Another of my pen and ink WetCanvas challenge drawings for June. This is a stone barn not sure what country but I expect either Europe or Great Britain. I drew this out first in graphite since I often have a problem getting the perspective angle correct the first time around. I didn't on this one, you can still see the smudge where I tried to erase the original drawing. I think I need to do more perspective drawings so I can get a better handle on the angles involved.
Otherwise I am rather pleased with how this came out. Much better than my last pen and ink drawing. Course I did spend more time on this one so I guess it shows.
Drawn in my sketchbook I used my technical pens to do the inking.
The other day I was in one of Brockton's parks and though I would try a more close up drawing of trees and foliage so made the above drawing. I used a new to me pen which turned out to not have waterproof ink so the results got a bit smeared when I added the watercolor.
I played with mixing different colors of green for this drawing. The results are a bit of a mess but for some reason I still rather like it. That said I don't think I will be combining this pen with a watercolor wash again in the near future.
I was just fooling around last night trying different sketches to investigate some possible future drawings and ended up drawing my hand, well mainly my thumb, I was holding a pink pearl eraser. Not wonderful, but at least it looks like a hand. If I had chosen a slightly different position it would have been a good exercise from a book on drawing that I am currently reading Bert Dodson's Keys to Drawing. The book has been around since the 1985 but from what I have read so far it is one of the good ones for people who are trying to learn to draw.
I don't like books about learning to draw that take a rote approach to drawing, ie learn to draw this shape, learn to see this shape in the human form (or any form for that matter), draw that shape first then modify it. It is sort of the approach of the last book I had out of the library. When you learn to draw that way every new subject has to be broken down and analyzed and you have to commit shapes to memory. My belief is that the best way to learn to draw is to learn to see and translate that seeing to paper. If you learn to draw what you see then you can draw anything.
I am making a book, it is for me to use as a sketchbook for my plein air watercolors. Above is where I am currently at in the project. I have the signatures sewn together with the tape that will be used to attach the covers. The boards for the cover have been cut and I have selected some fabric to use to cover them. My stopping point was that I needed some glue. Now I have various glues around the apt. but I didn't want to use any of them. The DVD I am using to assemble this book suggest Elmers Glue, I only have Elmers School glue so decided I needed to get the real deal before I went any further with my project.
I am using Bookbinding A Traditional Technique by Larry Withers as my guide. I am having to wing a few things, like the tape I am using, and also the cloth that will be glued to the back. The materials I am using as substitutes should be OK but they aren't authentic. Oh well don't think it really matters too much as this is just a first attempt and just a sketchbook for me to use. Wish me luck, so far so good but I still have quite a ways to go. From previous attempts at bookmaking I do have the correct thread, needles, awl, and bone folder so I am not winging all my materials.
Photo for today's update is a white peony flower in bloom. I was using manual settings for this photograph so the background is a bit darker than it would have been if I had use Automatic settings. It was a sunny day and I have found that on sunny days my automatic setting tends to allow too much light for some flowers giving them a washed out appearance. Even though I have lost the background I have lots of details in the flower so I am happy with this photograph.
That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome.
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