Late October Nature Walk

What a beautiful day for a walk in the park!  David and I hiked down a familiar trail. As usual this time of year, I was drawn to fallen leaves, to finding one with beautiful color, & interesting details.

I didn't have the time to create a longer, more finished drawing, so I decided to simply sketch the hickory leaf with a black colored pencil. How satisfying to map out the stem and follow the curves and toothed edges of each leaflet.  

I especially love the nibbled parts and the bug holes. They give the drawing a sense of reality and individuality.  These broken bits are a record of the leaf's growing season and tell its story. 

The trail was gorgeous on this windy day -- I soaked in the last flush of autumn color as we head into November.

Here's a sycamore leaf for you to draw if you like, complete with bug-chewed holes and other interesting spots!

You can also take a walk wherever you are and collect a few small natural items to draw. Find a park bench or other comfortable spot to sit down and really look at your items.  As you sketch, you can look at the details that tell its life story.

Happy Creating!

Book Report: Good Mail Day

As a long time letter writer and upcycler of funky paper bits, I was drawn to this book about creating your own envelopes & post cards. The book is chock full of photos for inspiration and how-to information.

Here's what I created after reading it:

Collage is one of the quickest ways I've found to fall back into the habit of creating.  Don't think too hard. Simply gather bits that fascinate you and start gluing them down.  I used Yes! paste to glue bits down, then sealed the envelopes's surface with acrylic matte medium.

I collaged bits onto an 11"x18" piece of lightweight paper. You could use anything -- an old paper bag for instance.  After everything dried, I cut out an envelope from a template I made out of a standard greeting card envelope.  The book provides a template for the smaller (polka dot) envelope design.

This is a fun way to turn trash to art.  I hope you try it!

Happy Creating! 

Planner Pages: Summer Blooms!

After taking a watercolor botanical class with Wendy Solganik of Willa Wanders (https://www.willawanders.com/), I felt inspired to decorate my weekly planner with roses, hearts and swirls.

It doesn't take much to add color & beauty to a dull weekly planner!  It's also a great way to give yourself room to doodle.  I find it's a low stress place to create because no one sees it but me most of the time.

What are some low-stress ways you add art-making to your life? I invite you to make a list of ideas and start trying them.

Happy Creating!

The World is Full of Greens!

This is the time of year when you might feel inspired to go outdoors to paint.  Once outside, you may wonder, "How do I make all of those greens?!"

Consider creating your own library of greens like the one above.

I have a small palette for outdoor painting adventures.  It contains:

Ultramarine Blue (warm) & Phthalo Blue (cool).

Azo Yellow (warm) & Winsor Lemon Yellow (cool).

Yellow Ochre & Burnt Sienna (warm earth tones).

Look at the wide array of greens above I can make with those colors!

I paired each of my blues with each of my yellows.  I painted a swatch of the blue at one end, and painted the rest of the band in yellow.  Then I made a puddle of the yellow in my mixing tray, and began adding dabs of blue.  After each dab of blue, I swatched the green onto the spectrum, so the greens get progressively more blue going to the right.

I also mixed Phthalo Blue with Burnt Sienna to create a rich, pine green.

Give this a try! You'll end up with a great reference sheet of greens you can mix to paint your next sketch or painting.

Out on Raccoon Creek State Park Lake, painting the morning sun shining through the trees, my experience mixing colors came in handy.

Happy Creating!

Quick Sketches

I keep natural mementos at my desk -- feathers, stones, seashells and the like.  That means there's always something fascinating to draw when I want to warm up, or when I'm procrastinating doing something else.

The sketches above were made with a Bic ballpoint pen in my writing journal. The ballpoint pen creates different sorts of marks than a graphite pencil, colored pencils or a fountain pen.  Trying different materials and media expands your art practice and opens up new ideas.

Also, the practice of drawing sketches with no expectations is freeing and relaxing.  Nothing special, just practice and play.

Here are photos of the little items I drew in case you'd like to make a quick sketch.

Happy Creating!

Adding Bright Colors to Black and White Drawings

I'm teaching a class called "Drawing in the Museum" for Osher at Carnegie Mellon University.  We meet in the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History in Pittsburgh.

We've been drawing with graphite pencils on white paper. 

But the winter has been gray, and I wanted to jazz up our drawings a bit.

 I created a stack of colorful papers and brought black and white Prismacolor colored pencils.

We still drew with only black and white, but the brightly painted papers added another layer of pattern, color and interest.

Here is Anita, one of my students, and her drawing of some crystals from the Hall of Minerals. The painted paper allowed her to show white crystals well, including the direction of the grain within them.

Below is a photo I took of two types of Quartz crystals in the Hall of Minerals...

...and my own drawing.

Fossils from Lyme Regis, England.

Fig leaves from my potted fig tree.

I painted a variety of colors and designs on Canson 140# watercolor paper with Dr. P.H. Martin's Liquid Watercolors.  

I let the first side dry, then flipped it and painted the other side.

It was uplifting just to paint with highly saturated, colorful paints.

One of my students said that the papers looked like Northern Lights!

After the paint was dry, I folded each sheet in half to make a 9" X 12" booklet for my students to draw on.

This is a great way to make sketching more of a game. 

 You can also paint splotches of color on sketchbook pages and let them dry.  When you take the sketchbook out, the colorful pathces help to reduce the fear of the blank page -- because it's not blank anymore.  

All you need is a black and a white colored pencil.

Happy Creating! 

Draw Your Breakfast Challenge

 

In my Beginner's Pencil Drawing Class at CCBC, I assigned homework to keep us all drawing during the week.  This week, we have drawn our breakfasts.

Because I don't like to wait to eat until I've finished drawing my breakfast, I snapped photos each morning, and drew from the reference photos.

This project made picking out breakfast more fun!  The bagel was my favorite breakfast to draw, but these cherries were fun, too!

And the iron skillet full of sausage and eggs is a classic.

What do you like to eat every morning?  Try drawing it at the breakfast table.  

You'll be surprised how good it feels to start your day with drawing.  

Most breakfast foods are mushy (oatmeal), blobby (scrambled eggs) or formed into simple shapes like berries, fruits, eggs and sausages.  It's a great way to be creative and feel accomplished before you leave the breakfast table.  And much better for your digestion than doom scrolling!

Happy Creating!

Bubble Planner

Another week, another weekly planner page! 

 

This week's inspiration came from looking at a variety of jar lids and other round items, and wondering what the page would look like if I traced them.  

I traced them with a pencil, then used India ink and a brush to create bubbles and swirls.  

I simply followed my intuition.

I recommend tuning into your intuition as a practice.  

 Kindly ask yourself what to do next in your art, and listen to the soft voice of your intuition -- not the noisy, judgmental voice of your inner critic, but the quiet suggestions that often sound unusual, unexpected or downright weird.  

Try those things.  

It's only paper, and you can make wonderful discoveries. 

It helps you to learn to trust your own artist's voice.

 Happy Creating!

Rusty November Planner Pages

Inspired by a recent Wanderlust 2024 class, I chose rust-decorated paper to collage for this week's planner. 

The process began with layering rusty pieces of metal, vinegar water and a variety of papers in an enamel pan, and leaving the whole mess for 24 hours or more.

The rusty metal imparted its rich colors -- siennas and ochres -- much like the dead meadow grasses and oak leaves still clinging to the trees outside my studio window.

The mingling of earth tones with black print and creamy old paper have a beautiful appeal to my artist's eye.

I tore pieces from some of the papers without thinking about it too much, then glued them down with Yes paste, a thick, archival paste I use for a lot of projects.

All that was left to do was to add in the dates and appointments with black ink pens and a Pentel India ink brush pen.

I love starting the day with art!

You can find more information about Wanderlust 2024 here:

 https://www.everything-art.com/p/wanderlust-2024-artjournalingcourse 

Happy Creating!

Another week, another weekly planner page!  I had just bought a pile of pumpkins for my Pencil Drawing students at CCBC to draw, and had all these beautiful pumpkins in different shades and colors in my studio.  It was so much fun to sketch, ink and paint these little characters, with each one holding a day's summary of activities.

Do you have a favorite collection of objects in your home?  Why not draw them together?  You don't even have to make them part of a planner page!

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!