Debbi Friedman's Blog » Landscape

A little zen drawing

Debbi — Wed, 05 Aug 2009 15:45:53 +0000

As I mentioned in my last post, I’ve been working on a little graphite drawing, and here it is. It’s a very simple and zen-like composition. A black stone used in hot stone therapy that was given to me by a masseuse, a small peacock feather, placed upside down atop the stone and some shadows are all that composes the drawing. It’s small – maybe about 7″ x 7″.

I’m eager to move onto the next drawing in my rock series, and plan to try and incorporate water in the drawing. Coincidentally, I’m just back from the 17th Annual Exhibition and Convention of the Colored Pencil Society of America, where I took a workshop with CPSA Artist Pat Averill on the power of water. . . entitled “Unleash the power of water in your drawings”. Below are two photographs from the workshop: one of friends Dee Overly (left) and Mari Kaye Moehl (right) working on one of the four projects we tackled that day, and the other of workshop instructor Pat Averill. I’m not sure that the workshop concepts will transfer to my drawing, but you never know! We worked on the distortion of images in reflected water, drawing moving water (ie – surf), drawing water moving over rocks, and looking at wet sand to dry sand within the context of a seascape.

Finished “Sunset over Traffic in Wellesley” piece

Debbi — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 22:09:14 +0000

I finished this piece yesterday (actually I have a few places to tweak, like the interfaces between the car and the background). I’m really pleased with it. It’s like a little window into a moment in time, capturing the feeling of living in the town of Wellesley (and hopefully many other places as well!). There were many challenges to the drawing – the color changes in the sky, the trees in silhouette, the wet pavement reflections, the taillights on the SUV – all things I have never drawn before!

Sunset over Traffic on Route 16 – continued

Debbi — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 16:32:20 +0000

I’ve had another full week of work on this drawing, and I really like the way the hard lines of the SUV give contrast to the wispiness of the clouds. And does anyone notice anything unusual about the license plate? This drawing is about 12 x 8 inches in size. I’m off for vacation in a couple of days, so there won’t be an update for a while, but you can think of me down in Tobago, walking the beaches, looking for tropical birds and scuba diving. I can’t recall ever being so eager for a winter break as I am this year!

Landscape about Wellesley, MA

Debbi — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 22:56:11 +0000

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am in the process of doing a landscape about Wellesley for the Wellesley Society of Artists 75th Anniversary Exhibition this spring. The first piece I started was a fall view of Rockridge Pond, colored pencil on Colourfix paper. I abandoned the drawing after two days of work, finding the paper too rough to achieve the delicate layering and shadowing of autumn foliage. You can see that drawing below.

The drawing I’m currently doing for this show is a view of the sunset over Route 16/Washington Street. Everyone who lives around here knows how frustrating it is to be stuck in traffic on Rte. 16, trying to get somewhere on time, only to watch the clock tick away as your tires aren’t moving. (In fact, I’ll bet almost every town has a main thoroughfare like it!) I actually set out that day to photograph the town hall or Wellesley Library, but this shot really caught my eye and imagination. It’s colored pencil on Rtistx 320 board, and I find that I can get much finer detail with this than the aforementioned paper.