Winter Colorings, Outside My Window

Soothing palette of deep blues evoke the depths of twilight. Fun to push the oil turpentine around, on paper. The addition of winter pines turn this abstract color study into a snowy landscape.

Outside My Window

It takes a few weeks for me to get use to working in the dark by 4pm! It's more about studying atmosphere & less about light, with our short days.

FARM INSPIRATION

Experimenting & working loose is all fine & well. But once in  awhile, this subject from the farm calls for an old fashion tight rendering. With this little .5 mechanical pencil, the lines follow the direction of the way the hair is growing.

I painted a loose wash, to tone the paper...mainly because I want the contrast between the free flowing wash against the detail drawing.

Autumn Splendor

That bit of snow overnight took down a lot of the fall foliage. The scene was enhance by a delicate sunrise. This landscape sketch was painted on paper with thin oil turpentine, kind of like a watercolor. A white nupastel stick is perfect for indicating a bit of snow.

Painting Summer Morning

Making the most of a summer morning. Dreamy pink fog does not last that long. Watercolor is a fast way to express the ethereal mist softening the morning light.

To define the greenery in the foreground, I use pastel pencil on top of the watercolor.

Light & Atmosphere with Oil

This foggy morning painting happened pretty fast, 

mainly because I have similar colors on my palette, from yesterday.

The last part is always the most fun. I get to use my intuition to finish up the landscape. By not copying exactly what I'm painting, I get to push myself to see new colors & new light effects.

From Farm to Sketchbook, after G. Seurat

 You can see why I want to try a sketch of the horse at La Basse Cour, with conte crayon. The inspirational process is reverse for this drawing.

Horse by G. Seurat

Came upon Georges Seurat drawings at MOMA, way back in 2007. His technique has influence my drawing ever since. Painterly drawings with subtle shadings of tones, indicating at the same time form, light & space; thru the use of conte crayon over texture paper.

These handmade watercolor paper has been sitting in my closet for 20 years. The texture is all wrong for my watercolor style. But the weave of the paper is just right for this conte drawing!

Farm Drawings

Worked on a series of farm drawings this Spring. It was an exercise to try out different drawing techniques. The drawings could gather dust in my closet or I can take the trouble to frame & show them. I love it when I can connect the dots. La Basse  Cour is a lovely farm store that features local artisans & farm goods.

Meditation on the Process of a Sketch

Another morning of trying to capture the light & atmosphere outside my window. Oil turpentine on watercolor paper is perfect for a rapid study. Limiting my palette to just a few colors is always good discipline.

Laying down soft white & pink pastel on blue sky is all I need to convey the tonal feeling of mist softening the morning light. The texture from the watercolor paper makes all the difference. 

a little purple to define the foreground 

Painting in My Garden

Grass is always greener on the other side. Which is a big reason I don't paint my own garden that much. But sometimes, it's so pretty...I'm compel to get my paints out.

The trick to painting a perfect garden is to combine different parts to reinvent the perfect composition!

GARDEN INSPIRATION

Bleeding Heart has such distinctive shapes.

from garden to paper

SPRING PASTEL

With more moisture in the air, pastel is my prefer medium for spring sketches. 

It's nice to see more greens, overnight.

Specks of greens make for a nice contrast on top of my initial brown sketch.

How to Draw a Cow with B&W Conte

Many ways to draw farm animals. I learn this technique from the old masters. 

I lay down the shape of the animal on tinted paper. As you can see, black & white conte is well suited for indicating light & shadow of the forms of the cow.

LINGERING SNOW

Another morning of trying to capture the mood, outside my window.

Nice to have some milder April weather, but there's still snow in my yard. Let's hope we are all done with snowy days.

MOON SET, 5 am

This might be the last time to wake up & see the full moon sets over lingering white snow, over the western horizon, at 5am. It's a lovely sight, bit it's hard to be inspire with snow, by April!

WINTER COLORINGS

I see beauty in a dark winter sky. 

I start by toning the paper with soft pastel. A quick rub with tissue to indicate some shapes. Winter pines with soft blurred contours is created with charcoal. Touches of pink with color pencil is all I need to indicate the horizon.

PARIS SOUVENIR

For this design, instead of sketches, I draw inspiration from some Paris souvenirs. I begin with a scan of a tea menu.

The side border came from a digital photo of an antique sign. I now have a new pattern to use as a background to my illustrations.

A Valentine greeting is where I wind up, for now. It's quite easy to dream up other variations. This pair of teddy bear works well for wedding anniversary, birthday or just say "I Love You"  Take a peek at my latest Valentine