Beautiful Fall Day

After 2 weeks of crummy weather (cold, dreary and rainy....did I mention lots of rain?), today is a beautiful fall day! I bundled up in a winter coat since it is only 35 degrees out and the wind is chilling to the bone, and took my camera out and about.

Along with a cold nose, nettles all over my jacket, a little mud on my shoes....I've got pictures of milkweed pods, fence posts, pine cones, tree roots and a stream, an old barn, rusty hinges and hooks.

It's great to take a break from the day to day grind and take a walk in a park or by a pasture stream (or even a road-side ditch) and get rejuvenated.

Portland Head - Stormy

This is a small sketch - 4x4" experimenting with graphite powder. It's messy but can be controlled to a point. I used a paint brush and paper towel to apply the powder. I then used my blu-tack eraser, white plastic eraser and battery operated eraser to pull out the whites.

Definitely some possibilities as it gives a very painterly feel to the graphite medium.

Rocky Creek

Here is the finished work. I've added a bit more shadow to the eroded bank and adjusted some of the tones through out the drawing.

This is located in Yellowstone Canyon, Wyoming - Seven Mile Creek.

Here is my latest update.




Here is a glimpse of the next challenge I have imposed on myself.

A co-worker's son went hiking this spring in Wyoming and shared some of his photos with me. The reference photo is not the best so my first challenge is to just try to make sense of the scene.

I like most of the placement of rocks, water and the tree to the left but I wanted to change the composition from portrait to landscape. I've done some preliminary sketches to work out the general layout.

My second challenge is to create a pleasing tonal composition by ignoring the diffused lighting in the ref photo but making my own composition. I've started working on 'testing' out the tonal relationships but I'm a bit stuck on the eroded dirt bank. I'm not sure if I should go darker or lighter as this area is in the center of scene. The rocks are a bit too round and I think a few more sharper edges/planes will add more interest.

Yellowstone - Winter

A co-worker's son went hiking this spring. He shared some of his photos with me. This is a preliminary sketch from one of them. I really liked how the white snow contrasted against the gray sky. The silhouette of the foreground trees will add contrasting stark detail. The placement of the foreground trees will be critical.

Yosemite - New Growth

This study is about layering and how each layer relates to each other. The clouds and the mountain ridge are lighter with just a bit of misty clouds between them and the foreground trees.

Edges

I think this is as far as I will go with this sketch.

It definitely has some great potential for further exploration and variations of theme...moving the rocks and driftwood around a bit and stronger shadows.

This is Red Rock Lake in Iowa. The eroded bluffs are (30-50 feet high) due to the floods we had last summer.

Here is and close-up of the driftwood. The paper is 300 Series Bristol Vellum. It has a rougher texture than the smooth. I probably won't get much more detailed than this. Pencils used are 4B, 2B and HB leads. Size of the image is approximately 8" x 12".


Here is an update. I've been smoothing out some of the rough marks and developing volume in the rocks and the grain patterns into the driftwood.

EDGES - They are the artist's dream and nightmare rolled into one. If done correctly they add interest and tension to the artwork. Done poorly and the whole drawing can fall apart.

I would like to get your thoughts and input about handling EDGES.

I started this sketch of driftwood amongst rocks on a lakeshore. The center holds the juxtaposition and overlapping of three planes, the driftwood, the rocks and the background trees.

The way these three different objects interrelate are so important. The textures, shadows, placement and level of focus (details) are all things that need to considered.

I haven't successfully pulled this together yet in this drawing. Perhaps as I put these ideas down on paper it might help.

How do you handle edges?

When two objects are similar in tone, how do you differentiate between them without outlining?

What role does negative space play?

Diane

Experimenting

I have been wanting to experiment with watercolor pencils and ink for quick sketches. This is my first attempt. I quickly applied color and used a water brush. Then I let it dry and used a very fine ink pen to sketch in the details. Time: 1/2 hour

This is a landscape from Red Rock Canyon just west of Las Vegas.