A Week of Mixed Art

It has been a week of creating mixed quality art for me. The above is a fairly quick drawing of a Husky from a reference photograph I made at Borderland State Park this week. Not as good as last weeks cat drawing, but then I prefer cats to dogs so spent more time on that one. The dogs coat is a real challenge in this drawing, it is very fluffy and hard to get right. I rather like the photograph so may try again at some point to make a good drawing of this animal.

I have spent a lot of the past week out and about enjoying our beautiful weather. The above is my attempt at a plein air watercolor sketch. Made at Houghton's Pond in the Blue Hills. I should have left out that tree trunk on the right. I have never been able to successfully paint tree trunks. I can recall other horrible plein air paintings with tree trunks, thankfully long destroyed. Size of this is 4 x 6 inches, postcard size. About the only area I am pleased with is the background woods across the water. Obviously I need a lot more practice with watercolor.

I purchased a small set of travel watercolors a bit over a week ago and this was my first venture out with them. The bush that comes in the box is way too small even for a small work, I need to figure out some way to take additional brushes that are larger with me. It is hard to get a good wash with a small brush.

Above is last Monday nights long pose figure drawing. I am not very happy with it. Her face is OK but that is about the only part I am pleased with. Not sure what is going on, I know part of the issue was my paper. I had finished the pad of paper that I  have been using for over the past year and had to change paper manufactures. The paper I am using here is good paper, Strathmore Drawing, but it has a surface and tooth that I am no longer used to. I found it a bit distracting to draw on. Ah well since I can't seem to find a replacement for my previous pad I will just have to get used to it, and hopefully make a better drawing this week.

Now for a few photographs from my various ramblings to MA Audubon and State Park Sites this past week or so. Above is a photo of a couple of trees just starting to leaf out. Most trees are now much further along, but I just love that pale green against a very blue sky it certainly says spring to me.

I was back at Stony Brook (MA Audubon) this weekend and found the bleeding hearts in bloom in the Butterfly garden. I was actually there because I was hoping that the May Apples were in bloom but found them still in the tight bud stage, though the leaves had grown since my previous visit.

Also again in evidence were the snapping turtles, huge ones a couple of feet across, I don't recall seeing them as active in past years. Believe me when I say that large snappers in action are very impressive.

My last image is a tom turkey displaying in Marshfield, MA. I had been over at Daniel Webster that afternoon and was on my way home when I noticed this turkey just outside the cemetery  Not sure who he was displaying for, I didn't see any hen turkeys around but he was certainly an impressive sight, and not at all shy. I made a lot of photographs of him, not getting to close, but he certainly knew I was there and just seemed to ignore me. Usually wild turkeys take off when they see people so he was definitely in breeding mode. A big bird that I didn't want to get too close to.

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

Pen and Ink works

 Above is a scan of my third in-process work. This one is pen and ink instead of pencil. The real deal, I am using a crow quill pen and bottle of India ink. I did cheat, well some people consider it cheating, by doing a pencil under drawing before I started inking. Outlines for placement of posts, the canal and shores, and in more detail the bridge and its structure. I did lighten the drawing quite a bit before I started the ink work.

The view is of the Cap Cod Canal and the Sagamore Bridge, which is the northern bridge of the 2 vehicle bridges over the canal. Built in the 1930's when the Army Corp of Engineers widened the canal it is still a popular way to cut off miles of travel from NYC, Providence and other points south to Boston. Though mostly now a days what you see on the canal is small non-commercial traffic. The canal is no longer deep enough for the really big ships.

I have more work on the far shore to do, also the water in the canal and the grass area in front of the fence still needs work. I need to darken some areas to the right to offset the mass of dark on the left. I sketched this view this past summer and wanted to see if I could render it in pen and ink.

Another catch up Nature Journal page, this spread is from a visit to Daniel Webster back on August 13th. I use ink for these but either technical pens or Microns, both quicker to use than the dip pens.

The top left drawing is of the bird house near the South blind with a male cardinal and one of his just fledged young sitting on it. Daddy was bringing insects to the young bird who while able to fly didn't seem totally ready to be out on its own. I have to think that dad wasn't going to cater to this young one all that much longer but it was fun to watch and listen. Daddy was the male cardinals bright red, and the youngster was more of a redish brown, so I don't know if it was a male or a female. They spent a while on this bird house then the young one few off into some nearby bushes and dad followed it there.

Upper right drawing is of the family of mallards I have been watching this summer, they were swimming all in a row next to the tree stump in the Pond.

The last image is that self same tree stump showing a slightly higher water level that week, and one turtle that was resting in the sun.

The above figure drawing is from September 3rd session. I am not at all happy with it. I am not pleased with the models face, doesn't look at all like her, and usually I catch more of a likeness. I also think her head may be a bit too large and the leg that is on the floor isn't done as well as I would like. All together I think I was having an off week. We all have them, but I find them frustrating when I do. For some reason I think I should be exempt, which is silly, even the painters who have been at this for years have off weeks. Just have to put this drawing aside and go on to the next one.

Look closely at the above photo and you will see the American Painted Lady who is sitting on the black eyed susan. The colors almost match so the butterfly blends in. For those who might have visited my flickr account you have seen this image before, but I thought I would post it here for those who haven't visited there. Photograph was made at Oak Knoll in Attleboro, MA.  There were actually about a dozen painted ladies flying around the butterfly bushes in the garden that day, so I had a good time photographing butterflies.

Above is a photograph made at Stony Brook, another MA Audubon site that is in Norfolk, MA, fluffy clouds, blue sky, blue water and green trees, just a pretty picture. One tree in the distance is just starting to turn yellow. Photograph was made late-August so that tree was changing very early, not quite sure why, as while we have been a bit dry I wouldn't say we have been in drought conditions, for some reason that tree must be stressed.

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

June Challenge, Figure Dwg. and Nature Journal

Above is another of my pen and ink drawings done from a Challenge  photos in the WetCanvas Pen and Ink forum. This one is for the month of June. I fear I rather dashed it off, and am repenting at leisure, as it were. I see lots of errors in this one, errors that I wouldn't have made if I had spent more time on it.

But I haven't had a lot of patience with my drawings so far this month. I had several non-art related things that I have had to take care of the past couple of weeks, but just spent 2 hours resolving one of them today. Had to renew my Drivers License, and I needed to have a new photo made so... Thankfully I am now all set for 5 years, and hopefully I will now be able to get to work on one of my longer projects, like finish my Border piece.

Above is a spread from my Nature Journal. We had a beautiful day Saturday, and originally I was going to go up to the Blue Hills Reservation but decided to head out to Stony Brook in Norfolk, MA instead. I am glad I did as I had a good afternoon in a lovely spot watching wildlife.

Drawings in the Journal are on top a leaf from a Grey Birch. Looks a lot like the European Birch leaves I have drawn in the past except it is flatter along the bottom edge. Now that trees are again leafed out I though it was time that I get back to drawing some for identification purposes.

The bottom image is of a turtle I spied hauled out of the water and under some bushes along a path, believe it or not, it wasn't really that noticeable and I almost walked right by it. Since this was one very large turtle (about 14 inches long) I have to admit feeling a bit strange about that. I believe this is a snapping turtle, though I didn't really investigate it that thoroughly, if it was a snapper I didn't want to disturb it, they are not friendly animals.

Also seen on this visit, Wood Ducks (too far in the distance for me to photograph but view-able with the binoculars), green frogs, a yellow warbler, red wing black birds, painted turtles, muskrat and a large dragonfly. The muskrat was more heard than seen, I heard a loud splash near me then noticed a dark brown sleek body dashing over/through some bushes on a small island and then watched a head swimming away from me.

Above is Monday nights figure drawing. Scott is off to his Graduate Study Program for the next 2 months so Monday's session was run by our model. She decided that with Scott away she should change up the pose significantly. We don't often get backs when Scott is around so this was a real change. I rather like how it came out. I certainly used my 4B pencil on this one getting those darks in place.

Above is a photograph I made at Stony Brook. If you look closely you will see a green frog in the center right portion of the image. It really blends in but is there. I don't normally get to photograph frogs, at this time of year I can hear them but they are usually not close enough to me to photograph.

That is it for today, they are predicting some really nice weather so I may make a dash for the Cape in the next couple of days, I haven't been down there since last fall and I am due. In the meantime comments are always welcome, and I hope everyone is having a great June.

Red Caps, and a Nature Journal

Red Caps

A short post today, I don't have a lot of images to share. I did finish the pen and ink Zentangle type drawing I started last week. I think it is done, when I finished the inking part I added just a little bit of color to the, hmm well they are sort of mushrooms, but not quite. Anyway I wanted to pull the viewers eye to that section of the drawing so I added some color using watercolor pencils. I have thought about going in and adding more color to other areas but I rather think I won't. I feel doing so would reduce the impact of this current limited use, and I rather like the black and white contrast of the rest of the patterns.

I did get out Wed. to a MA Audubon site, in this case Stony Brook.

I was playing with the new lens, it and I aren't totally getting along. I am not sure if it is me, the lens or the camera but photos aren't as clear as I expected. Could be totally user error and I understand that, so I will keep working on it.

The day was chilly (well comparatively) in the mid 30's, but it was sunny so it was really a lovely day to visit the sanctuary.

Drawings, the top drawing is of a red squirrel on a stone wall. It was leaving the bird feeder area having been scrounging for dropped seeds under the feeder. Stony Brook has mainly red squirrels. They are a bit smaller than our standard grey squirrels, but actually a bit more territorial and feisty. It is my understanding that they will drive the grey squirrels out of what they consider their territory.

Bottom drawing is of a bush out in the pond area that has both seed pods (open) and catkins on the branch. I am sure the catkins erupted during our warm November/December, but they are out now and will stay until spring. What impact that will have on next years growth for the bush I have no clue, but I am trying to document these issue when I see them.

Below is one photo from my visit that I sort of like:

The swans were on the mill pond Wed. one swimming in open water and the other standing on the ice's edge. The surrounding ponds all had even less open water (I believe they are much more shallow) so the swans had made the move to this location.

That is it for today. I have been busy sewing not drawing these past few days, but the project isn't ready to show off. Believe me that when it is I will. In the meantime comments are always welcome.

Leaves In Process, Figure Dwg. and Journal

Above is an in-progress scan of my second version of my leaf pattern. I have almost inked in all the fill areas, then I will have to think about how I want to color this.

Thinking up different fill patterns is both fun and tiring, the first ones of a drawing session come fairly easily, but then I have to think about what to do in the next area. After a bit I sort of run dry and need to put it aside. One reason why this is taking me so long to get to this stage.

The other reason why I have been so slow with this is that I have been working on drawings in my Nature Journal. The image below is from a visit to Stony Brook, MA Audubon Sanctuary last week.

The sketches on the above page are varied. Top is several views of Beech nuts and the enclosed seeds, each nut has 2 seeds, sort of triangular in shape, with the side where the two abut in the middle flat. The seed pod has short bristles and splits into four sections. They are relatively small and I probably wouldn't have found them except I could hear the nuts falling and really looked for them. The sanctuary has a resident population of red squirrels, they are slightly smaller then the grays, and I am sure will be scarfing up these nuts just as quickly as they can not leaving any for other visitors to find.

Next are a couple of birch tree leaves, to the left another of the European White Birch, and I believe the leaf next to it is a native Paper Birch leaf.  The leaf below those is a White Mulberry. The tree is on the grounds around the Center building at Stony Brook, not far from the mill pond.

The last drawing is a sketch of a Great Blue Heron against the background of the mill pond. I was walking back toward the center when I came to the area they call the spillway (one spot where the surrounding ponds feed water into the main mill pond). To my surprise just on the other side of the bridge was a Great Blue Heron. We gazed at each other briefly then it took off and I grabbed my camera. Those birds are big, and oddly look a darker gray closer up then from a distance. It didn't go too far and I was able to make a couple more pictures. The sketch is based on one of those photos (actual photo at the bottom of today's post).

Below is my figure drawing from last night.

Model is in a classic drawing class pose with traditional lighting. I am pleased with how this came out. After the struggles of a couple of weeks ago it was nice to have a drawing that seemed to just come together. The only area I am not thrilled with is her foot. Ah well feet can be tricky, what else can I say.

The Great Blue Heron is that white/grey area in the lower center of the photo. Actually for my lens this is a good photo. The Great Blues are very shy, and usually I need field glasses to make them out. Wish I had been faster with the camera, then I would have had a wonderful photo.

Enough for today, I am running late with this update as is. Per usual comments are welcome.

Clematis Finished

The clematis colored pencil drawing is done. Well, as done as I am going to make it. I am sure I could have done more fussing with it and even improved on what I did. But as far as I was concerned it was time for it to be done. I don't think I am cut out to do photo-realistic drawings. The above is about as close as I want to come I think. Not bad but I have seen much better works shown in the Colored Pencil Forum at WetCanvas.

Even at the size I was working (drawing area 4.5 inches square) this drawing took hours to finish, and I wasn't even attempting a realistic background. In the end I did use a black colored pencil to help darken some areas and to add an edge to the petals.  It like most of my recent drawings/paintings was done on Hot Press Watercolor paper, the 140lb weight.

I have started another pen and ink work that I will hopefully have done by the next blog posting. In the meantime we finally had a sunny day and I took advantage of it to drive out to Stony Brook, one of the MA Audubon sites. Below are a couple of photographs I made that day. More photographs are on my Facebook Fan page in the Summer Photograph album, and I will probably be adding them to my flickr albums in the next few days.

I have no clue what the insect above is. It flies and sort of looks like a butterfly, but the wings were a bit strange, I don't think it shows in the photograph but it was like it had double wings. One set is down with the round lobes and the 2nd set is more vertical, you can sort of see an edge along the left side of the body. And note how fuzzy the body looks. If anyone knows what it is please leave me a comment. It wasn't very big, maybe an inch across.

The photograph above is of what probably was the mill pond at Stony Brook back in the day. This photo is about as close as I am going to get to making a photograph of a Great Blue Heron without a telephoto lens. That fuzzy gray area in the center left is a Great Blue flying across the pond. When I approached one edge of the pond he took flight and I attempted the photograph. Someday maybe I will be able to afford a lens, then I will actually be able to photograph birds, in the meantime small blurry images are where I am at. Still it was fun to see him/it, I don't know if they have a nest here or just look for food but they can often be sighted at the edges of one of the ponds.

Enough for today. Comments and questions are always welcome, and I would really love to know what that insect is.