I was out walking around Rockridge Pond, which is very near to where I live, with my camera today. I’m looking for some new and specific ideas to consider for drawing, and was hoping to see a great blue heron that is often hanging out there. But things never go according to what one hopes for, especially where nature is concerned. I did end up seeing a pileated woodpecker that mostly tried to hide from me on the other sides of tree trunks, and a tiny golden crowned kinglet, which hovered in air to eat little bugs which were invisible to the human eye. The kinglet was not at all shy about my presence. I didn’t get any images that were in the ballpark of what I am looking for. I am trying to learn about all of the features on my camera, one of which is the “Image Overlay”, and finally accomplished overlaying different photos I took. This is the first time I’ve had success with this, and I did combine images of the water surface with photos I’d taken of feathers floating on water, but they leave much to be desired and I have lots to learn!
Here’s a crooked photo (sorry!) of the little colored pencil drawing I’ve just finished for the silent auction in conjunction with the H20 Exhibition mentioned in my previous post.
I am going to be exhibiting two colored pencil pieces in conjunction with the Colored Pencil Society of America’s Chapter 112 (New England District) at the Spring Bull Gallery in Newport, Rhode Island, from November 1 through December 3, 2008. The show announcement is reproduced below. If you have the chance, please visit the exhibition, as there will be some wonderful artwork on display by colored pencil artists from all over New England. In addition, there is going to be a silent auction of small colored pencil drawings (approximately 5 x 7 inches) on display. I am currently working on a drawing of Beach stones for the silent auction, in keeping with the water theme, and a photograph of my WIP is posted below.
I spent more time last night and this morning tweaking the Sunflower drawing yet again! Artist Lynda Schumacher gave me some very helpful feedback regarding placing white in the corners of a drawing. At first I didn’t think it really applied to my drawing, but I decided to eliminate the whites in the upper corners and see what it did for the drawing. Posted below are the results. Any comments are particularly welcome!
I worked all day on the blue in the sky, correcting the color. I think the piece is now much improved. However, the photograph is not. My apologies for the slanted angle to the photo. I will try to get a better one another time.
That was a very long week of work filling in the blue sky of this drawing. I worked almost the entire Columbus Day weekend, as well as every day and many nights of the past week to complete this. I am happy with the drawing – okay, very happy! However, it’s always a little anti-climatic to finish a piece that I’ve worked on for over a month (seven weeks in this case), and I’m ready to move on to something new. (I also want to note that the sky is actually not this aqua in color in the original – that must be my camera and the lighting in my studio).
It was a slow week for work, having a head cold so early in the season, but I have finished the bird in my new drawing – a Tufted Titmouse. They are one of my favorite birds to see outside, they have so much personality. If I garden too close to somewhere they want to be they always scold and “harass” in their special and very cute way.
I really like the shades of gray this had added to the colors, and am really looking forward to getting the blues of the sky in place now. I’m on to the home stretch!
Here is my drawing after another week of work. This week my goal was to get all of the leaves done, which I was able to accomplish. I’m working on this drawing by doing the darker areas first and then the lighter ones. Following this plan, the next part to work on will be the bird, and then last, the sky. I have been using Prismacolor pencils and burnishing the completed areas as I go along. This generates a lot of pencil dust which I then need to clean repeatedly with some tacky wall tape.
