Welcome March

Well it is March, and we are having typical weather for March in this part of the world, chilly cold winds with some snow, sleet, and rain to welcome in the Month. I know Spring is coming but today it doesn't really feel like it. Still my thoughts when I have been drawing have been of Spring and warmer weather.

The drawing above utilizes a couple of my photographs from last spring to give you this version of violets, both white and the traditional blue. Actually violets like the ones above wouldn't be found together, the little white ones prefer poorer soil conditions and sun, while the blue are happier in shade and richer loamy soil. This is more or less a bookmark (2 x 6 inches) done on cold press watercolor paper, some ink outlines and then watercolor.

Above is another ATC done this time with just stipple in black and white. I have thought about adding some color but don't think I will at this point. The image of a sparrow sitting on a fence is from a photo I also made last summer at the Trailside Museum in the Blue Hills Reservation, Milton, MA.

The other evening I was glancing at the cover of a National Geographic that has a pair of twins on it and though why not try to draw a portrait of one of the two, so I did the above drawing. I can see some areas I might want to check but on the whole I am satisfied with how it came out.

I haven't been happy with the faces I have been drawing of the models on Monday night so was feeling some portrait practice would be a good thing. There may be more in my future, the problem is finding good images to use as a reference. Done in one of my sketchbooks with just graphite.

The above photograph I made this morning is of starlings sitting in a next door tree. As you can see the sky is totally grey and gloomy. The next few days have forecasts of more clouds and rain, not sure when we will see sun again, so no Nature Journal pages appear to be in my immediate future. Maybe not a bad thing, I have been feeling a bit, hmm, bored isn't the correct word, maybe stale is more accurate, so a short break is probably good.

That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome. Maybe I will go and work on a couple more EDM sketches for next week.