A Barn and some other landscapes

I have been trying to push myself to do more drawing. I worked hard to get my drawing skills up to a fairly high level and I really don't want to let them get too rusty. So the above pen and ink drawing done from one of the July reference photos in the Pen and Ink forum on WetCanvas. An old barn, drawn in one of my small notebooks, so it isn't very large, approx. 4 x 6 inches and it was drawn with my technical pens.

I see some mistakes, but am otherwise not displeased with this small drawing.

The above is actually a plein air landscape, drawn with pen and ink in one of my smaller notebooks while I was visiting my local park. Not wonderful, but not too bad either. Trees are supposed to be birch trees. I need to work on how to depict leaves on a tree without drawing each and every one what I did in this drawing isn't entirely satisfactory.

In the same park where I drew the landscape I also spent some time trying to draw the ducks and geese that live there from life. Very sketchy drawings as live animals tend to not hold still. The advantage of drawing ducks and geese is that I have done a fair amount of drawing them from references so have some basic understanding of how they should look, which helps, but I have some pages with some pretty weird looking sketches, where I wasn't very on the mark with the drawings.

Another park, this time a State Park in Abington, MA, and another landscape. Foreground is actually a huge rock which I was sitting on to make the drawing of the woods beyond. Should have spent a bit more time on this to get the values a bit more accurate, but it was getting late so I really didn't have the time.

People make fires at this spot even though the park is supposed to be closed after sunset, probably local teenagers who come to drink beer, no one would be able to see or hear them. The rock is off of a main trail along the edge of the lake so would be fairly easy to find even in the dark.

Two photographs today, the above was made in Boston during a recent visit and is the fountain in the Christian Science Plaza, in the summer the kids love to play in the fountain, which is allowed I have a feeling that by allowing them to play in the fountain they hope to keep them out of the reflecting pool behind. Beyond in the background is the dome of the Main CS church.

The above is a head shot of a bumble bee gathering nectar and pollen from a Milkweed flower. Even if you don't like bees I hope you like this photo, It isn't easy getting a good photo of a bee they move so much so quickly. I really like this one, and hope you do also.

That is it for today, per usual comments are appreciated. One last note I have been collecting so many butterfly photos that I though it was time I set up a separate page for them. I have just started working on it so don't have all the butterflies I have photographed posted yet but if you have a moment do take the time to check it out.

Pen and Ink, Watercolor and a new project

Another of my pen and ink WetCanvas challenge drawings for June. This is a stone barn not sure what country but I expect either Europe or Great Britain. I drew this out first in graphite since I often have a problem getting the perspective angle correct the first time around. I didn't on this one, you can still see the smudge where I tried to erase the original drawing. I think I need to do more perspective drawings so I can get a better handle on the angles involved.

Otherwise I am rather pleased with how this came out. Much better than my last pen and ink drawing. Course I did spend more time on this one so I guess it shows.

Drawn in my sketchbook I used my technical pens to do the inking.

The other day I was in one of Brockton's parks and though I would try a more close up drawing of trees and foliage so made the above drawing. I used a new to me pen which turned out to not have waterproof ink so the results got a bit smeared when I added the watercolor.

I played with mixing different colors of green for this drawing. The results are a bit of a mess but for some reason I still rather like it. That said I don't think I will be combining this pen with a watercolor wash again in the near future.

I was just fooling around last night trying different sketches to investigate some possible future drawings and ended up drawing my hand, well mainly my thumb, I was holding a pink pearl eraser. Not wonderful, but at least it looks like a hand. If I had chosen a slightly different position it would have been a good exercise from a book on drawing that I am currently reading Bert Dodson's Keys to Drawing. The book has been around since the 1985 but from what I have read so far it is one of the good ones for people who are trying to learn to draw.

I don't like books about learning to draw that take a rote approach to drawing, ie learn to draw this shape, learn to see this shape in the human form (or any form for that matter), draw that shape first then modify it. It is sort of the approach of the last book I had out of the library. When you learn to draw that way every new subject has to be broken down and analyzed and you have to commit shapes to memory. My belief is that the best way to learn to draw is to learn to see and translate that seeing to paper. If you learn to draw what you see then you can draw anything.

I am making a book, it is for me to use as a sketchbook for my plein air watercolors. Above is where I am currently at in the project. I have the signatures sewn together with the tape that will be used to attach the covers. The boards for the cover have been cut and I have selected some fabric to use to cover them. My stopping point was that I needed some glue. Now I have various glues around the apt. but I didn't want to  use any of them. The DVD I am using to assemble this book suggest Elmers Glue, I only have Elmers School glue so decided I needed to get the real deal before I went any further with my project.

I am using Bookbinding A Traditional Technique by Larry Withers as my guide. I am having to wing a few things, like the tape I am using, and also the cloth that will be glued to the back. The materials I am using as substitutes should be OK but they aren't authentic. Oh well don't think it really matters too much as this is just a first attempt and just a sketchbook for me to use. Wish me luck, so far so good but I still have quite a ways to go. From previous attempts at bookmaking I do have the correct thread, needles, awl, and bone folder so I am not winging all my materials.

Photo for today's update is a white peony flower in bloom. I was using manual settings for this photograph so the background is a bit darker than it would have been if I had use Automatic settings. It was a sunny day and I have found that on sunny days my automatic setting tends to allow too much light for some flowers giving them a washed out appearance. Even though I have lost the background I have lots of details in the flower so I am happy with this photograph.

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

New ATC, pen and ink, and flower

I finally finished it, my watercolor ATC (Artist Trading Card) version of the rocking horse I drew a couple of weeks ago. Design is based on various antique rocking horses and influenced by my memories of the horse I had as a child.

I loved that horse, and for a long time (well it seemed a long time) I rode weekly with Roy Rogers as he and Dale vanquished the bad guys. I can't recall what name I gave it. It was a palomino like Trigger and probably my favorite plaything. Eventually I got to big and to old to ride and it was put away but I remember it fondly.

Course mine wasn't a real rocking horse, its body was probably fiberglass, and instead of rockers it had springs that allowed the horse to rock, back and fourth on its wooden base.

The ATC is pen and ink with watercolor on Fabriano 140lb cold press watercolor paper.

Haven't been doing any pen and ink work lately, not quite sure why, just haven't felt like it I guess. But I decided I had better get my act together or I won't have done any of the WetCanvas Pen and Ink forums May challenge images.

So above is a barn, a bit of a strange barn with the hole in the middle, but the photograph calls it a barn so I guess it is. Not sure why someone would design a barn this way but I am sure they had their reasons.

I drew it out in graphite first then added ink using various sized technical pens, drawn in my sketchbook so paper wasn't of the best.

Another colored pencil/pen and ink flower drawing, done from a live plant, this is I think either Dames Rocket or an escaped close garden relative. The leaves aren't quite right for a Dames Rocket, but the flower colors, shapes and growth habits are so I guess I will leave the identification as is unless someone wants to tell me otherwise.

The plant was growing wild in an empty lot so I felt no guilt picking it and bringing it home to draw.

The photograph for today is the same tree I showed in my last update, but this time the redbuds are in bloom. Not too far away were a couple of white redbuds, but I think this pink is more visually interesting. I love spring, hopefully for my next update I will have a pink dogwood photograph. 

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

Cabbages and barns

I finally finished this watercolor of a display of mostly cabbages at a local grocery store. I had walked to the store and per usual I had taken my camera along in case I saw something I wanted to photograph. In the store I was struck by the colors of the produce in their display cases so stealthily made some photographs.

This is the first of a pair that I am thinking about doing. There is a bit more color in the second photo. but I thought the greens and simpler shapes of the cabbages would be easier to paint. For something that looks fairly simple it took me way to long to do, and there are still some aspects that probably could have used more work. To be honest I was getting tired of working on it so decided to call it a day. Still I am not dissatisfied with the results, who knew there were so many different greens.

Size is fairly small, 5.5 x 7 inches on Canson 140lb watercolor paper. Painted with a combination of my pan watercolors and ones out of a tube.  I drew the outlines of the various cabbages first, inked those lines in and then added paint. I don't usually use white in my watercolors but for this one I made an exception. I wanted the chalky look that one gets with the Chinese White color.

Above is another of the WetCanvas Pen and Ink forum's month challenge images. I should have spent a bit more time getting the perspective correct when I did the initial pencil sketch. Ah well I promise I will do that on the next building I attempt. The reference photo had a few more items that I left out of the drawing, a truck, some placards leaning against the barn, and a stack of wood. Still shading isn't bad, and I rather like the trees to the right of the barn.

I was at the Library for a bit yesterday and while there did a couple of sketches of other patrons. Done with a Micron pen in my small sketchbook. I didn't spend very long on either of them, but then didn't want my fellow patrons to realize they were being drawn.

I have been spending most of my time this week working on a couple of works I started last year and abandoned. I have been making real progress on one and hope to have it ready for my next blog update. Won't tell you what it is, want it to be a surprise.

On my walk home from the Library I photographed this sky. I love how you can see the clouds and colors through the still bare branches of the trees.

Hope everyone here in the US who went through the time change (Spring forward) last weekend is adjusting to the lost hour. I admit I find it easier to adjust since I don't have to force myself to get up early on a Monday morning.

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

A Barn, a band aid, with flowers

Above is a barn done in pen and ink (no pencil) from another of WetCanvas Pen and Ink forum's April challenge photographs. I Should have spent more time on it as I managed to get the angles for the roof coverings a bit off. and I am not sure that the farm implement shows up as well as it could have. Still I got the values pretty much right and that always makes up for a lot of other deficiencies. Stone isn't easy to render in pen and ink, and I think I did a semi good job with it.

Above is another of the Everyday Matters challenges. This one is a band aid for challenge #238 Draw something from a first aid kit. I don't actually have a first aid kit in Apt. But I do have several of the standard ingredients, band aids, salve, an ace bandage or two. With no kids in my life first aid kits aren't usually something I need.

Above is another update on the pencil drawing I am working on. This still isn't done, and I am not quite sure what colors I will put in the spaces under my pool. I need to add some more greens so it may be that. Also thinking about adding some other details, but I won't get to specific here in case I decide not to do it. Have to think about it a bit more, as I don't want to ruin it at this point.

Getting here has taken more time than you might think as I have to work slowly with the pencils, and every element is using between 3 to 4 different colors/pencils.

Two flower photographs today. The top one is a Trout Lily blooming in the Blue Hills Reservation. The flowers aren't as perfectly formed as they could be, and when I was there there were only a few open. I think a late frost may have gotten to these. Oddly enough the ones out at Borderland bloomed over a week earlier and didn't show any malformation.

Sorry about my fingers, but it was so windy the day I was making this photograph (the same day I made the Trout Lily photo) that I needed to hold the branch steady. Still I rather like this image of pink dogwood flowers in bloom. Lilacs are also blooming. Both the dogwoods and lilacs don't usually bloom here in MA until the middle of May so they are being exceptionally early this year, while the Trout Lilies, a perennial spring flower, are blooming pretty much on their normal schedule of late April.

At least we finally got some rain last week so things aren't quite as dry as they were a week ago.

That is it for today. Hope everyone has a great weekend, and per usual comments are always welcome.