Debbi Friedman's Blog » Birds in Nature drawing

I wonder, is it finished now?

Debbi — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 16:53:07 +0000

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!

Okay, now it’s finished. . . .?

Debbi — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 19:08:59 +0000

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.

Completed Sunflowers in Garden drawing

Debbi — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 19:07:40 +0000

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).

Sunflowers in Garden, stage 5

Debbi — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 16:03:41 +0000

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!

Sunflowers in Garden, stage 4

Debbi — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:17:35 +0000

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.

Third installment of new drawing

Debbi — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 19:24:32 +0000

Here is the third installment, and possibly the completion of the third sunflower, of my new drawing. (Please excuse the slightly angled aspect of the photograph. I have a new tripod which I am learning to use). This flower took much longer to draw since it is so much larger than the other two. I’m happy with the progress I’ve made – the drawing is starting to have a sense of the “back” lighting source, and the greens are complimenting the reds nicely. I’m eager to make more progress and excited to be moving on to the leaves this upcoming week.

Second installment of new drawing

Debbi — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 18:21:04 +0000

I have finally getting back into a productive work schedule, and here is another stage of development of my new drawing. Two of the three sunflowers are almost complete. I added the leaves on the left for the color contrast. At this point, even with them, the drawing is very red and seems almost garish to me. I’m hoping for the effect of a gorgeous summers day when all the green leaves, the bird and the blue sky are finished.

First Installment of New Drawing

Debbi — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:14:42 +0000

I’m posting the first photograph of my new drawing, inspired by my community garden. There are so many sunflower stalks swaying in the breeze, bees and birds constant visitors. In this drawing there will be three red sunflowers, many leaves and one bird perching among the flowers. I often like to leave a lot of the white paper showing in my work, but in this drawing the only white paper will be where the clouds are. Please check back for more progress.