as the object (the house, in this case) recedes from where I was standing to shoot the photo.

 

Next, I work in pencil to sketch in the main lines:


I often get comments about my cross hatching. Maybe it’s because I am rather obsessive about it! Let me show you what I mean. Here’s a photo I took of some beautiful berries last fall in Michigan (I don’t know what this plant is; do you?):



And here is the sketch based on that photo:



 The cross hatching adds wonderful detail and texture to the background:



Here’s a photo of a beautiful red coneflower:






And my sketch:

 

I used cross hatching here to create the effect of many layers of leaves back behind the main flower:



The cross hatching between the petals helps to make them pop forward:

 


Here’s a photo I took on Election Day several years ago:


And here’s the sketch based on it:


I used lots and lots of cross hatching to differentiate the different shades of blue and red in the flag, and the black of the tree trunk. Cross hatching was especially useful to show the wrinkles in the fabric of the flag:


Here’s a photo I took of a big grasshopper on some Swiss Chard:


 And the sketch based on the photo:
 

I used cross hatching to make the background darker, more dramatic, so that the grasshopper and the leaves took center stage. It is also useful for doing shadows, like this one under the grasshopper’s body, to create depth.


This Lenten Rose photo…


was the inspiration for this sketch
 

Here, the crosshatching behind the stamens helps them really stand out, and become a focal point in the sketch:

 

And around the petals, it makes the background darker, so that the petals appear to come forward:




GIVE-AWAY!
I’m giving away a custom-designed sketchbook cover, and a Moleskine sketchbook that fits inside – similar to mine above. Leave a comment after this post and tell me a little bit about your favorite house or hideaway. I’ll pull one name at random at noon, Friday, Oct. 4, and contact you to find out your favorite colors, so I can design a sketchbook cover just for you! The winner will be announced at the end of this post on Oct. 4.  

Note: If your comment does not show up right away, please don’t freak out. Please post only one comment. I now have to moderate/approve all comments, because I was getting a ton of Japanese porn spammers leaving comments on my blog! I’m a busy person, so it might now show up for a while, but I’ll approve it as soon as I can. I promise. (I am teaching all day Friday, Sept. 27!)

We have a winner! Loretta has won the sketchbook. 

111 comments:

  1. I love how your cross hatching gives depth to your drawings. My favourite house is the summer house tucked away at the bottom of my garden. Lovely to sit outside when its warm but even nicer tucked up inside on a cooler day.

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  2. Susan - I love your "house" stories. There are so many stories that those vintage homes could tell, and wouldn't it be wonderful to hear them. Thank you for the tutorial on cross-hatching. While I have done it in the past your explanation regarding shading gave me a whole new perspective. Thank you for this generous giveaway.

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  3. Hi Susan, my favorite house has to be the one I live in. It's not the log home I always wanted, but it has that feel to it, so I'm happy !

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  4. We lived in a mobile home for 23 years and when the opportunity came up we moved to a bigger place. Now 5 years later and I find I miss that place even though it was way too small. Don't figure does it.

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  5. My favorite childhood hideaways were the attics of my home and my grandmother's home. Sleeping in attics, peering out their tiny windows feels like being a bird in a treetop!

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  6. Thank you for sharing your process and detail of your sketches. My favourite house might be the cottage my parents used to own with a large screened verandah in front. It was constructed with wide logs and had a vaulted ceiling showing off the beams and wooden ceiling. We spent many happy summers there.

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  7. I enjoyed looking at all your sketches. They're so precise and well done.

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  8. My favorite house is deep in the woods with just enough filtered light for lots of flowers, vines, and shrubs. Enjoyed all of the examples and close-ups.

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  9. I loved seeing all that different cross hatching and think I like it so much as it resembles stitching! Love the beautiful home too. I have moved 21 times in my life which is enough for anyone but have now settled for good (I hope) here in the Scottish Borders. Part of our house dates back to the middle of the 19th Century when it was a station master's house. I'm always on the hunt for old photographs of it.

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  10. my favorite house is the one I currently live in. John and I moved here when Peyton was 9 months old. I am almost 40 years old and Peyton is my only child, so this house feels more like a home than any of the other houses I have lived in. Even though I come from a family of 6 kids, we are not close and have no family traditions. Therefore, John and I have started our own traditions as a family in this house and I know that it will be a source of good memories for years to come. We also got our first Great Dane here which started our love (my obsession) for the breed. I love your idea of taking a family picture in front of the house. we have never done that, but we will very soon.

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  11. I guess my favorite house was my grandmother's farmhouse. So many wonderful memories there and the rooms were large with a front and back porch. There was a wonderful long driveway leading to the house, I will always remember that view driving up to her house. Thanks for the opportunity.

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  12. I learn so much from you, I have been following the sketchbook blog and just today found you through it, I didn't know you had a separate blog, silly me! So I have been reading and reading your past posts, such an inspiration and a give away, wow!

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  13. I LOVE your sketches and definitely want to learn crosshatching. For my favorite house/hideaway, I'm working on it! At some point in the near future I hope to have the little cottage of my dreams....perhaps I should start sketching it now! Thanks for the possibility to win - fingers crossed!

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  14. Your sketches are breathtaking. Love your style. I miss the house I grew up in, which my mom sold a few years ago. I have so many great childhood memories from there.

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  15. Susan, I loved seeing all your cross hatching. It is amazing and does just what you want to enhance the other areas. Thank you for the chance to win the sketchbook- very generous! Oh- my favorite house- the one we built in CT. Lived in that state my whole life until we recently had to move to CO and leave the house, family, friends...I miss that house dearly. Miss the family and friends even more.

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  16. Hi Susan,
    Your cross hatching is so impressive! It makes your sketches really special. Thank you for showing it in close up. that is very instructive.

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  17. Thanks for taking the time to show the details of your cross hatching. I LOVE the flag!! I hopped over to your blog from the Sketchbook Challenge blog and had to tell you how identified with your feelings about connecting with ancestors homes. I have gotten into geneaology in the last year and have found some amazing photos of my great grandfathers homes in Scotland where he was a minister living in various parish houses (manses) at the churches where he worked. It has been a fascinating journey for me, but I hadn't thought about sketching them. Guess what my next project will be?! Thank you for the idea:))

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  18. My hideaway is my studio, located two blocks from my house. House too small for a designated work space. I can leave projects out at my hideaway!

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  19. Susan, This is sketching I can relate to. You are showing me how to get the detail I'm looking for--closeup and with all the depth. You had me hooked at the first lines of the house. As a CAD drafter I am used to precision and detail. This took me to that same place in an analog world. Thank you for the inspiration!

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  20. HI! I am new to your blog and can't tell you how much this blog hop has meant to me. The cross hatchingis an amazing tool I hope to learn for my sketching. Thanks for the drawing, too! Geneen

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  21. OMG the chance to have your own sketchbook cover by you, count me in. How inspirational and fun that would be.

    SewCalGal
    www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com

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  22. I love the journal cover you show above! My favorite house would have to be the one I live in - I grew up in this house and my husband and I moved here right after we got married. It has always been home to me.

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  23. i live in a house which is a replicate of the one i grew up in...why my youngest sister left home my parents suffered from empty nest...(they had 6 noisy children to fill their house)...they sold their house and property...left town and travelled for a year...at the end of the year they returned home and build a house exactly like the one they sold...they said it was the place they were the most comfortable...my husband and bought that place when they passed

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  24. I would love to win this as I am just starting to make sketches...or trying, anyway....I love the way you explained your crosshatching and the close ups to show exactly what you meant....thank you for the giveaway....If I am the first to comment, I hope it is lucky for me....

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  25. I'm in awe of the detail you get with your crosshatching. It's beautiful. I'm also in love with Moleskine books so would absolutely be thrilled to win!
    nwilcox95@comcast.net

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  26. Love the sketchbook cover. My favorite house is the one I grew up in, right on a lake. So much fun to be on the water in every season.

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  27. Your inventive way to accomplish perspective is great...I'll use it on my next sketching adventure. I too LOVE to draw and your cross-hatching certainly adds great depth to your drawings. Thanks for sharing.

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  28. Hi Susan, I am so glad I stopped by after I linked from The Sketchbook Challenge blog. I always have a problem with perspective also. And being a perfectionist it takes a while for me to get things balanced. This is a wonderful idea, and I will be using it.

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  29. Oh how I wish I had just an ounce of your talent for sketching and your eye for color! Thank you so much for sharing.

    My favorite hideaway is my 'everything' room...reading room, home/work office, my study, where I write, and my sewing/quilting room. It's not very large but I have a beautiful view outside to the woods that surrounds our house, I have two adorable 4-legged family members that always find a spot to supervisor, and is full of items I appreciate.

    I hope everyone has a special area where they can be themselves. zelda.fontessa@gmail.com

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  30. Both of your house sketches are beautiful - that was such a nice present to your husband! After seeing your cross-hatching I think I need to reconnect with that technique!

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  31. Since you've asked, I realize I've never been particularly attached to a building I've lived in. Wherever I live, it is like a hideaway, or more accurately, a refuge. It's because the love of my life (my husband of 31 years) is there with me! I'm fascinated that some of your ancestors came from Bucks County...mine, too! Was just there last week! Thanks for your generous giveaway!

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  32. Your drawings are fabulous Susan!
    My hideaway is a little cottage on a tiny island off the west coast of Ireland!

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  33. Your sketches are breathtaking! The crosshatching makes everything pop. My favorite house would be the first house I lived in as a child. It holds many happy memories for me. It would be such a huge thrill to win a Moleskine sketchbook with one of your custom designed covers! Thank you for a chance to win!

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  34. I love the home we are in now, it is my first 'Ranch Style' home and after the last house which had 4 floors I am thoroughly enjoying the no stairs aspect of it. Your work is amazing and I am learning so much from all the artists participating in this challenge, thank you so much.

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  35. My favorite house is by far the one we live in now. My husband and I literally "bet the farm" when we put our former home up for sale at the height of the housing crash. It was on the 40 acre blueberry farm where my husband grew up. He took a risk so that I could live close to Muskegon Dog Beach, my favorite place to be. We completely renovated the home we bought to fit the way we want to live, and I pretty much have my dream kitchen and master suite. It took a year to get out from under the old house and another year to finish the reno while living in a construction zone, but it was worth it in the end!

    Thank you so very much for so generously deconstructing your sketches and sharing your techniques with us! Reading through your posts is like taking an online course.

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  36. You are so talented! My daughter is taking art in high school and learning shading. Makes me a happy mom. My daughter - taking art - YES YES YES!!!! I would love to start sketching.

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  37. Your sketches are wonderful! I love the details. My favorite house now is my home in the mountains of PA. It's cozy and bright, and I can see deer every day. The trees and sky are wonderful, too.

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  38. I lov all your art,,,and would lov to own a part of your art work,,,I also enjoyed the pro chem class pics,,,,,

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  39. Thank you for the great sketch post! My favorite hideaway is my studio!

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  40. My hidaway is a little house in the Forrest we send our holidays in in holland there are lots of rabbits around, birds are singing and just beuatyful trees to look at I just love it one day I hope to have a place like that that would be my dream

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  41. I just love the grasshopper....what is it about bugs and plan ts they remind me t BREATH LIFE!Thank U for sharing...I love purple!

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  42. This blog is a great lesson in cross hatching. I will refer to it again. Thanks for the perspective tip, also. I love old houses, but every house in the South anyway should have a screen porch, mainly for sleeping and painting.

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  43. You make me want to crosshatch again, Susan. Loved seeing all your ancestor's home and now your. What a wonderful history of handsome houses.

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  44. My favorite house is a cottage is Cambridge, England. It is called Kettle's Yard. It was owned by the curator of the Tate Museum. It is the most charming house that I have ever seen. I spent one summer in Cambridge. I would go there to sit and read. It was so peaceful.

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  45. Me me ME! Waving giddily from Maine! (And I have no idea how you keep up with it all!) Cheers, your friend Sarah

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  46. X-hatching is a must for me when I'm sketching, easy way to show the light/dark areas when drawing in graphite pencil. My favorite hideaway is a tiny little farmhouse about a mile down the road from my neighborhood. It is very well hidden from the road, if you're going fast you really don't notice there is a rutted dirt road heading into the forest. One day I was waiting for a school bus a few cars ahead of me when I spied the corner of a red house way back in the woods. Later in the day I returned and drove up the dirt road into the forest. Brave me! LOL! I didn't have to go far to find the little red farmhouse and out building, looked like something right out of a Little House book. There was a no trespassing sign on a pole so I didn't go farther in. It looked as if someone was preserving this special place, perhaps leaving it untouched for sentimental reasons. I'll never know but I long to live in a tiny house just like it someday. Best, Ani

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  47. Amazing sketches!! I am taking my first-ever drawing classes in October (I'm 56 years old)! I don't even know what moleskin is yet but would love to win one with such a beautiful cover. My favorite house at present is my quilting studio/guesthouse that we built out of a grain silo three years ago. It is a unique, bright, happy place to work and maybe I can draw a decent picture of it someday!

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  48. I love your idea of collecting family home pictures, I wonder if I'm too late... Looking at your art I can tell you must be very patient! I would love to win a hand covered molskine. BTW my maiden name is Brubaker.

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  49. Your sketches are simply amazing. I am working on my sketching skills and found this post so helpful. Thanks for sharing and looking for to the DVD's.

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  50. Oh, how pretty. I never had a sketch book to do real sketches. I shoot from the hip and often go back to start. Hmmmm. Maybe this will get me marking ahead of time and have a plan. Nice circle quilting!

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  51. The close ups showing your cross hatching are extremely inspiring to me. I learned to do it in a sketching class (I'm a landscape designer), but I forget to use it! What a great reminder. Thank you!

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  52. This has been a great series and it is good to add new ideas. I have been learning to paint and getting perspective has been a challenge. I love the internet to keep learning and improving. Never stop learning!

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  53. I love your sketches. They are beautiful. I have been reading about moleskin journals for a while and have never seen one. I would love a chance to win one, even if I don't I would love to see the cover design created for the winner.

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  54. I love seeing your sketches and your process. I really need to start sketching again and get back into creating again.

    Debbie

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  55. I love cross hatching. Catherine Nichols was the first artist who really opened my eyes to how cross hatching changes artwork and then your artwork was introduced and I was smitten all over again. My hideaway is being built beginning in 2 weeks. It is based on my childhood hideaway-my Great Grandmother's Craftsman style cottage. It was my favorite place to be in good and bad times. It has similar lines to your hideaway and the one must was the "porch", much like yours. My first art was made in the cottage. River rocks collected during the day were transformed into ladybugs, creatures, flowers, etc. in the evening with my Gram and Great Gram. Bliss! Thanks for a wonderful giveaway and sharing your art. I love your dvds, by the way. :)

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  56. Your sketches are absolutely beautiful! I love to draw but don't "allow" myself time to do so frequently - I have to change that! Would truly love to win one of your journals. Thanks!

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  57. I have two favorite houses....both belonged to my grandmothers. Both house were in Idaho. One is still standing(barely) My grandfather built it. I love your sketches. I'm 63 and just learning to draw.

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  58. Your sketch work is inspiring! I've never tried cross hatching, but I sure will give it a shot tomorrow while flying to Tennessee. The home I'm living in now is my favorite hideaway; my husband converted 2 bedrooms into a studio for me.

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  59. I love your sketches. I am not an artist, so seeing your work is great. I can decide which is my favorite house. I have wonderful memories of the house I grew up in. It was a happy place. I also, love the first house my husband and I lived in. It was an older home with such great character.

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  60. A friend of my mom lives in the middle of nowhere, otherwise known as Nebraska; I was shocked the first time I ever went to her house, I was blown away; it was unlike anything I'd ever imagined.

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  61. Thanks for sharing how you develop your sketches. It is always interesting to learn how people figure out perspective. I took a drafting class and learned with one and two point perspective and enjoy taking photographs. And figuring out light sources...
    My favourite house sadly is only seen in old photographs and there are two, the first house I lived in and my grandparents house a few blocks away.
    Your cover looks wonderful, thanks for a chance to win one,

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  62. Your sketches are gorgeous! I could only hope and wish to draw like that one day! My favorite home I think of was my grandparents! My grands built it in the 50's and has some if my greatest memories there!

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  63. When you share a place with people you love, how can that not be your favorite place to be? I think I'm happiest in my own nest.
    I loved your sketch series. I always resolve to draw more, but somehow it never happens. Perhaps if I had that lovely sketchbook you are giving away...

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  64. I love seeing your process. Makes me want to get a sketch book out and get busy! My favorite is house is the home I sleep in each night - it's beautiful and cozy and sounded by trees! Loved seeing your pieces at PAQA-South's AQFreezeFrame exhibition - beautiful work!

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  65. Hello Susan,
    I have only just found you through the 'Sketchbook Challenge' emails I receive and I'm totally taken in by your sketching style. I'm hoping you have an online class as I live in Southern California. Thank you for sharing!!!
    Shelley

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  66. I think that these examples are drawings and not sketches. They are far too detailed to be sketches. Excellent work.

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  67. My favorite hide away is a log pergola covered in clematis vines in our garden. Wish I had more to spend there.

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  68. Going to give your technique a go. My favorite house is our condo in Charlotte. It's within waking distance of my grandchildren!

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  69. My favorite hideaway is in a nondescript motel at an ocean side locale. Love the little town where one can blend in as one of the locals! Long Beach, Washington

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  70. My favorite house is my Grandmother's house that I got to grow up across the road from; a beautifully crafted bungalow style full of nooks and crannies built in 1925.It exists only in my memory now, but it was a beauty, just like Gram was.

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  71. Love the little house on the lake with the big picture window. Trees framing the view and the path down to the water. That's my favorite house.

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  72. Wow Susan! Your cross-hatching is phenomenal! I would love to be in on your drawing! I love the notepad cover!!! As a mom of 2 busy boys, my favorite get-away place is anywhere I can juts take care of myself... No one else! LOL! And if quilting is involved, even better. I attended a retreat in Driggs, Idaho at a house that is specifically for quilters! It was awesome! Beautiful scenery, and lots of sewing space! The owner had handmade quilts on every bed. Quilting books to read, and even quilting light fixtures! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! If I am the lucky winner, my blog addy is here: http://ruthiequilts.wordpress.com/ Thanks for the giveaway!!!

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  73. My favorite house is not fancy or big, but it is home.
    Blessings,
    Laura
    lane dot family at yahoo dot com

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  74. Wauw, I love your drawing, so beautiful. When do you come to the Netherlands?

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  75. Love your detailed sketches and your quilts! One of my favorite houses is one that is owned by our family. It is more than 500 years old and when you enter it it is as if you can still feel some of the life that was going on a long time ago.

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  76. Your sketches are superb! ...and your house is just lovely. I really enjoyed your houses on the Sketchbook
    Challenge site. Your family house history goes back nearly as far as the history of my country, so I have little to compare. The most interesting place that I lived however, is in a beach house on Boram beach, in Wewak, Papua New Guinea. I spent a year in that paradise, married to a pilot. Tho' the marriage didn't last, the memory did. It was very many years ago.

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  77. I've failed miserably to appreciate art , but especially drawing. I 've learned so much from your posts-- perspective & how sketching from a photo can help; crosshatching--who knew. So a home at night, enclosing me as a young girl falling asleep while the summer noises simmer.....I know now what I'll sketch. Thank you.

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  78. Thanks for the lesson on sketching houses, I love your house. My favorite house is my cousin's house in Marin County,CA. I just stayed there in her beautiful 1890's gingerbread home.

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  79. I like that crosshatching, Susan. I don't draw, but sketchbooks can be used for recording lots of other things, too. Can't think of a favorite house, but my favorite structures are with all the arches that we see all over the city of Jerusalem, old and new.

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  80. Wow! I love your cross hatching! What kind of a pen do you use? I love old houses! I live near Saratoga Springs NY and I love to walk/drive along the streets and gaze at the most magnificent homes!

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  81. Thanks, Lisa! For these sketches, I used a Sharpie designed for paper (not the regular ultra-fine point Sharpies). I love them.

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  82. Thank for the opportunity to win, I love tiny houses. My dream is to someday live in one. Thanks for the amazing post. Love your blog.

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  83. I enjoyed your post. I used to sketch a lot when I was young and would love to get back into it. Perspective was always difficult for me too, so your tip of using tracing paper is one I will try. My favorite house was a summer home we had when I was growing up. Many happy memories were made in this house.

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  84. Beautiful drawings you made!! I had to use cross-hatching for a course once and found it very difficult. My favourite hide-away is my tent during summer holidays in France, nearby a small stream surrounded by huge mountains :) Thanks for the wonderful give-away!

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  85. • • • My favorite house has yet to be discovered. I have this picture in my head of an old building with a second story loft/balcony and the main room open all the way to the top with lots of windows for the sun to come through.

    Your cross hatching is mind blowing. That is the way I learned how to shade, but mine does not compare to your detail. Don't you just love the Sharpie Pens? I use them for everything.

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  86. Your sketches are amazing! Thanks for the chance to win the journal. My favorite house is the one I grew up in, and my mother still lives there!

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  87. My favorite house is the one we are living in. When we (my husband and I) saw it we knew this will be our house.
    I love your way of sketching. I will try this!!! Thanks a lot!

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  88. My favorite house is a log home I designed. The logs were harvested a mile or 2 from where we built. The builder hand peeled the logs. The builder put up the shell and my husband and I finished the interior. It was wonderful.

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  89. Susan, your drawings are so beautiful. Gosh, if I could only draw half as good as you!

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  90. What a thoroughly nice and informative blog! I am really looking forward to exploring it right from the start. I would have to say my favorite hideaway is my partner's "homestead" (my place is called our cottage) - it is a small room built onto his trailer with a woodstove and a huge platform bed with plenty of room for me to sit and sketch looking out over his secret garden, an oasis for the birds on the property. Visited by squirrels and the occasional raccoon and regularly surveyed by passing deer, everything is done by candlelight after the sun goes down. Tony, our cat Misha and I spend many a lazy winter's evening snuggled together, talking, sharing our hopes and dreams of the place we will eventually build together. Thank you the change to win a moleskin sketchbook. As for the colour - LOVE the one in the picture!

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  91. Hi Susan! I am currently looking for my perfect home and I sure hope I find it! There is so much I like and I am not sure what really fits me but it has to be a farm that much I know. Maybe because of my Grandfather!! Your class at Pro Chem was SOOOO much fun! Thank you so much! Pam and I were working on more of them yesterday! Woohoo!

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  92. This is such an informative post! I love this challenge as I enjoy creating buildings in fabric, but your approach is so clear and straight forward. Cross hatching is a great tool... I need to do more sketching so I can use it more!

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  93. Susan, I just love stopping in and seeing all your beautiful posts. Your talents always amaze me! Such beautiful artwork. I aspire to be like you! :) My favorite house would probably have been my Italian Grandparents house in Bayshore New York, on Long Island. It was a very old house, which began very small...they added on little by little as the years went by. My Italian Grandma who was only 4 foot 10 inches tall was always in the kitchen cooking something delicious, homemade bread, homemade tomato sauce, homemade spaghetti noodles too! Upon walking in the house when I was younger the aroma from the delicious food was ever present. She would lay the freshly made noodles on a sheet on the bed to dry. Many family gatherings over the years in this house. Thank you for asking this question, now I have Grandma Mary's house on my mind again..Oh! If those walls could talk! I miss Grandma. :)

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  94. The lines of your cross hatching are so even and straight, and they really do add to the texture. Loved learning about that. I'm in the process of cleaning my fave hideaway today, my bedroom. I have my fave chair in there with some supplies and I like to close the door and just be with my own thoughts.

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  95. I am excited to have found your blog. I am amazed at your sketches and your helpful hints about perspective. I am curious what pens you use, especially for the cross hatching? Your quilts are wonderful too.

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  96. Thanks, Sharon. For these sketches, I used a Sharpie designed for paper (not the regular ultra-fine point Sharpies).

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  97. Wow, thank you for showing the closeups of your sketches!!!!! Amazing work! I am very inspired after reading your post. My favorite hideaway is my art studio in the winter!!!!!

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  98. I'm just wowed by your "sketches!" My favorite hideaway is our tent when we go camping in the wilderness. This giveaway is so awesome!

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  99. Wow!! Love to see the work you do! Fantastic! One of my favorite houses s one our family lived in a little over a year... It was located in NW Ontario in a secluded wooded area. It had A pretty dining room surrounded with windows-- it was a cold place in the winter but the view was gorgeous.. esp. one morning when a lynx was located in a tree right outside the gless1

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  100. Your sketches are amazing!!

    My favorite hideaway is the screened porch of my house, it overlooks a densely wooded backyard. When I sit there with a cup of tea and a book, it feels like a mini vacation.

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  101. Thank you for showing us a detailed up close view of your sketches. It's been years since I have cross hatched anything and now I'm wondering why. It does give life and definition to sketches and line drawings.
    My favorite hideaway at the moment is our glorious week in the mountain cabin. I can't wait to smell all the cool mountain air.
    I'm also redoing my sewing studio. Maybe that will become a favorite hideaway once it's all done.

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  102. Susan, your sketches are so dramatic and beautiful! Thank you for explaining your reasons and techniques for using it.

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  103. Susan, you're a huge talent and a great inspiration. Thank you for sharing and for encouraging us to "stretch" our abilities.

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  104. Susan, you are a huge talent and an inspiration to all. Thank you for sharing and for encouraging us to stretch our abilities.

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  105. Thank you for showing details of your cross hatching. My favorite hide-away is Dayspring Retreat Center where we go on quilt retreats. It is set back in the woods and there is hanging moss on the trees. A beautiful place to re-charge my creative batteries! ~ Karen H

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  106. Beautiful work! An inspiration to me. Thank you.

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  107. Love, love, love your work, Susan! My favorite hide-away is our camp trailer! I always take at least one hand stitching project and one machine stitching project with when we go....my Featherweight is the perfect camping sewing machine. I have done some of my most creative work when relaxing out it the boondocks!

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  108. My special place is not real, but I dream of it often. The rooms of my dreams. They are cozy and homey. There is always a door that enters into a room or space that I've never seen before. I know I'll never have the house in my dreams, but I always wake up happy and content.

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  109. Hi Susan, this might sound dumb but do you always sketch first in pencil and then go over it and fill in with details with the pen? I would do pencil first myself because of being afraid of screwing it up, but I wasn't sure if you just jumped right in with pen and if that was the better thing to do.

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    1. When I am doing a detailed drawing, I always sketch lightly in pencil first. But I also do quick (5-10 minutes) sketches in ink. The styles look very different!

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