It is wonderful to feel the grandness of Canada in the raw, not because she is Canada but because she’s something sublime that you were born into, some great rugged power that you are a part of. — Emily Carr
Here is a small sketch of today’s small pleasures… with a small clip. We are leaving in April and I am preparing my painting paraphernalia. It grows and shrinks as I put in stuff and then take it out! Hah! The story of my life, I should say. The question of the day was: “How many clips should I bring? And what size clip should I bring?” It seems as if today, I do have time on my side. I had the time to ask myself these silly and mundane questions, but still necessary questions for a painter. Just imagine. When I think of people all over the world that are going through a rough patch, war, hunger, migration, poverty… Emily Carr’s quote feels so real to me, as I have been blessed living here.
Creativity is merely a plus name for regular activity… Any activity becomes creative When the doer cares about doing it right, or better. — Author unknown
My flowerets in colour. I tested out 2 new colours today, Lavender which is an opaque watercolour and Cobalt Green. Then I got going with all of the other colours that I felt like putting in… must be because of the weather outside, cold and snow with no sun. This is my way of enlightening my days -))) To note that Moleskine Sketchbooks are not really made for watercolours… but they are definitely made for drawing with a fountain pen or technical pen as the paper has a velvety finish that makes ink go so smoothly… it’s as if you are drawing with butter.
And I’m still having problems with the calibration of my scanner since I have updated to Ventura… humph! The background paper is turning dark grey once I post it on WordPress so I have to calibrate each channel (RGB) individually. A real pain! If ever some of you are having the same type of problem, let me know what your solutions are…
We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody. — Buckminster Fuller, 1895-1983 American engineer, inventor, designer, architect
A bit of line drawing today as I think that this is what I love the most. Drawing lines. Then paint. That will be for later. Hope that you enjoy this very unusual flower… my mind got the better of my fingers and started playing around with them. And by the way, this ink is permanent and indelible, so it will not mix with the watercolours.
There was a crooked man There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile, He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile; He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse, And they all lived together in a little crooked house. — Mother Goose
There is this wonky crooked house in Windsor, England which I adore. I’ve been looking at pictures of this house for a while now, and today what better day to draw and paint this in? The weather is a balmy -13C, compared to the -30C that we have had in the past few days, and seeing the birds sauntering around today, why not paint?
For the past few months I have been painting without any lines whatsoever which is called direct watercolors, and even though I love painting this way, it felt so good to have a pen in my hand and draawwwiiiinnnnnggggggg! I missed it so much. I think that I’ll be going on a drawing spree. This girl does not do shopping sprees, she does drawing sprees — hah-hah!
Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook 4″ x 6″ Watercolours: Hansa Medium, Yellow Ochre, Q. Rose, Burnt Sienna, Cobalt Blue
All along the lee shore Shells lie scattered in the sand Winking up like shining eyes at me From the sea Here is one like sunrise It’s older than you know It’s still just lying there, where some careless wave Forgot it long ago When I awoke this morning Dove beneath my floating home Down below her graceful side in the turning tide To watch the sea fish roam There I heard a story From the sailors of the Sandra Marie There’s another island It’s a day’s run away from here It’s empty and free From here to Venezuela There’s nothing more to see Than a hundred thousand islands Flung like jewels upon the sea For you and me Sunset smells of dinner Women are calling at me to end my tails But perhaps I’ll see you, the next quiet place I furl my sails — A small tribute for David Crosby
Any artist will tell you, a complicated painting needs simplifying and a certain amount of study. I have this complicated painting to do and first of all the perspective is challenging. So I had to work on it. I found the horizon line first (where the eyes of the viewer “photographer” were) and traced a horizon line. Then with a ruler acting as a pivot, I found my two vanishing points. There are actually three, but I winged that one (the vertical one).
Then I drew the scene in small thumbnail size, about 4″ x 3″, and then painted in the different values with Payne’s Grey. Yes, I have used a pencil for this, as I think that it would be impossible for me to paint in direct watercolours. Some painters might be able to, but not I.
Now let’s hope that tomorrow the final result is somewhat good. We’ll see -)))
Paper: Moleskine Sketchbook 4″ x 6″ Watercolours: Graham Payne’s Grey
Come, come, whoever you are. Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving – it doesn’t matter, Ours is not a caravan of despair. (Rumi)
I have been furiously scribbling away while waiting on the phone for the credit card company to fix my compromised card.A full 2 hours later, it has been done at last! So in want of a better means of entertainment, I just scribbled away while looking at a photo. I think that he reflects my state of mind… LOL -) Purchases were made on the credit card that I was not even aware of. Thankfully, the fraud department saw through it, and I have not been charged… phew! I wonder why they use the term “compromised” but hey! I won’t argue with them.
Moleskine Sketchbook Fountain Pen: Pilot Penmanship Fountain Pen, Clear, EF Nib, Japan Ink: Noodlers Lexington Grey (bulletproof), my favourite colour
“Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” — (Frank Lloyd Wright)
Even though this dog is unknown to me, he has spunk! Like many small dogs that I know, they are fierce little creatures when taunted and show courage and determination. I like his badass attitude when painting, but I really do not enjoy when they constantly bark at you. LOL -) My own big Golden Retriever is nothing like this. He is soft, gentle, intelligent, never barks (or hardly) and is very affectionate. He is also getting very old, on our daily walks he lags behind and is walking very very slowly. I fear that not much time is left for our big guy.
I want to remind you that regardless of the turmoil you have in your life, or the errands, or daily tasks, it’s important that you stop and make a sketch, even if you only spend 10 minutes on it. That connection to your creativity will bring you back each day to your creativity. It will help you stay limber for those days when you might actually squeeze in an hour (gasp!) — https://rozwoundup.com
Sometimes what you need is just a little push and you start doing it. I have been busy, yes busy, but not busy enough to stop drawing or painting as it fills your heart and purpose in life. So I just needed this little push and https://rozwoundup.com/ did it for me.
Here are some of her words, and I thank her.
So here is a dog that she painted that I drew, in gratitude.
There are many steps in painting. Long gone, for me anyway, are the days where the teacher would tell us, let yourself go, drop the paint on the page and see what happens. This method is clearly not for me. However, I do have two methods that I will share with you today.
Paintings that I do, just for the pure pleasure of painting them, are my most common method. I pick a photograph that I like that I have already photographed at some point in time, and I usually paint these in a sketchbook, directly, without any preliminary sketches or thumbnails. And because I do not create these important preliminary thumbnails, they often fall short!! To note, the photographs need to have a significant meaning for me, as in reflecting previous travels or closer to home when I am feeling at sync in my own environment… if the photograph does not have a specific meaning for me, it usually always falls flat.
In the second method, which is usually because I am painting for someone else in mind, like today, I again choose an image from my vast collection of photographs and then I draw carefully first in pencil. Once the drawing has been done, I then have two other steps that I usually do for a serious painting and for my own satisfaction. I create a greyscale “monotone” thumbnail to test out values, to see how they add up. For this version, I used an intense colour that is quite staining but does a good job with values as it is a very intense colour in its pure form. This step also helps me in determining what is important in the painting, and what is less important. If you look at my previous drawing, you will notice that I have a lot of details, and this step might help me afterwards if I decide to paint it a second time, with less detail…
What should always be done is first and foremost, value thumbnails and then hue thumbnails and only then the drawing, which I am regretting not having done at the moment. Sigh…
I then also try out different colours or hues seen below. For these two thumbnails, 2″ x 2″ approximately, on the left-hand side I used Cobalt blue and Raw Sienna as the main two colours. On the right-hand side, I used Prussian Blue and Yellow Ochre. Is there one that you prefer?
As you can see I drew first and then did my greyscale values and hues after having drawn… if I had done my greyscale thumbnails and values first, my drawing would definitely be less laboured and with less detail. Artists are usually tenacious and very hard-working and only stop once they are satisfied, well for me anyway, but looking at my artist friends, they are all like this.
Hope that you enjoyed this longer detailed post. Have a nice snow day -)
Painting to see : Peindre pour voir 