Watercolor Landscape

The spring landscape inspires me with its ever-changing swaths of color.

Every shade of green from chartreuse to seafoam, to deepest pine green fills the landscape.  Verdant new grass sweeps in to replace the old, dead meadow plants. 

On walks, I snap photos like this one.

Then I take them back to my studio to paint my version of the scene.  I think it's important in art, to give ourselves the freedom to create our version of reality.  When I started painting, I thought I should re-created every twig and pine needle in a scene.  

Folly!

But that lesson showed me that I am at liberty to play with any element of the scene I wish!  I have simplified this landscape, and I have used purple lavishly where it might not be evident in the photo above.  Why not?  I love purple and green together.

I began by making a simple pencil sketch.  With a kneaded eraser, I lightened the darker lines to keep the pencil marks from showing through the paint. 

I mixed different colors -- Phthalo blue with a touch of Hooker's green for the apple blossoms in the center of the scene, sap green with Winsor yellow for the yellowy greens, dioxazine purple with a touch of Phthalo blue for the distant hills and shadows, and Phthalo blue and burnt sienna for the spruces.

What would your version of this scene look like?

I hope you paint or draw it!

Happy Creating!

Gouache Apple Blossoms Painting

On a rainy, cold Friday afternoon, I cut several twigs from an apple tree blooming in my yard for my Tiny Art class students to paint.

Before class, I made a small painting, starting with a pencil sketch of one of the flower clusters.

The next step was to lay in areas of color and tone -- larger areas of white flower petals, and green leaves.

When painting with gouache, you start with larger shapes and work from general to specific, from larger shapes to finer details.

I layered on details -- shadows and highlights, veins in leaves, and the little stamens within the apple flowers.

I finished with details on the twig -- the bark wrinkles, the green lichen spots.

Above is the finished painting.

Are you feeling creative? I hope you'll make a sketch or painting of the apple blossoms pictured at the top of this post.

Happy Creating!

Copyright Betsy Bangley 2024.  All rights reserved. 

Nature Journaling in the Spring

Now is a great time to sit outside with your nature journal and take stock of spring's progress -- or fall's progress if you're in the Southern Hemisphere.

Where I live, the Goldfinches are part way through their molt into canary-colored plumage.

The Spearmint that grows at my kitchen door stoop has sprung to life.

And the Purple Dead Nettle growing along the rocks in my raised garden beds has begun to bloom, a welcome sight.

Sitting in nature sketching never fails to slow me down and relax me.  

I hope you get time to sit outdoors in the sunshine with your nature journal and check nature's progress.

Copyright Betsy Bangley 2024. All rights reserved  

Flower Studies

The nasturtium and zinnia seeds that I planted in pots in my kitchen 2 months ago have grown to the point of blooming.  I thought I'd celebrate their blossoms with an entry in my art journal.

I also included flowers from a small bouquet from Trader Joe's.

I enjoyed laying out the pages in boxes and rectangles, & fitting each flower into its own space.

Each began as a sketch with a permanent felt-tipped pen, then I added color with  Caran D'Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons. I used a water brush pen to blend the pigments.

Spring Watercolors with The Unexpected Gypsy

The woods canopy is beginning to fill in with every shade of green and gold.  

I love this time of year, when it feels like I can watch the leaves unfurl and expand hourly.  Awash in colors after the grayness of winter, I revel in the yang after the yin.

I recently enjoyed a "Sketch Date" with Wendy Robinson, The Unexpected Gypsy. As a Patreon supporter, I get to join Wendy and other patrons in a monthly live Zoom session.  We chat and sip tea as we create, a delightful group creative session.

Each person picks a project to work on.  Inspired by the beauty of nature outside my studio window, I painted a cherry tree decked in spring foliage.

I began this painting with an India ink Pentel brush pen to lay out the trunk and branches.  

After the ink dried, I sketched in the major shapes with Sakura Koi watercolors and a water brush pen. Details were added with Prismacolor colored pencils and Caran D'Ache Neocolor II watercolor crayons.

Making art with friends is a lovely way to energize your practice.  You can support each other, admire each others' creations and feel inspired by each other.  

Why not get together with a few friends and have a creativity session together?  If you'd like to join The Unexpected Gypsy for her next session, you can find her here:

Wendy's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/theunexpectedgypsy/posts

You can also find her on YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/@theunexpectedgypsy

Happy Spring Creating!

Spring Color & Art Classes!

I've been teaching Watercolor Flowers at the Community College of Beaver County the last few weeks, and have noticed how the spring sunshine has been spilling into my paintings. I love the way that a class can focus my art-making so that I build my proficiency and grow as an artist.

Taking a class can help you to create in a series and get your artistic practice rolling along, too!

I invite you to join me for art classes at CCBC this spring!  I'll be teaching Nature Art for Self Care starting April 23rd, Art Journaling starting March 26th, and Make Your Own Rubber Stamp starting March 23rd.  

All classes are designed for beginners. Everyone is welcome!

You can find more information here under the "Arts" tab: https://ccbc.coursestorm.com/

I hope to see you in class!

Art for Self-Care: Painting Trees

 

I sat outside on a gorgeous spring evening -- the Eastern Bluebirds warbling from this grand old Cucumber Tree.  I had been feeling anxious about an upcoming doctor's visit, and reached for my paints and brushes to ground & calm myself. 

Sketching the scene, connecting with the stalwart old tree and her new friend springing up among the raspberries tuned me into the essence of the tree -- her vitality, her strength and her ability to weather every storm.  Healing.

Of course, there was a moment at the outset when I felt like the painting would never work, and I'd end up with wasted paper, but I pushed through that.  I've learned that even if I create a painting I don't want to frame, I always learn something from immersing myself in creativity, and there's always some part of the painting I feel really happy about.

At the end, I did like this painting. And I felt so much calmer.  

And the doctor's visit the next day turned out fine -- better than I had imagined.

I find it helpful to have a stack of smaller pieces of watercolor paper that I can experiment with tucked into the backpack I tote my watercolors outdoors in.  I painted this scene on a 6" x 7-3/4" paper sample from St. Cuthberts Mill.  I bought a variety of watercolor paper samples with an order of other supplies.  Paper samples don't cost much, and they're freeing to create with.  

I hope you can find peace and grounding by sketching, painting or even just sitting with a friendly tree.  

Happy Spring!

Forsythia Blooms & Inspiration

Though the human world seems to have ground to a halt right now, nature bursts with new life out here in the country around my home. Everyday some new flower spills fresh color into the landscape, and I want to capture it all in my nature journals.

I have been watching videos from John Muir Laws' website on keeping a nature journal, organizing journal pages, and using watercolor pencils to best effect. Inspiring!  Check them out for free here: https://johnmuirlaws.com/blog/

I have taken to carrying a journal with me on hikes with David, or even down the driveway to put a letter in the box. Here is a collection of recent findings in no particular order.

First Daffodils of Spring!

I saw daffodils blooming in the city several weeks ago, but out my way in the country, they've just started to open their sunny blossoms.  It's worth the wait!  These blooms cheer me and make me want to start planting my garden. And their fragrance never grows old.

Nature Journal: March Green!

You can cancel the St. Patty's Day parades, but you can't cancel nature's greening.  Right around St. Patrick's Day every year near my home, the grass awakens from its winter dullness and flushes with vibrant green.  What a feast for the eyes! This morning, I decided to try to capture the colors I could see out my south windows.

Spring Report

The first glimmers of spring have been interspersed with cold, snowy, windy weather.  These are the times to brew up a mug of tea, make notes on the week, and sketch nature indoors.

Spring Progress on Hawk's Hill

Pastel on mat board.

The landscape changes seemingly minute-to-minute.  Softness covers the land -- new growth in the woods canopy paints the hills & vistas with splashes of golden-green, lime, emerald, pale cream, peach & crimson.  White clouds of blossoms begin to fill the orchards. The tenderness of new verdure takes the twigginess out of the landscape.  Happy Earth Day!

A Beautiful Spring Day

Pastel on mat board. (6" x 10.5")

A beautiful morning dawned today.  Creation is filled with growth and bird song and beauty.

Field Restoration

I visited the Doak Field in Raccoon Creek State Park today, one day after a controlled burn, and wrote this in my journal:

A real nature journaling day -- warm enough not to wear gloves and the sun is coming out after the morning's rain.

Yesterday, I brought my journal out to this very field, but never wrote or sketched in it -- I intended to record the controlled burning of the field in sketches & words, but at a fire, every hand is put to work -- And I took up the fire rake.

Today, the fire crew has left the field to the bluebirds & me -- the smell of charcoal lies heavy on the wind and the field's blue-black stubble attracts robins & bluebirds to investigate. Are they finding barbecued woolly bear caterpillars or scorched ground beetles? Or are they just curious like me?

I do know that the male bluebird's wings look impossibly blue against the velvet stubble, like a chunk of flying ultramarine sky. Spring. And we are alive again -- the earth & I.

A new heat rises up from the charred grass stubble -- Gentle rain quenched the first fire -- now the sun's heat -- gathered, trapped & radiated by the black char -- causes scintillation in the air above the black earth. The heat of new creation -- will bring a rush of green life.

I hear --

• Phoebes in the woods
• Field sparrows in the open field
• Robins in the few trees of the field
• A flicker way off in the unburned field behind me.

Scenes from the controlled burn the day before:

The flames taking off at the start of the burn.  I'm the one in the bright orange sweatshirt.

Pat Adams, Environmental Educator, Raccoon Creek State Park.