Nature Journaling

A 70 ℉ spring day gave me a chance to toss my watercolors and journal into a backpack and hike the state park with my oldest, Sarah.

We hiked down to the lake, and found where the road to the swimming beach was closed to vehicle traffic.  The entire berm of the road had washed into the lake, and with it went two mature trees.  While Sarah explored the area, I sat nearby the washout, and sketched the scene with Sakura pan watercolors.  I have the Koi Pocket Field Sketch Box of 24 colors, and they delight me to no end -- very portable, with bold, bright colors in just the right hues.

A view of the beach bath house and swimming area.  The trees on the far hill seemed painted with a fine rose-colored wash -- the red maple buds beginning to awaken to spring!

Figure Drawing Update

Here are some more recent drawings from open studios with the Pittsburgh Figure Drawing Meetup.

Model Layla inspired us with athletic gesture poses, and elegant long poses, including a 25-minute standing pose that she held as still as a statue.  Not even her eyes wavered.

More Figure Drawing & Painting

My Figure Drawing page is filling up with images, and I thought I'd stash a few new ones here in the main blog.  Attending open studios organized through the Pittsburgh Figure Drawing Meetup, has kept my hand in practice.  I was inspired by the artist Sarah Davis, who paints the figure with a simple set of pan watercolors and a water brush, and so painted the model Joanna with watercolors.  These are from March 16th, 2019.

Joanna had spoken of missing her "Intended," a soldier who was in the desert and was due back later in the spring.  I could sense her longing for her beloved, and the close relationship they had in spite of the distance. She seemed to pour everything in her life -- her joy, her loneliness, her love -- into her poses, and the emotion and energy swept us all away.

Joanna finished with a powerful long pose -- we would later deem it her "Starship Captain" pose.  Elegant, professional, poised.  Thanks for the inspiration, Joanna!

More Fun With Art Stix

My friend Brad, who gave me my new woodless colored pencils, challenged me to create on a large sheet of paper just from my imagination.  It felt like an inward blossoming of spring -- the color and warmth my soul is so hungry for right now.

By the way, Happy Pi Day everyone! (3/14)

Color in the Dead of Winter

I just came back from a birthday celebration with my family, and our dear friend Brad.  Brad and I share birthdays within a week of each other, and so we celebrated today with lunch out.  Brad gave me the most delicious box of colors -- Prismacolor Art Stix.  They are much like Conte Crayons -- squared sticks of pure color -- but in a rainbow of rich colors.  I grabbed some fruit from the fruit bowl to test them out on, and was pleased with the way the flat sides laid down smooth shadows and the crisp edges created bold contour lines.  They lay down rich tones easily.

Outside, it's 17 ℉,  and intermittently throughout day, snow spit from the low clouds.  The world looks monochromatic.  These Art Stix were just what my eyes hungered for.  Can't wait for the first spring daffodils and greened-up grass to test my new toys on!

My cat, Chubby, flopped by my side while I drew.

A Warm (Enough) Day for Sketching Outdoors

On Monday afternoon, I went out for a hike with my oldest, Sarah, on what we call a Sketch-potition -- a sketching expedition.  The evergreen woods we strode through were carpeted with twigs and branches blown out of the trees by Sunday's wild windstorm. Ducking under fallen trees was tricky with a pack of art supplies on my back.

 The calm after the storm; the stillness after a brisk hike; the open field after a woods scramble -- yin and yang mingled.  I felt grateful for time to melt into the landscape as I sketched.  The brilliant blue sky spilled long, late rays of the sinking sun into the abandoned picnic area our family refers to as The City of Ember after the novel about a crumbling civilization whose inhabitants don't know how to maintain their infrastructure -- Sarah & I sat in acres of open meadow on top of a hill that once was actively used by park-goers, but due to shrinking state park budgets was closed.  The bluebirds, deer and we still enjoy its charms.

A Brown Banana and a Book of Inspiration

I found a great book about fitting drawing into your life no matter how busy: Art Before Breakfast by Danny Gregory.  It feels like I am perusing his own journal as I flip through the pages.  The book is chock full of Gregory's drawings and paintings of simple, everyday stuff, inspiring me  to sketch everyday stuff from my own life.  And I love his message -- art is for everybody!  Right on!