Here is my finished colored pencil piece. I used Derwent Coloursofts and some Prismacolors. I did this for the Virtual Paintout (St Petersburg) so I’m glad I finished it before the end of the month! I ended up cropping some of the bottom off, which makes it an odd size, but I think it improves the overall impression.
I have always thought of Russia as a very beautiful country. When I had tendinitis, I listened to Anna Karenina on cd (unabridged, all 20 discs). There was a lot of wordy language describing the countryside, and I guess it had an impression on me.
I spent another few hours on my landscape, this time concentrating on the sky. The sky is the most dramatic part of this picture, and I want to finish it up before moving onto the rest of it.
I just finished up a two part class on botanical illustration at Mass Audobon. As always, I didn’t create anything particularly amazing while I was in the class, but I got a lot of value in the information that I took home with me.
The instructor was a well spoken woman who was very informed on many aspects of natural history and botanical illustration. She gave us a good understanding of the conventions of botanical illustration, and differentiated it from “botanical art.” (I’m definitely more interested in botanical art as opposed to classical botanical illustration.) She also rambled quite a bit about all kinds of other art topics, which I found pleasant and informative.
We were working in colored pencil, which is part of the reason why I’ve been inspired to get back into it lately. I was able to talk to the instructor about some things I’ve been curious about, like what she thought of sanded papers (I’ve never tried any).
I’m really glad that I went to this class because it was an opportunity to do something art related and get out of the house by myself for a few hours.
I made a color chart for my Derwent Coloursofts. I don’t have very many colors, but I definitely think I will add to these. I have never taken the time to make a color chart for anything before. I’m actually surprised because I am a very meticulous kind of person. I can really see this helping me out when choosing colors for a new painting. I am going to start a new colored pencil piece pretty soon and this is getting me excited.
I arranged the colors according to what pleased me, and it was interesting to compare my choice to the manufacturer’s numbering system.
This morning I took out some colored paper and did a little sketching with my Derwent Coloursofts. It’s kind of fun to work on the colored paper and I think I will try out more of this in the future. (This photo was taken in dim lighting, so the colors aren’t very accurate.)
Colored pencils have been more appealing to me lately because they are non-toxic and very portable. The negative is that I can only do a small amount at a time because it tends to irritate my wrist and arm. These days I have to work slowly anyway though, because I get interrupted with baby duties often. In the next few years, I can see myself doing more colored pencil than watercolor.
I had a Pinterest account, and pinned things to it here and there, but I was never a heavy user. I recently decided to delete my account altogether though, as well as add the no pin meta tag to my site and disable pinning on flickr. I have been seeing countless articles online about how bad their TOS is regarding copyright issues and I was disheartened when I read it for myself. I am a great respecter of copyright and don’t want to associate myself with any service that facilitates theft. Although it is an interesting concept for a social media site, I’m not willing to spend time requesting permission from other people to pin their content. While some people are okay with linking to the original source and giving credit, logically this is not enough for me. For now, if I have interesting things to show you, I will just link to them the old fashioned way.
The above image was a practice sketch I made for the October 2010 Virtual Paintout. I never posted it anywhere though, until now.
Awhile ago (longer than I care to admit), a relative asked me to paint a portrait of her granddaughter in watercolor. At the time, I was hesitant because I had never painted a portrait in watercolor before, but I said yes because I didn’t want to disappoint and I didn’t want to acknowledge that there was something beyond me.
I started making sketches and ran into trouble immediately. Then I shelved the project thinking I needed more practice on various aspects (drawing children, mixing skin tones in watercolor, etc.). But I never ended up feeling confident enough to start.
It became awkward to see this relative at family functions. “How was the portrait coming along?” she would ask. I felt guilty because I knew I hadn’t started on it.
It was only recently that I decided that I needed to do the painting, no matter how bad it came out. I don’t want to be a person that makes empty promises. So I made the painting over the course of a few days, to the best of my ability. I know there are a multitude of issues, but in all honesty, this probably isn’t bad for a first attempt. I would love to repaint this same subject once I take a few watercolor classes and get some expert instruction. But for now, at least I did what I said I would do!
I am vowing never to let this happen again. It’s better to be honest or say no than to put myself in a situation where I feel overwhelmed and less than authentic.
I signed up for a two part Botanical Illustration class at the Mass Audubon society. It’s really inexpensive and I’m looking forward to getting out of the house by myself for a bit.
I got started on a particular painting that I have been putting off for over a year now. When I’m done with it I will be able to move onto other things with a clear head!
I painted the above image on a watercolor greeting card. It was a scene from my trip to Maine in 2010.
I’ve been scanning a box of photos so I can throw out the originals and declutter my space. Recently, I found this small seascape, painted in 1994. Back then, I usually copied from photos in magazines, but I made up this scene in my head.
At the time, I remember being so proud of myself because this was the first watercolor that turned out the way I wanted. I’ve kept it around all these years as a memento of that feeling. Now I’ve thrown out the original, but I still have the memory.
