Another Morning Sketch

As you have noticed, I’m not posting very often on this blog anymore.  My schedule and my focus have shifted.  I’m spending more time traveling, teaching and painting in the studio.

Dip Pens in a Goya Tin

Please remember that most of my blog posting will be done on my website blog rather than here or on my Third Time Around Blog.  Please subscribe to the website blog and/or the monthly newsletter if you want to continue to follow my adventures and musings.  Link to Website Blog …… Thanks!

Image: Dip Pens in Goya Tin, drawn first in ink with fountain pen, followed by watercolor washes, Color Scheme- Analogous with Split Complements.

 

Precious Time

One never knows how much time is left to paint those paintings and mix those fabulous colors.  Today is a good day to do as much as one can. Cicadas have six weeks if they’re lucky.  The newborn bird that fell from its nest didn’t have nearly that long.

17 year cicada – ink drawing

Excerpt from today’s post on my website blog: (Please remember that I post more often on my website blog than I do on this blog….. more time for painting and drawing!)

A cool breeze tempted me out onto the front porch with my cup of coffee, a perfect way to start the day.  Beside a pot of Oxalis a seventeen year cicada lay on its back, the first I have seen on our property this year……. read more.

sketchbook drawing: 17 year cicada drawn first in ink with fountain pen….. to be followed later with watercolor.

 

French Tarragon and The Dance of Greens

By altering the green with each dip of the brush an illusion of space is created around each fragrant leaf of the French Tarragon.

French Tarragon – Artist Trading Card

The color palette is cadmium lemon, cadmium yellow, cerulean blue and a touch of french ultramarine blue.  Some of the leaves are painted with one stroke of the brush, others are painted wet in wet, adding variations of green within a single leaf.

Sketchbook drawing: French Tarragon – illustration drawn first in ink with a fountain pen, followed by watercolor

Color Scheme: Analogous – Blue/Green, Green and Yellow/Green.  Dominant Color: Green

 

Lime, Apple and Fork

When Tom is away, meals don’t happen. While I baked cookies, Deb came to the rescue and prepared dinner.

Lime, Apple and Fork

Sketchbook drawing: Lime, Apple and Fork – Drawn first with fountain pen filled with Noodler’s Black ink, followed by watercolor.

Color Scheme: Analogous with one complement (Yellow-Orange, Yellow, Yellow-Green and Red-Violet) The fork is a neutral gray.

Limited Palette: Cadmium Yellow Pale, Aureolin, Cadmium Red, Permanent Aliazrin Crimson, French Ultramarine Blue

 

Weekly Exercise No. 1 on New Website Blog

Last night while making cookie dough I created the samples for Exercise No. 1 on my website blog. Check it out!

Eggs in Cardboard Carton

The goal is to draw, draw, draw, without concern about the drawing being masterful.  This exercise will strengthen eye/hand coordination.  The foundation of a strong painting is strong drawing skills whether the work is realistic or abstract.

Sketchbook Drawing: Eggs in Cardboard Carton – drawn in three minutes with a fountain pen before breaking the eggs and adding them to the cookie dough batter.

 

Vintage Forks at Chapman Lake Cottage

A couple of days ago I posted a photo of the fork and sketch on my other blog.

Vintage Fork painted with Peerless Watercolor Papers

This is the drawing after I painted it using a waterbrush and Peerless Watercolor Papers.  The sketchbook has thin, lined paper, not the BFK Rives paper I use to make my handmade sketchbooks.

sketchbook drawing:  drawn first with Vintage Sheaffer fountain pen filled with Noodler’s Black Ink, followed by Peerless Watercolor applied using a waterbrush.

Color Scheme: Double Complements, limited palette –  yellow and purple, blue and orange

 

Vintage Sheaffer Fountain Pen

The dip pen and ink led to frustration and too much ink bleed into the watercolor during the Color Scheme Game Workshop.  I can’t expect everyone to have the same passion I have for dip pens and fountain pens.

Vintage Sheaffer fountain Pen

Thanks to a student’s suggestions, I tested a fine line Sharpie marker to see if it would bleed.  It did not.  Rather than struggling with ink blops and long drying periods I’m switching to permanent markers for the half day and single day workshops.

Color Scheme Game Painting:  drawn first with fine line Sharpie marker followed by watercolor.  Color Scheme is complementary (blue and orange).

 

A touch of Color

As I sat outside Artfully Elegant (next to the historic Bethlehem Hotel), I sketched the street and the people enjoying the monthly Art Walk.

Art Walk, Bethlehem, PA, August 2012

A fountain pen, a waterbrush and a cd case with pieces of Peerless Watercolor Papers taped to the inside works incredibly well to add touches of color to a drawing.  Everything is conveniently on my lap and I’m able to stop at any moment to talk with people about the paintings I have displayed on the table beside me.

En Plein Air Sketchbook drawings: drawn first with fountain pen filled with Noodler’s Rome Burning Ink, followed by washes of Peerless Watercolor.

 

A wide spot in the road

I am on the lookout for wide spots in the road where I can park my car and paint during the upcoming months of winter.

From a wide spot in the road

I am desperate for good spots to park from the front seat of my K-car.  What I really want is a good panoramic view of hedgerows slicing through hilly expanses of fields.  I want that crazy quilt aspect of the landscape.  I have a week to go before I am let loose again to capture the abstract beauty of the landscape I travel through, whether in New Jersey or in Spain or France or Peru.  I sense that roads will continue to play a major role in my paintings.  It is from the line of a road that the kaleidoscope of landscape comes into focus and thrills me to the core.

My little CD case Peerless Watercolor Paper palettes of paint force me to paint by value rather than color.  I am testing out a few more of the water brushes made by Kuretake.  I discovered that my first water brush was a mini brush.  The regular brushes that come in a variety of sizes have longer handles, holding more water, but too long to fit a snack size zip lock bag.

The colors of the Peerless Watercolor Papers are always a bit shocking to me.  They are a bit psychedelic.  It was only while cross country skiing down a mountain in Colorado with my brother in 1983 I remember seeing the landscape in such vivid colors.  I adore these little bits of saturated paper; they force me out of my mold and into another world of limitless possibilities.

Sketch:  Drawn first with my burgundy fountain pen marked Riona (I think it was the name of the original owner) filled with Noodler’s Nikita red ink, followed by washes of Peerless Watercolor Papers using a Kuretake size 9mm water brush.

 

Game Pieces in Primary Colors

Another attempt at the metal game pieces, still playing with primary color scheme.

Variations on line and color intensity

Still trying to get the last of the color from the very old set of Marvy Markers I found in the attic of my parents’ house. I find myself selecting primary colors more often than not and I’m not sure why.

Drawn first with Parker 51 fountain pen filled with Black Noodler’s Ink, followed by coloring in using Marvy Markers, limiting my palette to yellow, red and two shades of blue.