drawing – Page 19 – Ink, Yarn & Beer

Kitty Bliss

Charlie over at Doodlewash set up a September paint-along calendar – something I think he does every month. September 1st is orange cats. September is Pet Rocks. Initially, I thought I would combine the two, but the fact is, Pet Rocks are not in my lexicon of “things I like” so I thought I’d just go with the orange cat.

I think it will be fun to at least get some inspiration from whatever subject near the date I pick up a brush. Sometimes some structure or direction helps you get off your dupa and get moving.

Have you ever tried drawing animals? Cats and rats or mice seem to be ones I “get”!

Birds Above the Fields

I am sort of fascinated by flower farms at present, whether it is bulb flowers or lavender or other types, such as daisies for bouquets. The lines of color and how to represent them is a challenge. Here, we are looking across the fields – the rows are running parallel to the horizon. Still, there is depth here, and I would think the rows would be evident, however subtly. Well, I didn’t accomplish what I wanted, but decided to add ink and some white to it, along with a lot of birds. In looking at it, I realize the foreground needs to simplified and in my mind’s eye, I have some ideas.

Lines & Shades

Once more, the house is in total disarray – the trees in the back yard have been removed or severely trimmed back. 5 trees out, 11 pruned. The guy who did it all is an artist – you can actually see the branches on the trees, and the neighbors. So what does it have to do with a post called “Lines & Shades”? All this disruption messes everything up! With such disruption – and being unable to leave the house – it was a strange sort of prison. I read murder mysteries for the most part until yesterday. It was quiet and no one was home except me and the dogs.

Back to basics. Pen and ink, contour drawing. The first one was kind of stiff, but as things moved on, it got easier and more fun. I wanted to make “lost and found edges” as well, to make things suggested, not spelled out.

I also decided to scan in a value study I did from a photo I took years ago of the Santa Monica River in the mountains nearby, on a hot, dry day. This is to remind me to follow a more traditional route in painting as my own sense of contrast – light – dark – is not the best. As you can see, I did it some weeks ago, but I hope to make it into a watercolor in the not too distant future. The hard part is finding the right color for the sandy river bottom, but I have an idea . . .

Old Shack

I went out to lunch, so that is why interrupted the first part of this post. And, there were a lot of pictures to look at. Now, back from lunch, and awake from a 2-hour nap, here I am.

The next step was to put in the grasses on the lower and the left of the picture, and the trees in the background. Shape and contrast were the goal. The grasses, again, were straight lines with a bit of curve. In the background, I used 3 different colored pencils, and drew small, tight circles to convey the thick foliage of the trees in the distance; this was repeated in front of the shack. Longitudinal lines were used to create the direction of the fields.

Once the grasses, field, and foliage were put in, I used water. Short straight strokes for the grass were done vertically, some blending into other grasses, too. The trees in the distance on the left and right were next, being careful to work around the straight lines of the building. The sloping fields to the left and right were worked with short brush strokes, to keep the colors isolated in some areas, and blended in another. If you look on the right, you will see the fields are yellow, blends of yellow and browns, and finally, below the trees, varying shades of green. Lastly, I worked the grasses in the foreground, top to bottom left to right.

Next? The sky!

Bush Anemone

Another flower from my ramblings in the botanical garden last weekend. I may go back tomorrow.

The Bush Anemone – carpenteria californica – is a rather pretty little flower. Not gaudy, just soft, subtle, and short-bloomed. I penciled this in first, then used a brush to dab paint off of the tips of my Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils to see how that worked. Not bad for a small touch here and there! I then used a light touch with a very fine pointed pen.