Sunflowers, shoes and pears

Above is a small watercolor that I just finished. It is from a photograph of Jerusalem Artichoke flowers I made a couple of years ago at Massasoit State Park in E. Taunton, MA. The Jerusalem Artichoke (one of its many common names) is a native North American sun flower. The roots were eaten by Native Americans. The plants bloom in September with lots of tall stems and showy yellow flowers. 

Anyway I did the ink drawing of the sunflowers while I was on vacation in Chicago over Christmas but waited until I got home to work on the watercolor portion. I find it slow going to paint flowers, these took more than one session with paints and brush to reach a point where I felt they were done. The painting is small, post card size (4 x 6 inches) on heavy (120lb) watercolor paper done with my Travel sized Winsor Newton watercolor box.  

I have mixed feelings about using watercolor, I like the results when I can get the look I want, but don't really like the process. But maybe that is just my lack of skill. My technique is to use thin layers of color to build up to the final results. Not for me the one stroke of the brush and calling it done type of painting. I admire those who can paint that way, but it doesn't seem to work for me. 

These next two images are me working on my still life's. This time with shoes. The one above was done with Derwent Graphtint pencils. They seem to be a cross between watercolor and graphite pencils. I have about a dozen of these in various tones that were a Christmas present a couple of years ago. Anyway, I draw with the pencils first then apply water with a damp brush and watch what happens.

A couple of years ago if someone had told me I would be drawing shoes again I think I would have thrown something at them. When I was taking classes at the Community College it seemed like every instructor wanted us to draw shoes, so I drew shoes, and more shoes and then again more shoes until I was totally sick of shoes. Now here I am a few years later finally willing to tackle the subject/object again. They are after all complex shapes and readily available, who knew.

Same shoes but a different day and slightly different pose, this drawing was done directly with ink using one of my technical pens.

This time the subject was pears, I actually used the same pear just different positions for these drawings, the one above was done with the Graphtinit pencils and water. Because these are being done on cheap sketchbook paper you can see where the paper has wrinkled from the water, with the scan it gives an interesting visual effect.

The pears above were first drawn with pen and ink then scanned into Photoshop where I added the colors and grey shading. Colors aren't totally realistic as this was a Bosc pear, but realism wasn't really my goal I just wanted to play and see what I could come up with. There are about 4 different colors on each pear, does give them a bit more depth then I would see otherwise.

Above is another photograph from my walk the other day. I need to get out with the camera today as we now have about 6 inches of cold snow on the ground. If I get back over to this park I may take another photograph of this piece of art work. Brockton doesn't have a lot of municipal artwork but there is some scattered here and there.

That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome. Hope anyone reading this who is in the Northern hemisphere is staying warm this cold winter.

Fall Leaves Finished

Above is the final version of Fall Leaves, color is colored pencils, at least two different colors for each color you see above. In each area I would lay in one color then lay a second color over it. I think it gives the colors more depth then just trying to use a single colored pencil. Layering the colors has given the original more vibrancy which the scan lacks.

I think I like this, and am thinking that a slightly larger work which is more rectangular might be interesting. Something to explore if/when I feel the need for a new project.

Below is a scan of the current status of the mushrooms:

Sorry that it looks so light, but that is about where it is. I have transferred the shapes to my final paper and have started laying in the mushroom colors. I used red/orange as the transfer color so I won't have to fight any graphite on this. There is graphite marking the outer edges but I have lightened it a lot and will lighten it some more before I finish. The paper looks a bit orange here, it isn't actually, I am using cream colored  Stonehenge for this drawing. More of my exploring the various Stonehenge papers.

Below are a couple more of my Journal pages:

The above page is from a visit to my local city park. Field Park in Brockton, MA is the home of the city's water reservoir. This summer has been good rain wise so the water levels are actually high enough that water is flowing over the spillways. I have seen years where that wasn't true.  I have really spent a lot of time in this park, esp. with the camera, though this is the first time I have written about it in the Journal. It is a popular place to walk and to feed the water fowl.

Images are of a Northern Red Oak leaf that I plucked from a tree. It is similar to the Black oak leaf I drew in another journal entry, it has more tips so it looks more jagged. The second drawing is of a youngish gull. It was the lone gull in a mix of ducks and Canada Geese being feed at one of the lower ponds. Not totally pleased with how this came out, but it will have to do. The gull still had a lot of brown in its feathers. As it ages they will turn white with some grey, I believe this is a Herring Gull.

Yesterday I went back down to Massasoit State Park. They have a cranberry bog right next to the park, and though I really couldn't get a good photo the bog looks to be full of cranberries. I expect the growers will have a good harvest this year.

The images from yesterday are a Sweetgum leaf at the top and a couple of different views of a ground cover called Partridge berry. The Sweetgum tree is a bit odd to find in the Park as we are really north of its usual growing range. Still the south shore winters aren't as cold as the rest of the State and from the size of this tree it has obviously adapted very well. Since it located in the Park entrance area I am guessing that the tree was planted and wasn't a volunteer.

The bottom drawing is actually two different views of a low ground cover plant called Partridge Berry which at this time of year has red berries. They are very pretty against the glossy green leaves. The first view is from the ground, while the second is from directly above looking down on the plants. They tend to congregate together and form a mat covering the ground. It is a native plant that has been transferred to the garden because it stays green through the winter.

The last image today is of Jerusalem Artichokes in bloom. This native sunflower is known for it tall yellow flowers and its eatable roots. I made this photo at Rico Lake in Massasoit State Park.

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