Finishing Off Old Starts

 Most of what I am posting today was started last year. The above is the inked final of a piece I started a while ago in pencil but decided I wanted to ink it instead of leaving it as a graphite work. Problem was I didn't have any nibs that made a fine enough line and for this one I really wanted to use a dip pen with India Ink. So for Christmas I asked Santa to bring me some Hunts Crow Quill nibs, which Santa was kind enough to do. In anticipation of the gift I had brought the pencil version of this with me to my Sisters over Christmas and then did the inking there after Christmas Day.

This is done on Stonehenge toned paper, though the color isn't really showing up in the scan. Size of paper is 7 x 7 inches though I think what is in the scan is more like 6 x 6 inches. I don't have a name for it so if anyone has suggestions I would love to hear them. Just goes to show you can stipple with a dip pen, if you are careful.

 Again this was started last summer when I was first experimenting with using color washed cold press watercolor paper as the background for my ink drawings. The flowers here are Foxglove, both the larger flowers and the whole plants in the background. All are based on some personal photographs.

I used a dip pen with acrylic Sepia ink for this one, the nib is a Japanese Manga nib, so it gives a relatively fine line, not as fine as the Hunts Crow Quill but fine. I am rather pleased with how this came out, even if it did take way to long to finish. The good thing about art is that usually it will wait.

Someone asked about the technique, it is just semi short parallel lines made so they are drawn close together to create the tonal value I am looking for, not close together for lighter areas, and basically overlapping for the darker. I did do a pencil sketch, at least outlines prior to inking.

Now this piece is new. I did the background watercolor wash on a long strip of cold press watercolor paper and cut it in two to make two bookmarks. The design is based on some of the architectural features I photographed on buildings in Chicago over my Christmas visit. I used a dip pen with the Manga nib to ink this with black India Ink. I think it is kind of fun and am thinking about using more of my reference photographs for additional works. It isn't quite finished I need to give it a few coats of Acrylic Medium to waterproof and stiffen it, but I wanted to wait until the ink was thoroughly dry prior to bushing the Medium on over the ink. The size is 6 inches by 2 inches.

Two photographs from a recent visit to Daniel Webster, MA Audubon site in Marshfield, MA. The above shows a mallard duck taking off from the Green River. They were feeding on the river when I walked by and started them.

The above photo was made in the Bird feeder area at Daniel Webster, both Mr. & Mrs Cardinal. The male is top right and the duller female is at the 2nd feeder lower left. Love the new camera that lets me make these bird photos without them being totally blurry.

That is it for today, yeah, I have actually managed a 2nd post this month. Not sure I will get back to weekly updates but hopefully I will be able to keep up the bi-weekly ones. Per usual comments are welcome.

Welcoming Spring with some Pen and Ink Works

Welcome to spring, it has been a long winter here in the Northeast, though I have to say that I know it will still be a couple of weeks before we really see the lawns showing signs of green. Esp. as most are still under inches of snow. But note that I wrote inches not feet, so we have had a lot of melting in past couple of weeks. Today is the Spring Equinox, one of two days in the year when darkness and light are evenly split. Now the daytime with it's hours of light will start becoming longer than our hours of darkness.

Above is another of my Nature Journal catch up pages. This one is from a visit to Daniel Webster on June 4, 2013. My usual tree stump, I use this artifact to document the rising/falling water in the Panne. A squirrel that was visiting the bird feeder area looking for a meal. And last a bird sitting on one of the nest boxes outside one of the Blinds in the sanctuary. Not sure at this point if the bird was a tree swallow or a sparrow, but I think a tree swallow as they like to use the nest boxes. Just 2 more pages to go and I will be caught up.

The above is an expanded/modified version of one of the pen exercises I did not too long ago. The flower and triangles are what I lifted from the original exercise adding the dragonfly and leaf to the design. This is done on new to me paper, Utrecht American Master's Printmaking, a 100% cotton 90lb250gsm. I purchased a 9 x 12 pad of this when I was last at Dick Blicks. Not sure if I like it or not. I like the weight, and the paper seems to really absorb the ink, it has a slightly textured surface and isn't bright white. It is the texture I am not sure about, and to be honest the way it absorbs the ink, I think I almost prefer that ink stay on the surface of the paper, but I want to do some more experimenting before I decide one way or the other.

Size is 6 x 8 inches (I cut a sheet in half and then trimmed one edge) inked with my various tipped technical pens.

Above is another of my Pen Exercise doodles. I started with a drawn line then filled in areas with different fills and added the stipple and 3 drops later to add more variety and texture. Done in one of my sketchbooks size is about 6 x 8 inches, and done with my various technical pens.

I don't have any new photographs today, well the above is new in that I haven't posted it before, but since last Wednesday I have been without the camera, I had to take it's primary lens in for repair. The good news is that it is ready for me to pick up. Now I just need some sun and I can take it out to play with. We had clouds this morning but the forecast is for sun this afternoon so cross your fingers for me.

The above photo was made last week in the Fens, someone was feeding the ducks and these were arriving for their share. I am still exploring using the camera on more manual settings, and am not sure I would have gotten as little wing blur with automatic settings.

That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome. Happy Spring everyone, (unless you are south of the equator, then it is Happy Fall).

Nature Journal Updates and Stuff

Above is a pencil drawing that I worked on one evening when I wasn't reading but didn't want to draw a subject. Shapes are from nature, plants, flowers and a type of fungus that I came across on one of my walks earlier this summer. Some parts of this I like and think work and other parts I don't think work. Not a lot of time or energy in this so I guess I just consider it a study that might or might not go anywhere. 

These next two images are from my nature Journal. I have been walking and writing in the journal but haven't been keeping up with my drawings. I have photos and since it has been my practice to use the photos as reference I have started to go back to the journal and work on the drawings I have missed.

The page above is from a visit to Daniel Webster. Top image is the tree trunk in the panne showing the dropping water level. The bottom is of a morning dove stitting on one of the branches they have arranged around the panne in front of the blinds so birds have a place to perch. I don't usually see Morning Doves at the pond, but I did on this day and thought it would work for one of my illustrations.

The page above documents a visit to Ellisville Harbor State Park over in Plymouth, MA. I picked the oak leaf from a tree that was growing fairly close to the beach. It is from a species of White Oak, but I couldn't narrow it down any further than that. Shape isn't quite the same as the white oak leaf I drew last year, but then that could simply be cause by where on the tree it was growing.

Bottom drawing is of a crab shell that I saw on the beach. I didn't turn the shell over but I am sure it was empty the crab having been dinner for some shore bird, maybe the Osprey, but more likely a seagull.

Ellisville Harbor had a nesting pair of Osprey this summer who raised 2 young. The young birds while fledged were still around the nest during my visit. The 3rd image on this page is of the Osprey nest stand. I didn't even try to draw the birds.

Actually I didn't see the birds until I was back near the fresh water pond, at that point all 4 birds, parents and fledged young were back either on the nest or near it. I gather that the adults were still feeding their young even though they were able to fly and look for their own food. It does take a while for young raptors to learn how to feed themselves.

I still have a bit of a backlog of figure drawings that I have done but not posted. This drawing is from earlier this month. Scott was back from VT. though away on a vacation for this weeks session. The model in the pose was running the session for us. I am not totally thrilled with this one, but then again it isn't too bad either. I do like the shading and the way form is defined by lights and darks more than by a drawn line.

If I could say I was working toward anything particular with my drawings it would be that, the use of shading instead of line to provide the shapes. Not always possible, as the foot is drawn with line but the upper back is all shading.

Not the best photo, the birds which are Snowy Egrets were a bit too far away from me. Still it was a thrill to see three of them in the same estuary. My arrival is what caused them to take flight. Snowy Egrets are beginning to make a comeback here in MA. but it is not a bird I see all that often. Later I saw 2 Great Blue Herons in the same Estuary just in different locations. The location for the photograph was Ellisville Harbor, and the beach is just beyond the line of dark green you see in the photo.

One last image, I was photographing butterflies this weekend (see flickr site for those photos) and saw this brown grasshopper sitting on a black eyed susan. I just had to take its photo and I think it turned out really well. Insects are such strange creatures, this one with its brown eye doesn't even look alive to me, though of course it was.

That is it for today. Per usual comments are always welcome.