Category: drawing

Under the Pines

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Yesterday morning I met up with a friend, to chat, drink coffee, and sketch in the local botanical gardens.  The day was warm and sunny, and before you knew it, 2.5 hours had passed.  She did some wonderful pictures of cacti and tree branches, using only colors from a very tiny paint box!  Me, I need pen and ink to feel confident enough – I am still trying to make watercolors look like watercolors, instead of ink with colors.  I do like the ink-and-color thing, but I know I want to master solid colors.  So, after inking on site, I went home and filled in some colors, and more ink, and more colors, until I hope I got what looks like dappled light on rocks and cacti beneath some pines.

Being curious as to whether or not there is decent light / dark, I thought I would convert it to black and white to see.  Results are below.  I may go in and paint the bushes behind the rocks a bit darker in the center an to the right.

Sketches from a Week or So Ago

I started a small Meetup group last September. At our third meeting we hit the local mall. I was pleased with the turnout! There were 5 of us total, two of whom showed up last minute. There are some pretty talented people out there! I finally got around to scanning some of my sketches, none of which are especially great, but it was really fun to meet a bunch of nice people who like to draw and paint and be creative. We’ll connect again in January, sometime after the new year.


Fire Escapes – Sketch

From our trip to Flagstaff this summer.  Below is the original photo, to show the color and the actual image.  I think it might be behind the Hotel Monte Vista, from the parking lot, but I don’t remember.  Anyway, some artistic license.  I actually was planning to do the entire photo, but once I started my sketch, from the top left building, it soon became apparent that my proportions were totally off, and ended up with the upper part.  However, I think the fire escapes are actually pretty interesting, and are a strong point in the drawing, as are all the lines of the pipes and landings and stairs.

Cliffs at Mesa Verde

I had a brainstorm the other day:  Why not use vacation photos for drawing and watercolor subjects?  I certainly do have a bucket load of photos.  And, last summer we went to a lot of historical and beautiful places as we wandered through parts of the western U.S.  Here, a view from a cliff in Mesa Verde National Park.

Colors include indanthrene blue, quinacridone yellow, organic vermilion, burnt sienna, cobalt blue, phthalo green and Carbon Ink in a Pentalic watercolor book.

Coffee Cup and Iron Gall Ink

I have been playing with iron gall ink, in this case McCaffery’s.  Iron gall ink is easy to make and is the traditional ink over the centuries.  It is waterproof, but with age turns the sepia so often affiliated with old manuscripts and drawings.  I was playing with my goose quill pen, and a steel nib pen as well, working on calligraphy, when I decided to try it in a sketchbook.  Given how busy I was this weekend, this is all I could accomplish, but I will say that the ink held up beautifully as the watercolors were added after the drawing.