Nature Journal Update: Shaggy Mane Mushroom

 

It's mushroom season! Recent rains have brought mushrooms popping up in the woods along our favorite trails.  Here's a pair of Shaggy Mane Inkcap mushrooms a fellow hiker pointed out to us last Friday.  What a delight to sit and sketch this gorgeous mushroom!

Osher Figure Drawing Class with Model Shannon

I had alerted my students that I planned to do some creative activities with color in Friday's class, and asked them to bring their pastels, chalks or other colorful media to the session.  

During the 3-minute gestures, I invited my students to begin drawing with a lighter color to make their first messy marks.  After a minute, we changed colors to a contrasting/darker hue, and captured our final contours and shadows. Our model Shannon held some uplifting 3-minute poses.

As we progressed, I added more colors to my palette, finishing with white for the highlights, fuchsia for the midtones, and blue for contours and shadows.  

I love using bright, contrasting colors to create drama in a drawing.

After we finished our gestures, we talked about methods for drawing the hands, and practiced with a 15-minute hand study.

We finished up with a long pose.  I took the colorists approach to my pastel drawing of Shannon, following the rule that you can use any color you like in a composition, as long as it is of the same value (light to dark) as the original color in the scene.  It felt freeing and energizing to create with bold colors, and I played with swoops and swirls in the negative space.

Many thanks to model Shannon for her strong poses and creative inspiration!

Pittsburgh Figure Drawing Meetup with Emily

David and I held a virtual open studio session, featuring guest model, Emily.  Here are my drawings from tonight's session. Many thanks to model Emily for her beautiful poses!

Two-minute gestures:

Five-minute gesture:

Ten-minute pose:

25-minute pose:

Osher Figure Drawing Class with Model Amelia

We had a wonderful class with model Amelia last Friday morning.  We took a break from studying the construction of faces & feet, foreshortening and other structural challenges, and just played with ink and watercolor paint.  

A fresh perspective awoke in me, and I fell into the joy of figure painting.

We began with 3-minute gestures.  I used India ink, starting with a mass gesture in watered-down ink, and finishing with full-strength ink to find contours and shadows.  Because I was working at an easel, my wet brush occasionally dripped ink down the page.

Amelia brought us wonderfully fresh, challenging poses to work from.  She held her gestures rock solid still.  

After our gestural warm up, I demonstrated mixing flesh tones & shadows in watercolor for the class. We finished with a long pose of about an hour.  A lovely getaway into the Zen of painting.

Amelia arranged the pumpkins and gourds around herself to complete her scene.  

Many thanks to model Amelia for her lively gestures and inspiring long pose!

Inktober in an Enchanted Woods

I spent a few hours sitting in an enchanting pine forest at Raccoon Creek State Park with my nature journal.  I used Derwent Inktense watercolor pencils and a Micron pen, touching some of the drawings up with a wet brush to create washes of color.  I love the intense colors of the Inktense pencils against the bold black of the Micron pen.

Here are the pages from my nature journal. 

I felt the cares of daily life wash away as I sank into the pine straw and connected with nature.

Here's a sketch of the cozy spot where I tucked away, sitting against a massive pine tree among the ferns.

I hope you get a nature break today!

Making an Autumn Leaf Stamp

Inspired by the beautiful autumn leaves, I wanted to create a print for some greeting cards.  I began with leaves picked up on a walk, and sketched them in my nature journal.

When I was happy with my sketch, I made a copy to play around with, adding swirls and other design elements in pen.

I transferred my design to the block I intended to carve using an old trick. I laid down several heavy layers of graphite with a 4B pencil on a separate sheet of paper, then placed the graphite transfer paper graphite down on the stamp block, and placed my design face-up on top.  I drew slowly over each line with my mechanical pencil. 

After transferring the design onto the stamp block, I carved away everything but the design I wanted to print.  I used Speedball Lino Cutting tools to carve a Speedball Speedy-Cut block.  This is the type of block that's soft as cream cheese, and super easy to carve.  You have to be careful with the edges to keep from getting broken.

Finally!  I had the stamp cut.  It's best to wash off your stamp before stamping with it the first time -- I skipped this step, and wish I hadn't!  As I inked the design onto cards, little discarded bits on the stamp made goobers on subsequent prints. 

I cleaned up the stamp and pad, and then created some exciting artworks!

One delightful discovery I made after I printed a bunch of cards was that the design worked no matter which way I turned it.  Now I have a stack of fresh cards to send to family & friends, and that makes me happy.

Welcome Autumn!

Nature Journal Update: More Pencil Drawings!

The beauty of fall is a balm to the artist.  Here's a walk through my nature journal.

 

Sycamore leaves along a wandering creek.

Wild Blue Lobelia growing along the creekside.

A tiny Spiny Softshell Turtle I noticed as I sat alongside Raccoon Lake.

A colored pencil sketch of flowers blooming across the lake from where I sat.

Thanks for coming along on the tour.  I hope you get a bit of time in nature today.

Nature Journal Update: Pencil Drawing at the Park

Pencil & paper: the simplest materials an artist can take on a Sketch-podition (Our family term for an art expedition).  In this case, I took my 8.5" x 11" hard bound nature journal, a mechanical drawing pencil with an HB lead, and a vinyl eraser. 

I find that I often take far too much out with me in nature, cramming a backpack full of paints, brushes, colored pencils, pens, papers and assorted extras, when in the end, I use a few favorite supplies. Lugging all that weight and all of those expectations is a burden, and it's freeing to minimize.  Now the focus can be on the experience.

In the case above, I sat among my Tromboncino Zucchini plants, and sketched the beautifully shaped squashes growing on the vines.

The tiniest things, like the beetle and leaves below, are wonderful places to focus your attention.  I love to settle into the landscape by slowly drawing a curled leaf on the ground.  As if by magic, I begin to feel more grounded and connected to the earth around me.

Hoping you find time today to grab a pencil and paper and slow down with a sketch or two!

Pencil Drawing in the Campground

 

I've been teaching a pencil drawing class at the Community College of Beaver County, and am delighting in playing with drawing pencils in my nature journal.  I took a little time to sit in an empty campsite at Raccoon Creek State Park and sketch a friendly-looking RV under the spreading boughs of a couple of pines.

Changing art mediums brings new inspiration and insights.  Being able to follow along each curving, gnarled branch with my HB mechanical pencil, and explore the textures of bark, pine needles and twiggy branches thrilled me. 

And sitting quietly and sketching feels relaxing, connecting, like a meditation.

Wishing you time today to sit and sketch something that draws your eye, simply for the joy of exploration.

Osher Figure Drawing with Model Kathryn

 

We had a wonderful class yesterday with model Kathryn.  She inspired us with her gorgeous, dancerly gesture poses with our plastic skeleton Mr. Skellybones.  Seeing her poses next to Mr. Skellybones, we could consider the underpinnings of her form.

Always a delight when your model has a sense of playfulness! Kathryn interacted with our life-sized skeleton replica in her 3-minute gestures.  I began with a quick skeletal gesture in white and added contours around that.

We moved on to study drawing the head and face, and took 15 minutes to create a portrait of Kathryn.

My students love the long pose, and Kathryn gave us lovely inspiration with a her seated twist.  Her lime-green sari wrap looked lovely against her pale, rosy skin.

Many thanks to model Kathryn for her amazing work!