in the hills of North Carolina: plein air

Showing posts with label plein air. Show all posts

Monday, June 8, 2015

Montage sketching

Montage : a composite picture made by combining several separate pictures

So...ususally I try to paint what is directly in front of me but today I was "called upon" by my inner muse to go here and there to create my drawing. I was surrounded by a plethora of beautiful things to draw and simply wanted to do them all, so I did the next best thing and tried to incorporate as many as I could in one drawing. I've never moved my chair so many times during one art session! I did forget to take a picture of the mountains to put in my collage, but I think you can get the idea. So here is my composite drawing of 4 different areas that we had at out disposal today to draw from.

Saturday, June 6, 2015

Plein air watercoloring

My friend Jamie was in town for a couple of days and we usually go out for some plein ait whatever....lol Last month we had spotted a little bridge that we thought was rather scenic so we headed back to that location. It wasn't the easiest to get to but (had to crawl through a drainage ditch to get there ) but we did make it through! Here is a picture of the bridge...

And my version. I was pleased with it in the sense I didn't sketch anything in pencil but used my watercolors first and then used my Micron pen after it had dried.

The only drawback to plein air are the bugs, ugh. Could seriously do without them, lol How dare nature interfere with my nature art? lol

Friday, May 8, 2015

Flowering Bridge - Lake Lure NC

Officially dedicated Oct. 19, 2013, the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge blooms on the historic 1925 Rocky Broad River bridge in Lake Lure, NC. When the bridge was closed to traffic in 2011, the Friends of the Lake Lure Flowering Bridge came together to create gardens on the 155 feet of the bridge and along a pathway at both ends of the three-arch span itself. With an emphasis on native plants, the Friends mission is to create a “Gateway to Somewhere Beautiful” for the enjoyment of the public.

I really enjoyed doing a watercolor sketch of the bridge, there is just something about bridges that I love. Water on the other hand is very hard to do and rarely is the water actually blue so I always think it looks a little weird, but I am trying to draw what I see regardless of whether I think it looks right. I did enjoy the goose that swam into the picture and was glad I captured him. I did however make sure I stayed under the shade of a big tree so I didn't add to my sunburned body parts from the other day!! I do need to remember to add sunscreen and insect repellent to my arsenal of sketching supplies.

Thursday, May 7, 2015

Hogback Mountain

One of my favorite things to do is to take my sketchpad and watercolors outside to create with. This is a picture that has a story too....

First, here is the view of Hogback Mountain that I sketched...hopefully you can see some similarities!

Usually when I set out to sketch I have a public destination in mind but this time my friend Jamie and I just set out to see where life lead us. It lead us on many a road but finally we turned up Pinnacle Mountain and saw some breath taking vistas, the one pictured above really caught our eye and we stopped on the road to gape...lol....that's when we saw the man watching us from his yard!! I rolled down my window to explain we were looking for something to draw, and he invited us to sketch from his porch!! OMG...it was awesome, I was in house envy! His wife was so sweet, offering us ice tea and the use of their bathroom if we needed it! Here is a picture of Jamie sketching...

It was such an unexpected and fun adventure, the only downside was that were sketching in the sun, so I came home with a sunburned neck, arms and feet!