This blog is a companion to my flickr stream http://www.flickr.com/photos/sketchaway
and my Etsy shop where I sell my work http://www.sketchaway.etsy.com/
To inquire about prints or a custom order email me at suhita(at) gmail(dot)com or convo me through Etsy
hi nice to see your varanasi sketches .i am an alumni from Banaras Hindu University (Painting Department of Faculty Of Visual arts) and an ardent sketcher my self
I loved visiting Varanasi, and sketching along the river, with so many arts students from BHU everywhere! Would love to see your sketches…
your sketches are inspiring! i love looking at all your work, it makes me want to pick up my pencil draw again!
Go get that pencil! That’s one of my favorite things about blogging my sketches- inspiring someone else to give it a shot!
Wow, this is incredible. You get used to finding travel blogs with great photographs, but one with hand drawn sketches is quite unique! It was an easy decision to go for that follow button
What a coincidence, I just went to your blog and left you a message, fellow traveller from California!
Came across your blog from craftgawker.com and I am amazed! Your pieces are marvelous! I am motivated to try some of my own travel watercolour sketches and am curious about how you create these – do you sketch it out in pencil first, then paint then ink over? Or do you have a waterproof ink pen, enabling you to sketch in ink then paint? If so, what pen do you use? Again, really lovely stuff, thanks for the inspiration.
Thanks Sheena, I rarely use pencil- I work directly with an Extra Fine Sharpie and then use watercolor over it. I hope you start sketching- it’s made travel even more exciting than it used to be for me.
So thrilled to find another sketcher who only uses black pens too.
Great work,
Cheers,
Erin
Hi Suhita!
I just love your work..it’s so very loose and expressive and alive! I too am a graphic designer/sketcher and watercolourist (among many other things), and my design training often prohibits my sketches from being quick, loose and spontaneous -I find myself tinkering with my work until it’s ‘just so’ then it can look overworked…how do you keep the sketches so loose and vibrant? How long on average does a sketch take, and do you do the pen workj first, then add the colour wash, or what?
I’m off now to your etsy shop and treat myself..
cheers
John
John, I started sketching precisely to counterbalance what I do as a graphic designer. So much tinkering around, kerning, little adjustments, all the stuff that goes into making things ‘just so’…sketching is my antidote. No rules, I draw first because I draw on location, and things move! So it’s penwork first: sharpie on paper in my sketchbooks and then watercolor.
Hi there! your sketches are so beautiful! I always wish I could draw like this while I’m traveling. (I love traveling.) I recently received the Liebster Blog Award and I’d like to pass it to you.
you can check out what it’s all about here (http://necomesen.wordpress.com/2012/02/15/liebster-blog-award/)
If you would like to accept, please follow these rules:
• Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
• Link back to the blogger who awarded you.
• Pick (up to) 5 other blogs who fit within the award parameters (less than 200 followers).
• Inform them that you have chosen them by leaving a comment on their blog.
• Post the award on your blog.
if not, don’t worry about it. thank you for sharing your great work!
I love your sketches. Thanks for sharing your artwork.
Hi Suhita,
Your sketches are really delightful, amazing, and very inspiring… and I assume you will tell me that when you first started sketching you were no where nearly as good as you are today… but something tells me you have quite special talent!
Nevertheless, I will keep at it, albeit sporadically, as I flit from calligraphy to watercolor to knitting to collage to piano to reading to gardening… you get the idea, right? I’ll never master any one thing, but I enjoy it all I guess!
Anyway, I wanted to know if you prefer one particular watercolor notebook to work from?
Also, do you prefer any one kind of watercolor? A person could go broke trying to figure out what yellow or red or blue or green to buy! I’m using watercolor from tubes, but haven’t quite come up with a solution for traveling with them yet.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!!
Yours is one of the few blogs I subscribe to… just not enough hours in the day!
All my best,
Kathy
Kathy, I should dig up and post the early work: from about 3 years ago. What has helped move my sketching along is that I am an obsessive sketcher. Give me a 5 minute break and my sketchbook comes out…
Suhita, your sketches and your stories are always so delightful. I love seeing places I know (live in NYC). Thanks so much for sharing them! The fact that you do them on the go is great too, so inspiring!
Could you offer a static painting lady some mobility advice? I’m headed off on a trip and usually bring inks and pens and paper and wind up painting at a table, but would love to sketch/paint around the island as I go. How do you make it so portable? And the water?
Here is the kit I always carry with me:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sketchaway/6473408307/
It fits in my bag, and I have 2 books I take along, incase I want to make a second quick sketch while one is drying. The trick to sketching on the go? To never pre-judge whether you will have enough time to ‘finish’ a piece: there is a lot of unfinished stuff inmy sketchbooks, when I just have to move on, or get told ( at museums, for instance) that I cannot sketch:) Also, don’t worry about how a piece looks while you’re making it. Just keep going. and work quick. the quick bit brings something to the piece for me: an unedited, fearless quality. Most of all, have fun with it!
This is wonderful, thank you! The pic of your kit is very helpful too. I’ll give it a shot… Leaving tomorrow
Your work is great! Love it! :0
NOMINATION!!! Please copy and paste award from my site here and follow the rules to accept (it’s OK if you choose not to): http://fortyteencandles.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/you-like-me-you-really-like-me/
Hey Sunita,….Awesoomeee sketches….. When I read your Surname..I felt you should be from Goa….but thn the mind plays games *grin* …neway was very happy to read & see Panaji/Mala sketches and thn i felt I was right… you are from Goa :*…nice work …kisses
Nickita,
Now you know!
Suhita, your work is very inspiring! Thank you for sharing it! And, your comments in your blog, as well as your replies to comments about your work are so very thoughtful and warm. Keep at it! I’m inspired to do more!! Thank you!
Dorothy, it is fun to share my art. Mking is a pretty solitary activity, but sharing isn’t!
Hi Suhita – happened to come across your lovely blog! An an amateur “self-learning” artist myself, but dabble more in painting. I have always wanted to maintain a sketch journal but have never had the confidence to start one, cos I just don’t know where to begin. A sketch journal is just seems more mind blogging that working on one piece at a time. But your sketches are so inspiring that I am really tempted to try for myself – am sure it will help with my drawing techniques and perspective. I went through you sketches of your Indian vacation – they were amazing. Thanks for sharing this with the world. It was so easy to “follow” your blog. I hope I can do something like this…
This is a perfect site to inspire and cheer up! Great sketches!