Weekly Planner: Geraniums in Bloom!

I have a potted geranium on my studio desk thatI saved from the first frost last fall, and the blooms lift my spirits.  Why not incorporate them into this week's planner?

I began with an ink sketch with my Lamy fountain pen.  After the ink had dried, I added watercolor washes.  This notebook isn't made for watercolor painting, but it's still fun to decorate the ink drawing with some color, even if the paper crinkles.

I love the colors I see in this plant.  They create a beautiful color palette.

What do you see in your everyday life that inspires you? A quick sketch is a lovely way to celebrate the subjects and colors you enjoy.

Happy Creating!

The Winter Nature Journal: Icicles!

After 6 months of drought in our area, abundant rain and snow have created a new landscape.  The creeks run musically, and massive icicles formed in the Frankfort Mineral Springs area of Raccoon Creek State Park.

David & I hiked to the falls, he with his cameras and me with my nature journal. 

Though the trail to the falls was treacherous with wet ice and packed snow, the warm air and sunshine felt like spring.

 

I sat in the snow on top of my heavy winter gloves, and felt like an early naturalist illustrating a new land. I sketched with a brown ink fountain pen and added watercolor washes.

I've always felt that Nature puts on a perpetual show, and the price of a "ticket" is simply taking the time and effort to get outside and be still for a moment. 

Lately, the sun feels stronger and brighter each day; the world feels more inviting.  I think keeping a nature journal helps me to see these things.  It wasn't long ago that I watched outside for a little vole to peek out of its hole under the birdfeeders just outside my studio window.  I could count on it to show up about 4:50 PM as the sun set.

After watching this vole several nights in a row, I would think of the little creature every day just before 5 PM. No matter where I was, I knew the creature was hungrily scavenging seeds.

I haven't seen this critter in weeks now.  We've both changed our routines.  Just the other evening, I tidied up some garden beds in the relative warmth until the daylight ebbed.

These are the sorts of tiny adventures that keeping a nature journal can lead you on.

What's going on outside where you live right now?  What in nature's detailed show would you like to witness?  I hope you take the time to sit and enjoy the show, and make a few notes in a sketchbook.

Happy Creating!

Drawing in the Museum: Discovery Basecamp

We spent our final class in an area designed for children and classes -- Discovery Basecamp. The area provided plentiful seats and taxidermied birds and mammals in lightweight plexiglass boxes.

In short, the perfect environment for drawing natural history specimens up close.

And surprisingly few toddlers and preschoolers rambled through while we were sketching.

Near Discovery Basecamp we explored an exhibit entitled The Art of the Diorama.  That's where I fell in love with this Northern Raven and drew its portrait.

During the cold, gray days of winter, a museum is a wonderful place to sit and sketch.  And to stretch your legs.  The walk between exhibits, to different floors, etc. is both beautiful and healthful.  I enjoyed having room to roam without slipping on ice!

Happy Creating!

Armchair Traveling

Several years ago, David and I flew to England to board the Queen Mary 2 for a Transatlantic Crossing.  You can find that story here:

https://betsyblissart.blogspot.com/2023/08/embarking-on-transatlantic-crossing.html

We had a day to walk around the port city of Southampton, England before boarding our ocean liner, and I snapped lots of photos.

It's a delight to go back to those photos and paint from them.  We saw this little cart of herbs near the historic town walls (built in the 14th century!).

I began with a pencil sketch, then added watercolor washes and finished with some line work in India ink with my Lamy Safari fountain pen.  Towards the very end of painting this scene, my Intuition suggested that I add a bit of purple to the shadows around the cart.  The mint plants had lavender flowers, and using a touch of the same lavender tied the scene together.

Do you have old vacation photos that you'd like to revisit?  Sketches of beautiful scenes can be uplifting on wintry, gray February days.

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!

Weekly Planner: Valentine's Hearts

I love hearts as an art theme. Easy to create, and open to many variations.  And the heart represents kindness, love, and caring.

For this page spread, I used watercolors in permanent blue violet and pyrrol red with India ink in a Lamy fountain pen.

I know we've just past Valentine' Day, so maybe you're done with hearts.

What if you chose a shape -- stars, ovals, circles, whatever -- then selected 2-3 colors you like, and added a certain line style.  Here, I've used swirls, spirals and wavy lines.  You could select short lines, blues and squares.  Try selecting your own "formula" for a weekly planner page.

You can trust your intuition -- that tiny voice within you-- to invent clever and exciting new combinations of shapes, colors and marks.

Happy Creating!