Posted in colorwork, drawing, painting

100 Day Project: Days 1-5

Last Wednesday I wrote about my 100-day project, during which I will collaborate with Bill in making artwork or fiber objects inspired by his photographs. These three are the subjects of my first week.

Back in 2017 at the Kansas City Zoo, Bill has a close encounter with this lorikeet. In his image you see plumage in colors that, impossibly, co-exist on one bird. I accepted as my challenge to swatch out this feathery palette in watercolor paint.

Day One: Samples

Day Two: I turned it into a color wheel.

In 2010 we visited The Louvre. While I wandered around, Bill found this sculptural fragment in the Antiquities gallery.

My initial idea was to do a simple drawing using Micron pen. To get a better look at the details, I edited the photo, brightening up the shadows, then printing it in monochrome.

Day Three: Drawing

It actually took me two days to finish the drawing because I chose to stipple.

The next photograph was taken while vacationing in the Caribbean, but I am unsure if we were in Barbados or Belize. I really love the wave action and the colors.

My brain must have mashed up the last two photographs because I ended up superimposing the face onto the water.

1st Week Final Note: Searching my yarn closet, I found scraps to match up with the Lorikeet plumage. Today I used them to knit this swatch in fingering yarn.

What do you think of the combination? Would you wear it on a hat, scarf or vest?

See you next week.

Posted in drawing, painting

Sketching Sunday: Inflight Study

This week I practiced drawing and painting sandhill cranes in flight

This study will be part of a larger landscape that I am planning. I used cerulean and phthalo blues, raw sienna, burnt sienna, yellow ochre and a bit of Payne’s gray on Arches cold press paper. My reference photo appeared on the MPR website and was taken by Ben Hovland.

https://www.mprnews.org/story/2022/11/13/record-flock-of-sandhill-cranes-at-sherburne-refuge

Posted in drawing

Sketching Sunday: Two drawings

I have been spending time with pencils this week. The first sketch is a study for a watercolor landscape that I am planning.

This next drawing, still unfinished, is based on a sketch I made of Henry last month.

FORTEEN CANDLES

I transferred lines from my preliminary sketch onto toned pastel paper, then built up layers of graphite. A little chalk pencils brightens up the flames.

Posted in colorwork, drawing, painting

More Fun with Watercolor Pencils

If you follow this blog, you may well guess what my next experiment must be:

Yes! I had to try my new pencils out on fabric! You see here a piece of cotton muslin. I have marked a part of a rainbow, running the colors into each other. After liquifying the colors and letting the fabric dry, I used my hot iron to set the pigment. Then I sprayed on more water, just to see if the color bled further. The paint passed this test, so I moved on to a bigger experiment.

There is something about the medium that reminds me of stained glass. Thinking deeper about the possibilities of blending colors, I decide it is more like medieval illuminated manuscript. Then I remembered that I have a book.

What if I reproduce one of these paintings on my muslin cloth? I flipped through the pages to find a likely subject and landed on this image depicting the creation of the world.

First, I drew a series of four circles on the muslin. Next, I used my swatch card to find matches to the hues of the illustrations. I began working the two days on the right side of the panel.

DAY TWO
DAY FOUR

This was very fun and pretty satisfying. Despite the slight bleeding outside the margins (totally fixable) I find the results most acceptable. I did notice that there are tide marks left behind by some of the blue and green pencils. But this extra texture seems very much in keeping with the pigments and style of the era.

After I paint days 1 and 3, I’ll put the fabric in a gentle cold-water bath to look for more fading or bleeding. If the piece passes this test, I’ll move on to a bit of quilting.

I hope you are enjoying your year-end holiday. Please do let me know what you think of this experiment or share what you are planning to make in 2023. Happy New Year.