This is the archive for the ‘sketchbooks/drawings’ Category

Developing a sketch

May 22nd, 2015

Worked on this pattern yesterday and thought I’d show where it came from. I had created this page in my sketchbook using a large brush and very watery paint. I liked the contrast of colors and the bits of more opaque paint which reinforced the vertical lines

Original sketches
Watery shapes

I wanted to keep the watery design but wanted a small diamondish pattern. At first I removed the background and shaped up the diamonds freehand in photoshop. There were things I liked about it but I felt it was not a finished design.

Three colorways
Finished Design, Three color ways

In the final version I selected more hard edge shapes and worked with them. The variety of the shapes, none of which are true diamonds works with the loose ramdomness of the watercolor, while the hard edges give contrast. The black background came first, then, after explorations, I settled on the group of three. The only difference is the in background colors, yet they work well together and each stands on it’s own with it’s own feeling..

Sketchbook3

May 19th, 2015

Some of today’s work. Playing with black ink and yellow watercolor – some blue. Drawing on wet paper…much fun. It’s interesting how something so fun, enjoyable and beneficial is difficult to do on a daily basis. Hoping to establish a habit.

Sketchbooks
Love wet on wet.

Sketchbook2

May 14th, 2015

Working each day on my sketchbooks this summer. What a luxury!
Watercolor, markers, pen…

Sketchbooks
Some of this week’s work.

Sketchbook

April 10th, 2015

Some sketchbook work I was doing last summer. First playing around with color. Then, after it dried looking for shapes and patterns to bring out with line. Never know where it might go!

Sketchbook work Sketchbook work

playing with color – then adding line

Drawings and stuff

January 15th, 2015

Start of the new year—decorations put away, year end accounting prepared, courses organized for school—now back to my real work. Cold raw gray days so depressing, need to get motivated and the best thing (besides sitting in every sunbeam I can find) is drawing, soooo I decided to draw the same thing over and over every day for a month. Decided on this shell with all its twists and turns, spiral and broken bits, an endless source of subject! Trying to establish a habit of drawing daily as the semester starts and my life gets crazy again!

shell

Studies of Shell

Also, working on developing some sketches into repeats—so much to learn. I learned to do this the old, pre computer way with tracing and copying from Joyce Storey. I have since written and taught programs to do this on the computer using photoshop many, many years ago and I still teach Photoshop but not for this. So I know the pieces but a bit overwhelmed at putting it all together. Signed up for an online course in repeats on Pattern Observer and it helped put the bits together. Here’s one of my first goes afterwards. The original sketches were done at Bartram’s Gardens several years ago, scanned, cleaned up—and then the work began.

repets of leaves

Leaves in halfdrop repeat

Charcoal Drawings

November 8th, 2014

Some of the charcoal drawings I’ve been doing. Haven’t worked in charcoal in a long time, and then mainly for figure drawings. But I had to brush up as charcoal drawing is part of my class and I’m hooked. The first two are mainly working with the expressive quality of lines. The third a study of vines I saw on our visit to Double Trouble State Park, this fall, in N.J.

circle1 drawing

Charcoal studies of lines | 2014
both image/sheets: 24in x 19in

vine

Study of Vines | 2014
image/sheet” 12in x 24in