Plant Parts in Pen and Ink

Pen and Ink works of plant parts seem to be the order of the week. Partly I think because I was involved with a discussion in the WetCanvas Pen and Ink forum about how important drawing accurately is when it come to creating art. At one time I think I would have said that it was critical. I have certainly spent a lot of time trying to hone my skills so that I can accurately draw what I see. But I have come to realize that accuracy is not always the most important part of an art work that has impact. Sometimes it isn't important at all, though of course there are times when it is critical. It is often the artists job to figure out how important it is with each individual work of art.

Anyway because of the discussion pen and ink has been on my brain, and when you add in my new pen tips for my technical pens it became my primary mode of expression this week.

Above are two oak leaves and an acorn that I picked up on my walk to the library yesterday. Drawn free hand with my technical pens and then stippled to provide texture these leaves aren't totally accurate, but I don't think the viewer could or would know that without my telling you. The acorn is a bit stylized, but the leaves are within the norm for this type of oak leaf so it doesn't really matter that I didn't exactly reproduce the leaves I picked up. Drawn directly with my pen in one of my sketchbooks.

This is a lesson that I have had a hard time accepting/learning, that it is OK to not look for total accuracy when drawing items from nature. Anyway I rather like this drawing even though it isn't very complex,

Another pen and ink sketch, this time of some seed pods that I collected on one of my walks. I believe these are the empty seed pods for some day lilies. They look a bit like some daffodil pods that I drew several years ago. Again not totally accurate but I was drawing directly with the pen. Still I think you would identify the pods if you saw them.

There isn't an updated image on the mandala today, that is because I haven't been working on it other than to draw these two poppy flowers as samples for what I would put in the final ring. For these drawings I went with pencil first to try to be as accurate as possible then I added the pen work and erased the pencil. Still thinking if this is the flower I want to put in the final ring, but I am thinking that red would be the perfect color. Besides poppies are such dramatic flowers, with the red and black and green.

I seem to have leaves on the brain. On another walk I picked up three more cottonwood leaves, this time of different sizes, and using them I created the layout for the above in progress work. I suppose you could say that I cheated since I traced the leaves and didn't draw them freehand. I could have drawn them, but it would have taken me more time, and to be honest I couldn't quite see the point. This is going to be quite a lot of work even with that cheat since I am stippling the open background. Haven't totally decided how I am handing the leaves, something I am thinking about as I work on the stipple.

This is a revisit to some leaf work I did a couple of years ago. I was never totally happy with those works, for the most part they lacked a focal point, and while I liked the colors and textures the finished pieces didn't quite work for me. I am hoping I have managed the design of this one a bit better. Sorry for the uneven quality of the image, the work is too large for my scanner so I had to photograph it and didn't feel like setting up with better lighting.

My final photograph today is of a dish plate hibiscus flower. I photographed this in Boston a couple of weeks ago. It was a huge flower about the size of a luncheon plate (8 inches across). I had read about them but had never seen one before so I couldn't resist photographing it. The bush and flower were growing in the front garden of a home as part of my wanderings had taken me into a residential area of the city.

That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome.  

Bookmarks, figures and fall photographs

Been playing around with more bookmarks, as I mentioned last week they are small so quick to do, and I can try out a variety of techniques to see what works and what doesn't.

Since I have been photographing cattails I thought I would use them as a subject for one of the bookmarks. Above is the finished art, still have some more work to do on this to turn it into a bookmark, but the art is done. Not sure how happy I am with the result. Ah well, will just have to try again. I used Ink with colored pencil. It was more dramatic before I applied the colors. I may go for a redo and leave out the color next time.

The above is just shapes I was playing with and then colored with Inktense pencils and activated with water. I started out with the center being yellow, then orange etc. but didn't like the look so added an overall wash of blue. Still not thrilled with the colors here but it looks lots better than it did. Not my best result, but sometimes playing around can spark more serious efforts so it isn't wasted time.

From the October 8th short pose session. Above are 3 of my 2 minute poses with that evenings model. Unfortunately she started feeling ill and left after the first hour.

So Scott ended up filling in for her for the next couple of hours. Above are 5 minute poses, I can't recall if he did any/many 10 minute poses, and I am fairly sure we didn't have any 15 minute poses that evening. Scott is a bit out of practice and holding any pose for 15 minutes is hard work. In fact I think this is the first time Scott has had to fill in for a model in the years I have been attending his sessions.

I spent an afternoon walking in my local park this past weekend, here are a couple of photographs. The above is a photo of some oak leaves turning red. Many oaks just turn a dark brown/red color but this particular oak was turning this glorious shade of red. You can see in the background some of the other surrounding trees with their fall color.

I don't usually notice these young trees in the summer woods, and they aren't mature enough to bloom in the spring, but in the fall the distinctive shape/color of the fall American Chestnut leaf makes these trees more visible. These are not healthy mature trees, but instead they are off shoots of the roots of old mature trees that were "killed" by the blight. For some reason it seems that it is only the trunks above ground that are killed. These saplings will survive for a few years then they in their turn will die away. They don't get mature enough to bloom and set seed. Maybe someday someone will figure out a way to kill off the blight and we will again have American Chestnut trees in our woods and yards. I know they are trying to cross breed a blight resistant Chestnut, but I think so far the resulting trees aren't as attractive as the original species.

Well, that it is it for today, I am a day late with this update as I had jury duty yesterday. Wasn't selected for a jury so was able to manage the update today. Per usual comments are always welcome.

Mainly Nature Journal Pages

Started another animal drawing this weekend, this time a chipmunk. Above is about where I am with it, not quite done, but I feel I have a good start with it.

They are cute for a rodent, I am just happy that they prefer to stay outside. This little one is from a photograph I made at the Trailside Museum in Milton, MA. in the area where people feed the ducks. The chipmunks hang around and if the ducks aren't fast enough will pick up some of the extra duck food.

I have drawn chipmunks before, some more successfully than others, this one is turning out pretty well. I have also spent some time on the Mallard, she isn't quite done but further along than my last update.

Next  up are a couple of pages from my nature journal. With these two I am almost caught up to myself.

The above page is from a visit to Daniel Webster, Ma Audubon Site in Marshfield, MA on September 17. Water level in the man made pond was down from the previous week. Which wasn't a surprise since gone the week between my visits without any rain.. Thankfully it has rained this weekend and I am hoping to see higher water levels on my next visit to the sanctuary. Anyway I obviously did another drawing of my tree stump to indicate the lower water level.

Drawing at the top left is of an oak leaf with acorn that I found on a tree growing in one of the wooded areas. I believe this is a swamp white oak. The leaf isn't as deeply grooved as a standard white oak and the acorn, while it has the bumpy cap, is a bit larger than the other white oak acorns I have been finding.

The last drawing is of a wild flower called butter and eggs. It is another of those plants introduced by Europeans that had a medicinal use, escaped from the garden it is now common in open fields and waste areas. Flowers except for coloration and size look similar to Garden Snapdragons.

The page above is from a visit to Oak Knoll in Attleboro, MA. lots of oak leaves and acorns. At least this year I am finally able to ID some of the oak leaves by using associated acorns. The only one I am still not quite sure of is the Black and Scarlet Oaks, their leaves and acorns look very similar.

I first ID this leaf/acorn combination as being from a Black Oak, but decided that no, it is probably from a Scarlet Oak, though I have to say I am not totally positive. Fall color of the leaf would probably be the best way to really figure it out, the Scarlet oak leaves turn scarlet in the fall but I doubt I will be able to find this particular tree again so will just have to keep watching.

On my walk I spotted a grey squirrel climbing a tree and thought that it would make a good addition to this page, after all the squirrels love to eat acorns. Hopefully they are all busy squirreling away this years crop for the coming winter.

Two photographs today. The one above is from a visit to Stony Brook, where I saw a Great Blue Heron. Not the best photograph, but not my worst either, here you can see the Heron taking off from the shore of the pond, legs aren't quite in flight position.

The photograph above is of New England Asters in bloom with an American Copper Butterfly, made at Oak Knoll where they have a lovely garden, lots of flowers so attractive to butterflies.

That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome.