My first video! Getting Started Drawing - Dahlia, Part I

So I recently discovered a little time-lapse video option on my phone. I thought this would be a great opportunity to start a series of short, instructional videos showing how I approach different subjects.

I have been observing a beautiful dahlia blooming in a local flowerbed and thought that would be a great place to start.

I recorded myself beginning to sketch this gorgeous blossom. I am working from a reference photo, which although not ideal for botanical subjects, is a great place to start, particularly if you are intimidated by the whole process or just beginning! It doesn't wilt or die and you can focus on the shapes, proportions and training your eye and hand to render on the page.

Check out the video and let me know what you think! I am sure my video editing skills need some work, but one has to start somewhere! I plan to continue creating short videos of my process as I work on this dahlia blossom drawing, so stay tuned.

 

Sketchbook Exchange - Drawings #6 and #7 and my own book back!

It has been a busy time! I last posted in March and we are now to mid-July! In those four months, I  have completed the final two drawings for the sketchbook exchange project that I have been a part of for the past year.

I also moved houses and went on vacation, so I was thrilled, upon my return, to find my own sketchbook back from its last stop in Singapore, filled with amazing artwork from around the world!

Here is a peek at some pictures of the gorgeous pieces that fill my sketchbook from seven amazing artists. From left to right (starting in the top left corner): Linda Trella, Giulia Canevari, Elaine Moore Mackey, Beryl Prout (two pages), Mischa (two pages), Sevil Medhi, and Teo Nam Siang.

Previous to getting my own book back, I finished up drawings for Giulia's and Linda's books.

For Guilia's, I did some ink and colored pencil drawings of the beautiful chive blossoms that were popping up in my old garden. I also found some neat seed hyacinth seed pods to round out the other page (graphite, ink and ink/colored pencil.) I was anxious to get this mailed out before our move and was glad to get it finished.

Linda's book was carefully packed in my bag so I wouldn't lose it. Once we were settled in a bit at the new place, I was able to do some drawings of iris buds that I had from my old garden and then found the perfect finishing touch at the new place once my hostas started blooming. I used ink and colored pencil on the hostas, colored pencil alone on the one iris bud and graphite alone on the other iris bud. Happily, I was able to mail this out to Linda before vacation.

A modified group of us (depending on availability, etc.) plan to continue the exchange for a second round starting in August, so stay tuned!

Sketches and a new piece

Happy March! It's been a long, cold winter, to say the least! I know we are not quite done with it yet here in Michigan, but it helps to be starting a new month, that much closer to spring.

Although I have not done any great quantities of drawing or big projects this winter, I have been keeping my pencils warmed up with sketches here and there.

Below are some studies of a pretty little African violet that I picked up at the store a few weeks ago. The petals are a beautiful purple/violet color with frilled, white edges. I started with pencil sketches using my 4H pencil for a lighter touch:

Such graceful, curving stems! Then I moved on to a more detailed study in ink and colored pencil. I enjoyed rendering the overlapping petals and you can see the variety of blues and violets I chose to layer to get the correct color. The view from behind the flower (on the right) allowed the light to shine through the petals more, so the coloring was slightly brighter and lighter. All of the stems and buds are covered with tiny, fine hairs which I indicated in pen.

Finally, I have started to work on new piece, which I hope will be a finished one, probably in ink and colored pencil. This will be the Spring Beauty wildflower that I have sketched and photographed in detail before. I am trying to decide on composition, but definitely want to include the opened flowers as well as the clustered buds that hang gracefully off of the main stem. 

I actually like this simple composition below, but may want to include some overlapping elements as these tiny flowers intertwine and carpet the forest floor each spring. Stay tuned for more on this one!

Back to Drawing! Powder Puff Tree (Calliandra haematocephala)

Happy New Year, all!

We have had a bit of an extended winter/holiday break from school since the polar vortex arrived here in Michigan. However, things are starting to thaw out and we will be back on schedule soon.

One bonus of the extra time was having the opportunity to get back into drawing after the holidays. Right before our most recent snowstorm and cold snap, we had a chance to get up to our local botanical garden (Matthaei Botanical Gardens in Ann Arbor.) Lots of wonderful plants blooming in the conservatory and my husband was able to take a number of great photos. I was thinking "reference photos!" for my files. Although not ideal, working from photos is still an opportunity to study a plant and practice rendering techniques, especially after a lull in creative activity during the holidays.

One of the things we saw really caught my eye, the Powder Puff Tree (Calliandra haematocephala.) It has beautiful, fluffy, bright red/pink blossoms and gorgeous buds right before they bloom. A challenging subject, but one I was really intrigued to figure out. All of those filamentous bits on the flower!!

So, I broke out the colored pencils and worked on a study of a blossom. I use Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils and chose a piece of 5 x 7 inch, 140 lb Fabriano Artistico Extra White, hot press watercolor paper. It has a nice weight and takes many layers of pencil well.

I started by using Payne's Grey to sketch out the flower bud and dark ends of the filaments.

This gave me a bit of confidence by mapping out where I was headed with all of the individual "fluff" of the blossom. Some botanical art friends suggested using different shades of red, so I did just that. I began with Deep Scarlet Red, following the shape of the filaments.

I continued layering with Middle Cadmium Red, Dark Red, and Madder, adding some brighter Geranium Lake at the end. 

I was careful to leave some white space (shading in light pink) that occurs at the base of the flower where the bloom first opens up.





 


I finished up shading the unopened blossom and branch by adding in some May Green and Olive Green Yellowish. Here is the finished study:

I think it turned out rather well for an intimidating subject! As one of my artist friends stated, it is a great start! I would love to do additional studies of the buds, leaves and branches and put them together into a more finished piece. 

What projects have you started on or would you like to begin in this new year?

A View In Color

Remember the pen and ink commission I posted a while back? It was originally done just in ink, but after consulting with the client, they decided that they preferred some color (this is for a gift and is a special place to the recipients, so they wanted to make sure it really resonates with them.)

Here is the final pen and ink:

Today, I added the colored pencil. Here is the final result:

I think it turned out beautifully! I particularly like the way the water turned out. It really makes it the focal point of the drawing.

I used my favorite Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils and layered five different colors for the water: cobalt turquoise, dark thalo green, cobalt green, ultramarine, and navy for the darkest area near the horizon.

Greens used included chrome oxide green, pine green and earth green yellowish.

Have you had any holiday commissions to complete? How are they coming along?

A little slice of heaven...

So we are having what is probably the last warm-up in weather until spring here in Michigan. Temps are mid-70s, sun is shining and there is a beautiful breeze going through the house. With the threat of rain tomorrow and a high of 52, I wanted to take full advantage!

With my 3-year-old at home for a low-key day today, I was able to spend about 45 glorious minutes outside sketching some fall gourds while she played. Yay!! It has been f-o-r-e-v-e-r since I have had a chance to draw at all so I savored every minute of it.

I had my lawn chair, a huge pad of paper, my favorite mechanical pencil, kneaded eraser and two little gourds I bought from the grocery store a few weeks ago. They are both only about 3 inches long and wide in the body, with one having an extra long stem that stayed remarkably intact for a grocery-store gourd.

I sketched as fast as I could before I had to give up the one with the long stem for my daughter's "collection". :)

Long-stem is mostly green whereas the second one is a wonderful, bumpy-all-over bright orange with some dark green blotches. I didn't get a chance to add color, but I am sure you can imagine these since they are around pretty much everywhere at this time of year.

Even though these were fairly quick studies and not nearly complete, it felt wonderful to have a chance to actually put pencil to paper. It also felt terrific to be outside, squinting in the sun with a breeze swirling my hair as I drew!

Have you had a chance to do any autumn drawing lately? What is one of your favorite things to draw this time of year?

Trillium Print - Combined Composition

I recently ventured into creating my first, small, print run of my artwork to be used in a gifting event. This was for the Christmas in July gift bags, an event for the indiExhibit, which were gifted to a small group of twelve celebrities.


I have participated in events before, but never gifted a print of my artwork before. I had to keep it fairly small, as there were items from other artists in the bags also.


I knew which drawings I wanted to use - two drawings of a white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), from sketches and reference photos taken at an art retreat last year (see my first post here.) I love wildflowers and really enjoyed getting to know some of the local ones, including the beautiful white trillium. The triangular, pointed leaves and petals really appealed to me. 


I had completed one drawing in color (ink and colored pencil) of the plant in bud, and had an ink drawing of the plant flowering, so I thought it would be interesting to combine the two into a simple, botanical print. I scanned both drawings into my photo editing program and played with the composition until I felt it was right.  I really wanted to showcase the full color drawing, so I wanted that in the foreground. Personally, I found it more interesting that the drawing of the plant in bud, not full flower, was emphasized.  Rearranging it several times, and printing out drafts, I settled on the vertical presentation. 


I added some italicized text at the bottom to identify the plant and printed it out on acid-free, white cardstock. The final, matted print was only 5x7 inches, and I thought of it as similar to a note card (not intended as an archival, fine art print) that showcases my work, but isn't expected to last 500 years. I am hoping that maybe the celebrity recipients find it to be a little piece of botanical interest that they can put in their home or give to another friend or relative who likes this style of art.

The final print in it's white mat.

Back of the print with a small printout with my contact information and information about the trillium plant itself. Might as well educate a bit while I am at it! :)

Of course, I finished the gift package by putting the print/mat/backing into a clear bag, including my business card and wrapped a little green, waxed linen thread around it with a gift tag on the front (that included my holly painting, since it was for Christmas, after all!) 


It's unusual to get any direct feedback from the celebrity recipients (understandably), unless they are exceedingly gracious to each artist included in the gift bags or happen to really take to a particular artist's work. However, I love that this gave me an opportunity to "expand my horizons" (thank you, Mrs. Pletcher!) and think of how I could present my work and share a little of my artistic interests with a different audience.

Have you ever ventured out of your comfort zone or usual routine to do something different like this? I would love to hear about it!

Trillium - Done!

Here is a scan (not just a photo as I had posted before) of the final version of the trillium in ink and colored pencil:

I continued to work on the shading and dark areas with dark indigo, but most of what I did was "paint" with my kneaded eraser by lifting out areas of color where there are highlights and then doing a tiny bit of blending after that.

Here is a detail shot of the center (per Irene's request!) :) I am embarrassed at how much clean-up I need to do around the edges!! However, it is helpful indeed to see a close-up.

 

I really like how it turned out. Is it perfect? No, but it feels "done" to me. I don't want to compare it exactly to the reference photo, but rather just look at it on it's own merit. I know from past experience that I will set it aside and catch a glimpse of it later and continue to be very pleased with the end result.

I have a second reference photo and line drawing in ink of another trillium - this time with an open blossom. So, that will be next on my list!

What do you have on your drawing table or workbench this week?

Update - Trillium Almost Done!

I have been working more on the trillium and am getting closer! 

This is what it looked like yesterday (above), as I continued to add layers of color on all three leaves.

And this is what it looks like today, after additional layering, mostly the olive green. I added dark indigo (9201-157) to the mix to deepen the shadow areas and still need to blend those in more as well as darken more, especially on the leaf on the far right. 

As I have read in many instruction books, using a dark blue/indigo or sepia is a better way to deepen shadow areas as it provides depth and doesn't make it as flat or stark as black.

I need to set it aside and look at it with fresh eyes later or tomorrow, pull out some highlights and further darken shadow areas, then make sure the blending works overall.

This is the part that I find most difficult and most rewarding. If it continues to come together and I can 'see the end' then it gets exciting. However, often at this stage, I find that I blend too much and it gets overworked.

What do you find to be the most difficult part of a painting or drawing?

Making Progress - Trillium in Ink and Colored Pencil

I am making a bit of progress on the trillium (Trillium grandiflorum). I have continued to layer the permanent green olive (#9201-167) over the darker deep cobalt green (#9201-158) layer. 

 

I will continue to layer until I get all three leaves colored. Then I will work on refining the shading, deepening shadows, lifting out highlights, etc. Stay tuned!  

What are you working on these days?

 

Work-In-Progress: Trillium in Ink and Colored Pencil

Today I wanted to give you a peek of the drawing I have in-progress. Finally! A chance to get back to pencils and paper. :) I absolutely love working with my beads, but very much missed drawing. So, I decided to be patient, get the pencils out and work on this a little bit at a time.

 

What am I working on? A wildflower illustration! I created two ink drawings of white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum) from reference photos taken while on a wonderful weekend art retreat to Pierce Cedar Creek Institute in Hastings, MI last spring. (You can read my posts about the retreat for details.) I wanted to start adding color to one of them. 

I prefer working with colored pencil when adding color, so I brought out my favorite Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils. My paper is also one of my favorites, Fabriano Artistico, 140 lb, hot-press watercolor paper. This takes both the ink and the colored pencil well, so it's a great choice for these types of illustrations. This particular piece is on a 9" x 12" size sheet.
 
I did some test swatches on a separate sheet of paper to compare colors to the reference photo. I also wanted to start with the darkest shadow areas, and decided that a base layer of deep cobalt green (#9201-158) would be best. This is more of a blue-green, and you can see the areas where that is the first layer.

On top of that, I began layering permanent green olive (#9201-167). Again, you can see where I started adding that and how it begins to bring more depth to the shaded areas.

I have a few other greens that I will layer in as I go, including pine green (#9201-267), may green (#9201-170) and earth green (#9201-172).

Here is the drawing with the reference photo so that you can see what I am working with:

The key for any colored pencil drawing like this is PATIENCE!! I tend to want to get it done in the limited time I have to work on something, but end up rushing it and not taking my time to really layer properly. 

The other important key in colored pencil work is a *sharp pencil point*. This is emphasized over and over in all of the drawing books I have, particularly on botanical illustration. A sharp point allows you to blend layers of color more smoothly and create the details needed without making it flat. This all combines to create a richer drawing with depth and detail.

Do you work with colored pencil? What do you like best about the medium? What is the most frustrating for you?

Wish me patience and sharp points and I will keep you posted on my progress!

A Beautiful Fall Leaf!

Finally, some new artwork! I had a rare opportunity this afternoon - toddler was napping and my older daughter and her friend were out in the yard playing on this gorgeous, fall day. They were bringing me leaves and this little gem was in the stash. 

I haven't looked up what tree this is from - any ideas?

I was able to do an ink and colored pencil drawing on Fabriano Artistico (extra white) 140 lb hot press watercolor paper. I used my Faber Castell Polychromos pencils. 

I really love the green and yellow mottling in the center and the rich reds throughout the leaf. Glad I drew it as soon as they brought it in as it's already mostly brown and the vibrant colors have faded.

What fun, autumn arts and crafts have you been up to lately?

Tiles, Trivets and Boxes - Oh My!

Zazzle has recently made some wonderful new products available in the marketplace. We can now create tiles, trivets, and beautiful gift boxes!

I am so excited at the possibilities since I have always thought tiles (and products featuring those, like trivets and boxes...) would really suit my artwork quite well. 

 

I have been plugging away at creating the tiles first since you can choose to frame the tile as as trivet or put it into a gift box once you click 'customize'. Take a peek at some of my new products below and stay closely tuned as I continue to add more!

Daffodil Tile with Green Stripe

Garlic Scapes Tile

Add a trivet frame for a useful and decorative kitchen gift!

Japanese Crane Gift Box

Find all of the tiles I have created so far here: Tiles

Find all of the gift boxes I have created so far here: Gift Boxes
Note: you will see tiles here, too, since you can create a gift box from any tile. Simply click the 'customize' button when viewing a tile.

Any of these new products would make fantastic gifts for family and friends!

Broccoli Leaf - Ink and Colored Pencil - Advice?

I am working on a broccoli leaf in ink and colored pencil, but am having trouble with the color. 

The leaf is actually sort of bluish-gray/green with an almost chalky look to it. I can't seem to find any pencils in my current stash to render it correctly. I am using Faber Castell Polychromos and so far on this have used light green, permanent green olive and chrome green oxide. 

I have many layers to go yet, but this shows you the initial stages of shading. The stem and underside of this particular leaf were more in the sun and do indeed have a yellow-green hue, but the top part of the leaf is almost a white-gray-blue-green. I am trying to figure out what colors to use in addition to how best to layer them. It will take some experimenting, for sure! And perhaps a purchase of some additional pencils.

  

Do you have any advice on how to get the blend of colors right? I'd love to hear from you!

I will keep plugging away and post more in-progress updates as they develop. Thanks!

In honor of Shark Week!

Guess what? It's Shark Week! The annual Discovery Channel special features new shows about this fascinating animal. I am not a big water person, but for some reason, I just love Shark Week.

Spoonflower, perhaps not coincidentally, is having a Sharks-themed design contest with submissions ending tomorrow 8/2. Rather than go with a typical full-body shark or silhouette, I decided it might be fun to focus on teeth instead.

I used some public-domain reference photos and rendered a couple of smaller teeth alongside a larger tooth in ink and colored pencil. Though not entirely to scale, the larger tooth represents the ancient, extinct Megalodon which was the largest prehistoric shark.

Check out the Spoonflower contests page later this week to vote for your favorite shark design!

House Portrait in pen and ink - another finished!

I have completed my most recent house portrait commission that I showed you in-progress earlier this month. The final turned out very well, I think. It is approximately 10 x 8 inches and was rendered with a 3X0 (.25) Rapidograph technical pen on smooth Bristol paper (100 lb.)

I have one more house portrait to start on and then I think I will be working on some more botanicals. But you never know what might catch my eye in between, so stay tuned!

Have a great week!

The Feather - In Progress

I took several photos of the small feather during my drawing process. As I mentioned before, this was a fairly quick drawing (spent maybe a 1/2 hour, interrupted several times by the kids!), so it definitely could have been done more carefully. I was so excited to find it that I didn't want to let the opportunity to draw it pass, so I accomplished what I could in the time I had.

My initial graphite sketch. 

This looks more delicate and perhaps I should have stayed with a graphite drawing to capture the downy aspects at the bottom of the feather.

Ink drawing.

You can see I got a little messy with the pen work on the dark spot on the left. I should have stopped further from the center shaft. I used a 3x0 (.25) Rapidograph pen (the smallest size I have) and it still looks too heavy to me.

Perhaps I should have put less lines down and just hinted at the structure more rather than trying to draw all of it in. It's a learning process!

 

 Final colored pencil drawing.

You can tell this photo was taken in natural light by the window. The feather looks much whiter at the bottom. In person, that area is more gray and the photos of the previous stages above are more accurate, I think.

I used my Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils: walnut brown for the dark spots, raw umber and burnt sienna for the lighter brown areas, layered with some warm grey V and warm grey II.

Have you ever had done any feather drawings? How do you keep the delicate nature of the drawing intact, even when using ink? I would love to hear about your experiences!

Another Feathery Find!

Feathers are apparently a theme this summer! Ok, I've only found my second so far, but that's two more than I have found in the past 4 years here, so I would say that would count. Perhaps the birds would like me to expand my subject matter :)

This most recent find was on our front porch when I went out to water my hanging baskets this morning. It is about 2.5 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. It has a smoky taupe color with two dark brown patches on it. The downy bits at the bottom are a lighter gray with a bit of the browner/taupe color here and there.

I attempted to do a quick drawing in ink, so I think that overall, my drawing is darker than the feather itself, but I wanted to try out the line work. Because the feather is so small, I might have been better off sticking just with very sharp colored pencils, or graphite.

I added some colored pencil on top of the pen to get a sense of the colors.

I am not entirely sure what bird this came from - any ideas? We have several small birds that hang out around our porch, but I am not sure if they are sparrows or wrens or something else?

Hope you enjoy this most recent find!

Red-Tailed Hawk Tail Feather - First Molt?

I had a rare find when I was out and about recently -- a beautiful feather. I looked it up and think it is a red-tailed hawk tail feather from a first molting. I was able to do a very rough sketch of it and took some photos. I hope to do a more detailed pen and ink study of it, adding color. This is graphite pencil with some colored pencil added to get a sense of the color scheme. 

I love the pattern of dark brown, tan, and creamy white and was fascinated to see all of the details up-close.

Have you ever found anything unusual in your wanderings that you were able to draw or photograph?

Trillium line drawings in ink

I have started working on some wildflower drawings using sketches and reference photos I took on my art retreat last month. Here are two line drawings of trillium wildflowers. My goal is to work on adding colored pencil to these. Stay tuned to see how they are coming along!