An Iris and some Pen and Ink

Well it has been a bit longer since my last post than I intended, but colored pencil work just can't be rushed and to be honest I just wasn't spending the amount time on it that I should have. Anyway it is done.

Above is my latest of the 6 x 6 inch images done with colored pencil and pen and ink outlines. The pen and ink version of this I posted a few weeks ago. Done basically the same way the other two pieces were done, under layers of Derwent wax colored pencils (various lines) and top layers of Polychromos oil colored pencils.

I have to say that the colors in the scanned image aren't quite right, my scanner doesn't pick up color intensity well so I have made some adjustments in Photoshop, the end result is the orange is a bit too bright, but the blues are about right so I left it as close enough.

I used a reference photograph that I had made the summer of 2014, though the background is somewhat from my imagination. Still I am rather pleased with how this one came out. Blue flowers can be a challenge when it comes to getting the right color on paper.

In my past couple of visits to Dick Blicks large Boston store I have been picking up some additional watercolor tubes. Wanting to play a bit with my new colors and practice laying down a wash I took a square sheet (6 x 6 inches) of cold press paper and went at it. The colors used were M. Graham Turquoise and Daniel Smith Quinacridone Gold.  After the washes had dried I added the ink work with a dip pen and Sepia Acrylic ink. The image is one of the reference photos for February in the WetCanvas Pen and Ink forum. I took some liberties with the reference as the original photo wasn't square.

Not sure how I feel about this, it was more or less an experiment. I do know that I need to work on my watercolor wash techniques a lot more, but even so it was sort of fun to do. I did do a preliminary pencil sketch, but I didn't spend much time on either the sketch or the ink work, and I think it shows.

I also drew and inked another of my 6 x 6 coloring book type images on Stonehenge paper. A couple of Lilies based on a reference photograph I made the summer of 2014. The colors in this one are going to be fun, the Lilies are sort of orange while the background flowers were pink, and I intend to keep the color combination.

I have another photograph selected for my next drawing, just have to get my act together and get it drawn. Can you tell I am having fun with these. So far I am quite pleased with how they are coming out. The smallish size means that they don't take me too long to finish even though Colored Pencil isn't fast.

I am hoping that winter is almost over, though in New England you really can't consider winter over until April, March can be a tricky month. Anyway the signs are in place that Spring is coming sooner or later.

Above are a couple of Skunk Cabbage flowers, and yes those strange shapes are flowers, in fact our earliest spring wild flower. I found these last week by the side of a stream near Houghton's Pond in the Blue Hill Reservation. As Spring progresses the plants will put forth their large bright green leaves, making the soggy ground around some streams a carpet of bright green.

The tree in the above photo is a Sugar Maple and the attached buckets are to collect Maple sap that will be boiled down to make Maple Syrup or Maple Sugar. This tree is at Moose Hill, MA Audubon Sanctuary in Sharon, MA. I visited there last Sunday for a walk. The sap will be collected (as long as it remains sweet) and then processed at the center for the entertainment of visitors.

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

Plants, more in Transit drawings and a MFA visit

Another week, another trip into Boston. Again I had to wait for the Bus, not quite as long a wait as last weeks but I did wait. This week I drew one of the buses pulled up in a bay near one of the marker stanchions. Not wonderful, but not too bad either. Graphite in my sketchbook, I am using a mechanical pencil with a B lead, it works OK, but I find it a bit frustrating as while it is a fairly thin lead (0.7mm) is also isn't as pointed as I can get my leads when I sharpen them and I miss having that sharp tip for details.

A fellow passenger on the Red Line into Boston. While in a way I am happy that most passengers occupy themselves with their smart phone/readers/tablets whatever, meaning they never notice I am drawing them. It does give me a skewed look at their faces (tilted down), which isn't always the view I would prefer to draw. Oh well, I will take what I can get.

I rather liked the cap and wish I had done a slightly better job of it.

Some of the rose bushes the city has planted along the edge of a parking lot are producing the largest rose hips I have seen. Anyway the above pen and ink drawing is of one of them portraying two different views, side view and top down. Just a quick sketch with one of my technical pens in my sketchbook.

A quick sketch of a small flower/plant that I picked on my walk to the bus station. I don't know what it is as I didn't recognize it, a light purple flower with more rays than petals. I don't think it is a wild flower, maybe some kind of herb escaped into the lawn.

At long last (it has been about a month) an update on the Mandala I am working on. I finally made some decisions about the outer ring, have the poppies drawn/inked in and have started coloring them. I have also started drawing the other decorations that will go into that ring but so far haven't started inking them. That job really needs to be finished soon as I can't start on the backgrounds until I have finished inking and erased my pencil lines. Still quite a bit of work to go, but I am making progress.

Above are two photographs from the MFA Bright Matter exhibit. The top is an installation work that was set in a room by itself, painting on mirrors that reflect the bright lights onto the walls casting shadows. The bottom two images are paintings/collages that are a contrasting pair.

The artist is Shinique Smith and she uses a lot of fabric in her art. She not only collages fabric into her paintings but creates soft sculptures with stuffed animals and clothing she has acquired. I have a feeling she is a frequent visitor to her local thrift/second hand stores.

I didn't expect to like her art, there is a lot of modern art that I think is really junk that is being called "ART" by some supposed "expert", but I did. I love her use of color and the curving lines that she tends to use appeal to me.

I did a lot of wandering around the MFA on this visit, trying to get to know the old wings and the new in relationship to each other. I think I saw most of the special exhibits even if I didn't take time to examine them on this visit. Course the museum is so large that I think it will take me quite a few more visits before I become totally familiar with what is where and can find my away around without getting a bit lost.

Last image today is of a Sugar Maple that is growing in my neighborhood. It is obviously changing colors, with these glorious reds and oranges. Coincidentally the colors here are repeats of the colors used in one of Shinique's paintings above, cool blue (sky) hot red orange (leaves) with dark branches instead of black lines.

I have a feeling the owners of the house/yard where this tree stands have no clue it is a sugar maple. I have to wonder if the original owners used to tap their tree in the spring.

I worry about these trees, here in MA we are getting toward the southern range of the Sugar Maple, they like cold winters and I worry that with global warming these trees with their beautiful fall color won't survive in my area.

Just a FYI the only thing I did to this photograph was to crop it, colors are pretty much as they are in real life, enjoy.

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

ATC, Nature Journal and a figure

I finished another ATC card, The flower is a cosmos which I photographed last summer. Done on 140lb cold press watercolor paper, I outlined the flower with ink and then used watercolor to fill in.

Below is a Nature Journal page from my visit to Moose Hill MA Audubon Sanctuary in Sharon, MA. last week.

This isn't a sanctuary I visit very often which is a bit odd since it is closer to me than many of the others I more frequently visit. But this site is mainly woods and fields including a working farm with not a lot of open water, it is water I seem to be attracted to and is the main feature of the sites I visit most often.

The top image  in the journal is of a Sugar Maple tree next to a stone wall. This tree has been tapped to collect sap. Later the sanctuary will have a public Sugar Off day to boil the sap down to either maple syrup or sugar. I did walk by the shed where they have cords of wood stacked waiting for the event.

The lower image is of a wisteria seed pod. One of the trees in the sanctuary is the prop for an old wisteria vine. I have seen this in bloom in past years and it is really quite beautiful. Probably not very good for the tree in the long term but so far both seem to be doing well. The pods aren't very long about 4 inches and are fuzzy on the outside.

Above is last nights figure drawing. It was an interesting pose though the model found it difficult to hold, so I wasn't able to get some of the elements as well defined as I would have liked. Namely the hand that is reaching down onto her leg. Still I think it works. We rarely have a pose where the model is leaning forward like she was last night, so it was sort of fun to draw.

My last image is a photograph I made at Moose Hill. The shed behind the trees is really for a colony of bats to have a home, though I am sure they use the shed for storage of other items used on the property. The 2 trees in the center of the photo are Sugar Maples as you can tell by the buckets attached to the trees to collect sap. These are huge trees, I have to wonder just how old they are, but the member who was at the center when I returned didn't know when I asked her. I would guess about 300 200 years, but of course I may be wrong. Still this land has been farmed for probably at least that long so it is possible. Sugar Maples would have been highly prized by the farmer who owned the land, and might even have been planted.

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