Mixing Greens

I've started following the wonderful art blog of Susan Bronsak (see it here) and love to see her ideas for working with watercolors.  One of her posts showed how she made color charts by making images for each color rather than just making a square or blob of color, as I have always done.  Since I have recently purchased some new watercolor paints from Daniel Smith, I decided to do a page of green samples as Susan did.  Although I can't paint trees nearly as well as she does, I enjoyed doing my samples this way and taking a little time to choose a tree that might require the shade I was mixing.

The four green paints that I currently have are:  Winsor Green (Winsor Newton), Hookers Green (Liquitex) and Sap Green (Daniel Smith) and Diopside (Daniel Smith).  First I did a tree in the green alone, then mixed each with Zoisite (Daniel Smith) and again with Burnt Sienna (Daniel Smith).

Just a note about Zoisite:  it's my favorite mixing color for doing nature sketches.  It is a granulating dark greenish gray that tones down bright colors, gives them texture, and makes them look more natural, in my opinion.  I've used it mostly on ocean and sky landscapes, but love what it does to the greens. It's from the Daniel Smith Primatek series, which are made from mined earth minerals.

My next step will be to do a page of blue and yellow mixes.  So many greens, so little time...

Catching up!

Life is never boring around here.  I'm sure you've heard about our big storm that knocked out power to almost everyone in West Virginia.  I was lucky - only losing power for one day, and I was able to share my air-conditioning for a few days with a less fortunate friend.  Many people were out for a week, and for some, it's been two weeks.  Those folks in rural areas don't even have water because they depend on electricity to pump well water.  How awful that must be!

Toni Kelly came to the Main Street Studio in Hurricane to offer a weekend workshop in June.  Toni is a mixed media artist who specializes in nature sketches.  Her workshop focused on techniques for incorporating images in art by using various transfer methods.  She also helped us with composition, color mixing and sketching techniques.  I finished one piece, an 8"x8" wood panel, on which I put down a background of handmade papers for texture.  The birdie is a sketch from my nature journal, which I printed on tissue paper and adhered with polymer medium.  I did the same with my favorite Emily Dickinson poem to complete the piece.

With all the extremely hot weather, it was best to stay indoors, and I have been trying to get my art supplies and collage materials reorganized.  Purrkins and Petey have been helping.  Petey thought I made this space in the bookcase just for her! Purrkins found a little space on my work table to squeeze into.











I'm still trying to get the collage materials sorted and stored in a way that I can find things. What I've learned from this process is that I should stop buying/collecting and just use what I've got, especially the art supplies. I found duplicates of paints and mediums that I didn't know I had!

April in Almost Heaven (West Virginia)

A Blue Jay recently visited my feeders and I happened to notice the wonderful mosaic of color made by his wings when they are folded back over the tail.  I tried to capture that in watercolor in my journal, but, to paraphrase Joyce Kilmer, Only God can make a Blue Jay.

This is the most beautiful Spring I have ever seen.  Because we didn't get any heavy frosts just as the flowers were emerging, there are more flowers than ever.  The cherry, plum, and crab apple trees were loaded with blossoms, and now the dogwoods are putting on a show in my neighborhood.  I've been noticing how there is a steady succession of flowers, leaves and seeds on the hardwood trees.

One tree caught my attention with what I thought were pale yellow flowers.  Upon closer examination, it was the seeds (samaras) that looked like flowers from a distance.  I was prompted to check my tree field guide to identify the tree as the American Elm.  I did this watercolor sketch to help memorize the details so that I will be able to recognize them in the future.  By the way, I now know why my college botany professor made us draw what we saw in the microscope and if I ever see him, I will apologize for complaining!

Watercolor Sketching

It's Week 4 of Cathy Johnson's Watercolor Sketching class at Strathmore's On-Line Workshop site, but, guess what?  I'm still having fun with Week 3.  Fortunately, the lessons will stay on line for a while, so I can finish at my own pace.  Here are two nature sketches I did last week, using different techniques that Cathy suggested.

Art Journal - Watercolors!

I'm loving the Strathmore On-Line Workshop 2 with Cathy Johnson --Watercolor Sketching.  I have admired Cathy's nature journals and recently purchased her book.  Nothing beats having a live instructor, though, and the on-line workshop has given me the first opportunity I've had to learn from a watercolor pro.  We are two lessons into the course, and I've already learned a lot.  This is an on-going course, so it's still open to newcomers.

In last week's lesson, Cathy gave us a demo of sketching Basil, one of her favorite plants.  Naturally, my choice was the Hellebore.  Here's my page, on which I used some of her techniques.  One of those was "spattering" and it just so happened that the little vase I used to hold my flower had spattered spots in the glaze.  How serendipitous is that?

Could it be?

We've had about a week of really spring-like weather, with the temperature going to 70 degrees one day.  Everyone is saying, it's too good to be true and don't get excited yet.  But let me show you something:  my Hellebores (Lenten Roses) are coming out.  I've been watching every day and the first full bloom appeared this morning.  Here it is!

This is the same plant that bloomed first last year.  I recorded the date in my Nature Journal as February 24th.  This year, it's almost a week earlier.  Yay!!!  But if you can read what I wrote on my journal page, you'll see that on February 26th, I wrote:  Hold on!  More snow.....

More Catching Up - October Nature Journal Page

Over the holidays, I finished my October page in my nature journal.  It took me a while to identify some of the beautiful fall plants that I saw when I attended the New Mexico Art Adventure in Cimarron, NM.  The back meadow of Casa del Gavilan was fascinating to this WV girl.  Some of the plants were familiar because they were relatives of Eastern species (as in the case of the pine, oak and juniper trees), or because I've seen them in little dish gardens (as in the case of the pincushion cactus).  But the grasses and other flowering plants were quite different from our plants and were most difficult to identify because they had passed the flowering stage and were left with dried flowers and seedpods.  The field guide that I purchased while in New Mexico only showed the flowering stage, and most web sites didn't have photographs of the seed stage either.  I finally gave up on some of the most interesting plants and drew in my nature journal the plants and animals that I was certain of.

As a background to my New Mexico page, I drew a front view of the Casa del Gavilan with its scenic backdrop of the "Tooth of Time".

Early Autumn at Canaan Valley

I couldn't wait to finish a watercolor sketch of the early fall colors at Canaan Valley.  This view on Cortland Road is one of my favorites that I go back to every year.  Goldenrod and purple asters line the fences in September.  The hawthorn trees, which line the border of a little stream or marshy place, have already lost their leaves, and a few maple trees glow among the green of the spruces and other green trees.

Summer Foliage

One of my favorite summer plants is the Coleus, with all its varieties.  (I found a place on line that had pictures of over 500 varieties!)  I have a hard time choosing the ones I want, so I usually get three varieties and put one of each in the containers beside my front door. 

They don't need much care and are colorful all summer until they start getting tall and "leggy."  I pinch them back several times and bring inside cuttings to put in vases.  One such "bouquet" has been on the table where I work on my nature journal and I decided I needed to try to draw and paint them this week.  I still have a lot to learn about watercolors, but it was a fun challenge to get the colors right.

Watercolor kittens

Here is another August journal page with the "nature" item that has been my most constant inspiration this month.  In keeping with my goal for this year to learn to draw, I've been trying to sketch the kittens.  The hardest part is the eyes.  In my unschooled opinion, if you don't get the eyes right, you don't have a chance of capturing the real image.  I have to say I haven't yet gotten the eyes right, but I'm still working on it. 

August Nature Journal

August hasn't been very productive as far as advancing my art, or anything else for that matter.  My mind has just been elsewhere -- baby kittens to play with, high school reunion (a big one!), outdoor festivals and chatting with friends and neighbors in the long summer evenings, not to mention keeping up with exercise classes, working on my contract project, and other mandatory things. 

With all the rain we've had this summer, flowers are plentiful and not being scorched by the heat as in other years.  I was inspired by the beautiful white crape myrtle tree in my back yard to record the sight of flowers and butterflies in the sunshine that I enjoy from the air-conditioned comfort of the sun room. 

Nature Journal July 2010

Flocks of Goldfinches have been coming to my thistle feeder this summer, and now they have descended upon the Coreopsis that has taken over my perennial bed.  They are a beautiful sight.  I should remove the brown seedheads - my garden would look a lot better -- but I couldn't do that to the birds!!  This watercolor page in my journal will always remind me of the golden days of summer..

Nature Journal May 2010

There is a wide difference between the wildlife of the city and that of woods and meadows less than 30 miles away as the crow flies.  Birds, in particular, are quite different. On a recent getaway at a friend's farm, I identified and recorded thirteen species, many of which I have not seen at my deck feeders.  For example, the Eastern Phoebe, was flitting from the woods to the eaves of the house where it had built a nest of mud and grass.  It is a pretty little bird in shades of bark grey and brown.  I had never seen this bird before, and it took me a couple of days to positively identify it.  The most common flower blooming along the creek and road was a daisy fleabane, but it is pinkish purple and a different species from the white one that keeps popping up in my perennial bed. And then there were the wood ticks.... arrgh!  But no harm done, just a squeamish feeling for the rest of the day after I got them out of my hair. 

April Journal

I don't know what happened to the month of April.  I know I spent more time looking at all the wonders of nature than I did trying to sketch and paint them.  Maybe my sketching will improve to the point that I can do it en plein air someday and will get my nature journal chock full of wonderful renderings.  That's the dream, anyway. 

So here's the common sights of April at my house:  dandelions and violets, blooming trees, and birds taking baths in the top of a recycling container on my deck.  I'm looking for a nice birdbath with a fountain that will bring the birds around all summer.

Did you ever notice how many shades of green there are?  If you paint with watercolors, I'm sure you are way ahead of me.

Transition to Spring?

March is here, having come in like a lion with snow flurries and cold temperatures.  Today, however, the sky is blue, the sun is warm and the last remnants of snow are slowly disappearing.

Another page in my watercolor journal is filled with drawings of the Lenten Rose, or Hellebore.    It's hard to photograph because the flower heads bend toward the ground.  This is probably a survival feature, since the stems can take the weight of the snow and pop back up as soon as the weight is gone.  The first plant to bloom in my flower bed is a ruby-red one that has been out since mid-February. 

February Journal

With all the bad weather, I've not been able to go to the studio so I've been using the free time to work on my drawing and watercoloring skills with my nature journal.  My bird feeders were quite active with birds and squirrels, the latter amusing me with acrobatics they performed in stretching to reach the feeders.  As I was watching the Olympics while sketching, I got in the spirit and awarded my squirrel a gold medal for his acrobatic achievement.

 

A few warm days last weekend brought out the buds on the hellebores.  They have such beautiful flowers, it's a shame that they have a tendency to bend downward so that it's difficult to see them.  I suppose this is a survival feature, however, and is useful today when the snow started burying them under again.  Sigh....

January Journal page

January was the month of snow and little brown birds.  Here's my journal page to go with the photos in my February 3 blog entry.  I just read that the white-throated sparrow is not usually a permanent resident of WV.  It's great that I have had two of them at a time at my feeder -- hope it's a breeding pair.  They are really cute little birds with their yellow streaks and white chins.

  I didn't plan the January page and it shows.  I learned that lesson and did a little thinking ahead when I started my next one.  In honor of Valentine's Day, my February journal page features two birds that I usually see in pairs. That's the only hint I'm going to give you. 

Well, if you insist, here's one more:  the color of the month is red...

Nature Journal

One of my goals for 2010 is to keep a nature journal.  This involves sketching and watercolors, two art techniques that are very difficult for me, and therefore, something I need to practice.  I was introduced to this concept by a friend who is a Master Naturalist and has been doing a journal for several years.  I was inspired by looking at her wonderful sketches that came from her observation of the plants and animals through the different months of the year and places she visited.  I challenged myself to learn to draw by starting my own nature journal this year, and I started with the winter birds visiting the feeders on my deck.  Here is the first page that I did.