Painting an Autumn Leaf Step-by-Step in Watercolor

The cooler weather of autumn brings brilliant foliage to inspire us artists.  These are the days I can't help but pick up a fist full of colorful leaves on my walks.

A great way to start sketching or painting a leaf is by finding the vein structure. It maps out the shape of the leaf from the inside out.

Beginning with a wash of cool yellow brightens the colors to come.  When the yellow layer is dry, you can add reds, like this Alizarin Crimson mixed with a little Burnt Sienna.

Taking each section of the leaf and working wet-in-wet allows the many hues within each leaf to merge gracefully, and prevents hard edges.

Working wet-in-wet with complimentary colors Alizarin Crimson and Sap Green can become a playful dance. Keeping the two colors from touching prevents muddy browns, and the bold contrast of red against green catches the viewer's eye.

Mixing Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue created rich dark brown and black to add the crumpled, bruised bits in.  The little details of bug-chewed, spotted and damaged bits is one of my favorite parts.  And those details brings the leaf to life.

Ultramarine Blue mixed with a touch of Burnt Umber created a wonderful shadow color to land the leaf on a flat surface.

If you like, you can add more details on top of your watercolor leaf with colored pencils once the watercolor is dry.

If you love details, a single fall leaf provides a limited subject to dive into, letting yourself explore every splotch of color, every bug bite and every nuance.

Happy Creating!

Pencil Drawing Class: Your Eyes are Your Most Important Tool!

We had a wonderful first session in Beginner's Pencil Drawing class, testing out our supplies and trying out techniques.

I asked everyone to bring in a small object they loved, and we tried drawing it from memory first (my demo is below), then drawing it from observation (above).

What a huge difference using our eyes made in seeing the real form and details!

This was my object - a piece of wood that looks like an award a fairy might give a child for swiftly racing down a woodland trail.

We also played with blind contour drawing to connect our eyes and hands.  We only looked at the object we were drawing, and never at our papers.  The result?  Weird drawings, yet within the chaos were real, alive lines describing part of what we drew. Below is my blind drawing of a feather.

After the blind drawing, we were all practiced up, and allowed ourselves to steal quick glances at our papers so that we could align everything in a more organized way.

Many thanks to my students for their willingness to try new things and for their enthusiasm!

Looking forward to our next class!

Happy Creating!

Stories in an Autumn Nature Journal

The beauty of a nature journal is that you can tuck it into a bag and tote it with you on a hike or picnic.  You can make sketches that tell a story, even if you don't feel that they're great drawings.

I was sketching this leaf on a hike with my husband, enjoying sitting at a picnic table under a forest of tall oak trees, when we started to notice large acorns dropping all around us.  Each nut hit with a sharp Thwack!

Concerned that the next acorn might clock us on the noggin, we resumed our hike, backtracking to an open field we had passed.  We found a bench at the edge of the field, where we sat and I sketched and jotted down the story of our hike.

The next morning, I took hot tea outside on a cool morning and watched the sun rise over the neighbor's pasture.  I made notes of the sounds I heard and sketched a small part of the sunrise scene.

I don't consider any of these drawings to be great drawings, but I love them because each one tells the story of a moment in nature. I can return to them and remember my hike with my husband, or the bold contrasts of backlit apple trees in an October sunrise.

This stillness in nature feeds my soul, and adding color and words to the experience only deepens it.

I hope you get a chance to sketch a bit of nature this week and add the words of your own story.

Happy Creating!

Make "Bad" Art!

I recently watched this inspiring YouTube video by Marie-Noëlle Wurm on making "Ugly Art:"  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kngc8LXYdkc

She invites us to intentionally make art we expect to be ugly, and in doing so, releasing ourselves from the expectation that we'll make something pretty, acceptable, worthy, or popular. 

I tried it & had fun!  When I meant to make my bird drawings ugly, I stopped judging every line and nuance as I made it.  The first one (top) I feel is truly ugly.  I don't really like it, but it opened the way for me to experiment & quickly draw these other 3 birds.

Each one has its own personality. This one seems like a mashup of Foghorn Leghorn and a magpie.

This one feels childlike and hopeful sailing through the sky like a character from a Roald Dahl story.

The last one seems like a Robin/Bluebird combination ... with a worm.

After I made these, aside from laughing a bit, I realized that each had qualities I liked.

I recommend watching Marie-Noëlle Wurm's video and trying it yourself.  It's a playful way to start an art session.  It could be a warm-up for more drawing or just an art break for self care & laughter.

After you make your drawings, step back and notice little things you like about your creations. Because you created freely without expectation, you might make discoveries.

I hope you try your hand at making "bad" art.

Happy Creating!

More Fun with a Weekly Planner

Sometimes your world is so full of beauty, that you feel inspired to include it wherever you can make sketches -- in the borders of notes, even your planner.  

 I love this time of year for taking walks and picking up the bounty of nature - like this pumpkin and the little green apple.

When I make my week-view planner page, I start with a concept, like having a circle in the center of the page, and arranging the days of the week around it.  Then I label the days and decorate with watercolors (pumpkin & acorns) or colored pencils (apple) and add my week's events.    

The sky's the limit when you're experimenting like this.  You may find that you make a sketch for your planner, and that starts you down the path to creating more.  And isn't it fun to look back on your sketches each week, reminding yourself that you are an artist?

Happy Creating!

A Vase of Fall Flowers to Draw

Don't you love the beauty of Chrysanthemums in Autumn?

I bought myself a bouquet of mostly mums and then played with making sketches on scrap paper.

I used a Conte crayon and a white watercolor crayon.

 

The first drawing I made (above) looked like a bit of a jumble.  

I still enjoyed the sketching process, and it was good practice. 

No worries; I turned the page and started fresh.

I love the freshness of this drawing and have it propped up in my studio.  

I learned from the first sketch that I needed to simplify and pick 3 flowers because the Conte crayon is so dark when added to the text on the old paper.

What do you love to look at in this season? Making a sketch of it will deepen your enjoyment and enrich your observations of it.

Here are my top sketching tips:

1. Pick something you love to look at and are curious about drawing.

2. If you feel too pressured to make "pretty art" on the blank page of a sketchbook, start with scratch paper or a loose sheet of drawing paper.  If you want to include the resulting drawing in your sketchbook, you can always tape it in later.

3. Let your eyes drink in what you're drawing.  Look at your subject (a flower in my case) 85% of the time, and take quick glances at your paper.  This may feel "dangerous" at first, but if you trust your hand and use your eyes to see all the beautiful shapes, lines and textures in your subject, your drawings will come to life.

4. Keep speaking encouragingly to yourself.  It's quite common to have an inner critic who loves to yell its negative opinions about your art, especially when you try something new.  Please remember this critic is wrong.  Incorrect.  Off the mark.  Never right.  So just keep drawing, because the more you draw, the more fluid your drawings become.

5. "Bad" art: If you make a sketch that you don't like, turn the page and try again.  Later, you will notice parts of the "bad" sketch that you do like (for me, it's that dark leaf with the light vein that hangs down on the bottom right side of my first sketch).

6. Just keep drawing!  Everyday if you can, but as often as possible.

For me, following the contours of flowers is always pleasant & relaxing.  What is relaxing for you to look at and draw?

I hope you take 20 minutes and make sketches of your favorite things this week!

Happy Creating! 

The Importance of Playing with Your Supplies

Don't you love discovering new artist authors and delving into their work?

Jill Bays is my recent discovery.  I admire her bold, confident lines. In this drawing workbook, she leads you through ten basic lessons to improve your sketching skills.  Since drawing is the foundation of painting and other art forms, it's a valuable pursuit!

Here are some of my sketchbook pages from the first chapters.

I really enjoyed the process of simply testing out various drawing supplies to discern their properties and answer questions like:

What medium gives me the darkest values?

Can I smudge this material to make softer textures?

Can I erase out parts of a scene, using the eraser to "draw" images?

When you explore materials and experiment, there's no pressure to make "good art."  You're just playing with your supplies.

And having an experienced artist lead you through activities to build your skills takes away the common fear of the blank page.

Your world is full of objects to draw and explore.  What would you like to sketch or experiment with?

Happy Creating!