The day after Thanksgiving 2023, my mother and I took off for Florida, leaving Fred with all the leftovers from a huge turkey dinner I had cooked the day before.
The two of us were tagging along on a Disney trip that my daughter had been planning for the past year. So, while the grandkids spent their days at Disney World and various other theme parks, my mom and I vegged out by the pool at the rental house, soaking up the sunshine, taking walks, reading, and painting.
I had taken along a couple of unfinished travel journals to work on while I was there, and I ended up having long, uninterrupted hours of time to paint outdoors on the lanai. It was pretty blissful!
I may have been in Kissimmee, Florida, that week, but my thoughts kept straying to Owls Head, Maine, as I worked on a couple of pages from my “Things I Love About Maine” sketchbook.
See other pages from that sketchbook in these posts:
I had been in Maine to celebrate a milestone birthday with my friend Karen and my mother (without whom I wouldn’t be here to celebrate anything!) Karen had flown all the way from southern California to explore midcoast Maine with us.
Late one afternoon, we walked up the street to sketch a cute little lavender cottage that’s just three doors down from the Owls Head General Store (officially the home of the best cheeseburger in Maine!)
Perched on our three-legged stools, with sketch kits on our laps, Karen and I chatted amiably while drawing the cottage. Then, just as I pulled out my brushes and got ready to start mixing paint, a big ol’ pickup truck pulled up and parked right in front of the house!
Needless to say, that ended our sketching session for the day, but it was about time for happy hour back at our place, so we didn’t mind too much. 🙂
So that’s why I was finishing up this page about cute Maine cottages while I was in Florida.
When it came time to paint the lavender cedar shake siding, I could have just drawn a few shingles here and there to suggest the texture, but I decided to do more. Usually I draw a few horizontal guidelines with a ruler, but this time a *brilliant* idea popped into my head: I could use my Everyday Artist SketchLiner Stencil instead!
I designed the Everyday Artist SketchLiner Stencil as a tool to quickly draw lines for journaling on my sketchbook pages. It comes in really handy for ruling paragraphs of text in my travel journals. But I’ve begun using it any time I need to draw lines parallel to the edge of the page. It’s so simple to align the edge of the stencil with an edge of my sketchbook page and draw a line anywhere I need it.
My bright idea for the cottage sketch was to use the stencil to draw parallel lines as a guide for painting the cedar shake siding.
The stencil has two spacing options, 3/16″ and 1/4″. The 3/16″ spacing was a good size for the rows of shingles I would paint, but I didn’t need to mark every line – every other one would be fine. I could just eyeball the alternate ones.
A mechanical pencil with 0.7 mm lead works great with the stencil.
Here’s how the marks looked on my sketch after I had penciled in all the lines.
I mixed up some paint that was slightly darker and more muted than the lavender house color. Using a small round brush, I began painting, first going over the pencil lines I had marked…
then filling in with another line in each horizontal space, using strokes which were irregular and “skippy”.
Next I began painting the vertical lines of the cedar shakes, being sure to vary the width and leave some unpainted spaces.
I worked my way down the page, and gradually it began to fill in.
After all the siding had been painted…
I softened some areas using a damp brush.
After gently rubbing the brush across the lines, I blotted with a tissue to lift the paint, leaving a soft out-of-focus look.
The finished sketch has plenty of texture without it being a distraction.
So keep the Everyday Artist Sketchliner Stencil in mind whenever you need to draw parallel lines on a sketch. It’s a handy tool, and I’m finding more uses for it all the time. In fact, my next email newsletter will include a new “Quick Tip” about how I used it on another sketch.
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If you’ve discovered any other creative ways to use the Everyday Artist SketchLiner, I’d love to hear them in the comments!
14 Comments
I really love this idea! One of my favorite subjects is old houses, usually in pencil, I haven’t yet tried to watercolor one. My closest attempt is the Point Aux Baroque light house on the Great Lakes. But I’m sure that when I’m armed with proper tools and supplies I will be ready to tackle some of the great tips from your tutoials
I hope you’ll find them helpful.
I love this cottage!! And the stencil idea looks like it works great,. Going to try it for sure!
❤️ Beverlee
The hardest part is just remembering to pull it out and use it!
Love this, Leslie! What a great idea to use the stencil for the siding. I’m going to try it!
It worked great! It was so much easier than using a ruler to draw all those parallel lines.
I always love to read your sketchbook blog! I love your style, thanks for sharing!
Awww, thanks Jacklyn. I appreciate that.
Loved your idea for the stencil use. Love the cottage
Great idea! Thanks for sharing.
WOW you have been through a lot since I last saw you. I enjoyed your art work from the hospital experience. Another example how you make lemonade when life sends you lemons.
I am enjoying a senior center watercolor class.
With heartfelt gratitude,
Karen
Would you sell me a stencil, it would save so much time when painting. ? You really should market this idea.
Love your Art.
Cheap Joe’s makes and sells them. I gave them the idea and they developed it. Just click on the link where it says “Everday Artist Sketchliner Stencil” and it will take you to the website to buy it.
Hi Leslie,
Lovely to see how this came out (never did finish mine) …still a wonderful memory. I use my Sketchliner all the time for lettering, but such a good idea for shingle siding! I wish that the artist lady who lived there in the cottage could see your page – she would love it!!
KC
I’d love to see yours finished. Ple-e-e-ase do it!
Next time I’m in Owls Head, maybe I’ll stop by to chat with the lady in the lavender cottage and show her my sketch. And I know there WILL be a next time.:)