drawing – Page 4 – Daily Fiber

Sunday Sketching: 100 day project

Posted on November 12, 2023 by Laura Kate

It feels like months since I worked on the 100 day project. But I have new inspiration that pushed me into making a sketch today.

Bill took this photo earlier in the year.

I have no idea how he got our grandson to pose AND to smile. There must have been a story to go along with this image. I’ll have to ask about it. Anyway, the photo touched my heart and motivated me to get out my pencil, eraser and Micron pen.

Here is my initial pencil sketch.

I worked on it sporadically over a few days, trying to get all the proportions and subtleties of the face accurate.

Today I inked my lines, refining shapes as I worked.

I used number .05 and .005 Micron pens, adding light hatch lines to indicate contours and shadow. The boy has a multitude of freckles, which I felt unable to render with any degree of delicacy. So, you get to see Henry freckle-free.

I believe this drawing brings me to Day 41 of the 100-day challenge. While I feel no particular urgency to reach 100 pieces of art before a year has passed, I’ll continue to plug away at the project. Bill continues to offer up excellent photographs for my artistic consideration.

drawing, painting

Watercolor Wednesday: Blaukopf Online Learning

Posted on November 1, 2023 by Laura Kate

I gave myself a gift by purchasing another Blaukopf tutorial through Teachable. This one appealed to me because it featured ink and watercolor.

https://learn.shariblaukopf.com/p/sketching-a-french-village-scene

For the first lesson, Shari walked us through the mixes we would be using throughout the course. My swatches came out nicely, despite the fact that I had no Hooker green paint and substituted Winsor green.

Our first painting was of a balcony scene in a Normandy village featuring lots of stone and pots of plants perched on a wall.

Shari suggested that we avoid pencil lines and draw straightaway with the ink pen. I am using Pigma Micron with archival ink.

Not too bad. The basic shapes and textures look as expected.

First wash.

I was so focused on finishing that I didn’t take any other images of intermediate steps.

Here is my final ink and watercolor painting of the balcony scene.

While I didn’t have fun throughout the entire experience, I got re-introduced to my watercolor paint and had enough fun for a Wednesday.

drawing

Sketching Sunday – a small piece of 100-day project.

Posted on September 10, 2023 by Laura Kate

Noodling around on a Sunday afternoon, with one of Bill’s bird photographs. This is the undercarriage of a sandhill crane, standing on one foot.

All I really wanted to draw was the claw and standing leg. But I had to include a few feathers in this graphite sketch.

drawing

Wednesday Sketching: Loon Study

Posted on August 16, 2023August 16, 2023 by Laura Kate

Today’s sketch may also be categorized as the 100 Day Project. I am again working with photographs by husband Bill. Having recently enjoyed spending time with loons while on the lake in Wisconsin, I gained more appreciation for the beauty of these birds. This photograph is a classic loon pose: neck held in a graceful S-curve, head and bill slightly raised. But what I’m interested in for this exercise is the graphic quality of those black and white feathers. I zoomed in on Bill’s picture to examine the feathers more closely.

I started my sketch by drawing strong lines to separate what I see as four quadrants of an abstract view. Using a micron fine tip pen, I drew in the white markings, making shapes with a lot of variety – just like I see them. Then I used a Stabilo permanent marker to fill in around all of the white dots.

I originally wanted to do this art piece in black and white only. But the solid-looking color of the neck suggested an opportunity to try out a water soluable graphite pencil. So, I did and used it again on the lower body.

In the end, I felt compelled to add a little bit of color, in the form of red ink and blue watercolor paint for the water and sky.

I took some liberties with a few red dots. They create some focal points, and echo the bird’s red eye, which remains unseen in my sketch.

My abstract loon was drawn on smooth paper in a 9 x 9 sketchbook.

drawing

Sunday Sketching – On the Pond

Posted on August 13, 2023August 10, 2023 by Laura Kate

By now I have looked through all of my photos from the July trip and selected some for use in my art. Today I want to study this image of my husband and brother in a rowboat on the pond at brother’s property.

The picture as is tells the story of enjoying an early morning on the pond in July. I wanted to simplify the scene, focusing on the men, the boat and the pond. Using the photo editor, I re-framed it, increased the light and applied a filter, to reveal this.

I like this low-value image a lot and can visualize how I would paint it. But first I wanted to look more closely at the values, and also practice sketching the subject. So I took out all the color and zoomed in on the boat.