Warming up with Skretches

The sketches I shared from the Symposium and from our outing in Devonport may have looked a little polished, but not all of my sketches look like that. I have to warm up first! When I'm traveling, and especially at a Symposium, I make sure to do warm-up sketches in the morning, just to connect my brain and my had and help the habit of reaching for my sketchbook.
Toby calls these warm-ups skretches!

Skretches are usually of whatever is in front of me. In the morning, that's usually (always) a coffee cup. On the morning I did this sketch, I also drew everything that was in front of me - our little makeshift kitchenette in our hotel room.

Sometimes, my morning warm-ups are a joyful mess, like these from the three Symposium days. I love using my Mitsubishi double-sided pencil with vermillion and Prussian blue to do quick sketches and to help me loosen up. I made these during morning announcements and as we waited for everyone to gather to walk to workshop locations.
This exercise reminded me that sometimes I like to do loose, quick sketches. It's good practice, and it's good to be messy sometimes.