Mark Making for Pencil Drawing Class

Today is the start of Beginner's Pencil Drawing Class at the Community College of Beaver County.  On the first day of class, we practice mark making.  It's a wonderful way to get familiar with your art supplies and to give yourself permission to play.

I began with an ink brush, creating on old book pages.  

Each different medium - ink brush, pen, pencil, etc. has its own magic for creating marks, and it's relaxing to discover what sorts of things each medium excels at.

Mark making is a great way to see your own style develop if you are new to art.  Even if you were to copy another artist's marks as closely as you could, you would be creating in your own hand. 

It's a good practice in fact to visit a museum and copy the marks or even the whole composition of a master artist.  You learn so much through the process.

So long as you don't claim the work as your own original idea, it's perfectly ethical.

I find mark making a relaxing project, good for when you don't have much time, or for when you've seen another artist's work and been inspired.  It can be a form of notetaking on the marks you saw that you liked.

Next time you are stuck waiting in your car, or have 10 minutes to fill, try grabbing a sketchbook (or even the back of an envelope!) and a pencil and making marks. It's a great way to keep your creative gears turning.

A Zoom Art Date with The Unexpected Gypsy

As a Patreon supporter of The Unexpected Gypsy, I get regular inspiration and instructional videos from artist Wendy Robinson. One recent benefit of supporting her was a live Zoom session in which she & her Patreons created while we chatted.

It was lovely!

Each of us chose our own project to work on.

I created these faces on old book pages using an India ink brush pen.

The ink flowed readily from the brush, and sassy, peaceful, powerful faces appeared.

I find that doing this type of open-ended creative project while listening to a conversation or watching a video allows me to shift into a relaxed attitude and just play.

This character looks like a fairy superhero to me -- I added splashes of watercolor to the face after the India ink dried. 

I hope you find an opportunity to create in a loose, unplanned way.  To simply allow yourself to play with your art supplies.

Painting with Spirit

One recent morning, I took my nature journal and art supplies out to our nearby park.  

The morning sun caught the spring foliage in an ancient maple tree, and I was struck by the beauty of backlit maple foliage against dark branches.  The new maple leaves were still golden green, and hadn't yet matured into the deeper sap green hues of summer. They vibrated with life to my artist's eye.

I am thrilled by high contrast scenes like this one.

That's the feeling I seek when painting or sketching.  I find the part of the larger scene that fascinates me, that draws me in & inspires me.  Sometimes it takes a little time walking around and looking, but once I find the inspiration, I sit down and start sketching.

I began with a Pentel India ink brush pen to sketch in the tree trunk and limbs.  After the ink was dry, I began laying in areas of color with a Sakura Koi watercolor set.

I ran out of time before I had finished my artwork, but luckily got a reference photo so I could finish at home.  Using the photo above, I added more details with Inktense colored pencils and Caran D'Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons.

As I created, I thought about the painting philosophy that I have been reading in the book, Painting Water in Watercolor by Christian Wharton:

What we paint is life itself, ... it is ourselves we are painting. It is our spirit recognizing ourselves in the spirit of the object we are looking at.

Art is there to inspire by giving the essence of the subject, and it does this from the level of feeling.

Very few paint with the same degree of truth as Van Gogh. This quality of truth does not result from careful modelling, details, or brilliant alla prima technique. It is something that is more than the sum of the parts. And it is best to aim for that level of truth, without worrying too much about whether we can achieve it or not . It's just more rewarding and fun that way. Technique by itself is nothing without the feeling level.

 

The feeling of the painting or artwork is far more important to me than technical precision.  I am not a camera making an exact replica. I am an artist, a human being, expressing for other human beings how I see the world.  

I feel inspired by Christian Wharton's philosophy (and her technical instructions), and when I began working on this maple tree, I focused simply on the part of the scene that made me feel alive.

I think that's where the healing comes in with this type of art-making.  By tuning in to what really thrills me and makes me feel alive, I connect with my true self, while connecting with nature.  I relax into the bliss of creating, following what I see before me and trying to express it.

The artwork connects me to nature and to myself.

A Celebration of Spring & Reused Materials

I found boxes of free music sheeting with a "Free" sign, and gratefully took a stack. I love using cast-off materials for art-making, and find that new-to-me supplies spark my creativity.

The paper's yellowing edges make it appealing & historic looking. The music notes add texture & movement beneath the drawing, and the staff lines create a structure to work upon.

I sat outside on a recent  spring day and made quick sketches of birds at my feeder with an India ink brush pen.  I added Neocolor II watercolor crayons to create a pop of color against the bold, dark ink lines.

Our beloved Grandmother Sugar Maple tree has begun blooming, and her spreading branches fit right onto the page.

Using just Neocolor II watercolor crayons, Prismacolor colored pencils and one Derwent Inktense pencil, I captured a blooming apple tree on our farm.  I touched in a wet brush to the background area to make a unified wash of the Neocolor II Aquarelle crayon marks.

The notes under the Neocolor II crayons express the music of spring.  Right now, American Toads are trilling, songbirds are singing, and the world is rich in color and music.  

Giving new life to some cast-off papers feels like a fitting tribute to spring!

Sketchbook Wanderings

 

I've been enjoying Koosje Koene's YouTube channel & book, and find that she's right in saying that even the most mundane thing becomes interesting when you draw it.  

Here are a few simple subjects I picked to draw, just for practice and the joy of drawing!

I hope you find a cozy moment to sketch your pet, your snacks, or anything in your life!

Adding Pop to a Watercolor Scene

Earlier this year, I painted these Cosmos blooms as a watercolor class demonstration.  I made a quick  pencil sketch of the flowers and splashed in watercolors, finishing by adding color to the negative space.  I wanted my students to see the steps in creating a watercolor painting.

After class, rather than discard the sketch, I worked on it a bit.  I wanted the loose scene to pop a bit more, so I sketched in areas with my Inktense watercolor pencils.  Touching a wet brush into the Inktense area smoothed the color into a wash, but left the original pencil strokes visible.  

As a finishing touch, I added India ink from my Pentel ink brush pen, and Micron waterproof pen lines to contours I wanted to enhance.  I found an inexpensive frame from Goodwill Industries, and the finished piece now hangs in my home.

Why not try this technique for capturing the beauty of Autumn?!