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.