Rhododendron and Iris - Drawings 10 and 11

Finally warm enough temperatures to sit outside and draw, I set up Friday morning to draw the spectacular bearded irises which are in bloom.

 When I set up at 9 a.m., the area was in the shade. I was only able to sketch for 20 minutes before the sunlight began to shine on the white paper and reflect into my eyes.I think I captured the essence of these flowers and am happy with the sketch.

I decided to move over to the rhododendrons which were in full bloom and in the shade. There I was able to sketch for a half hour before the sun began to shine on my paper.

Wish I had more time to work on this to add the flowers on either side of this one.

Lily of the Valley - Drawing 9

Lily of the Valley, Convallaria majalis. 

I didn't do a "photo shoot" of the plant this week, choosing instead to spend my time rendering it in colored pencil. After doing a pencil drawing and transferring it onto another sheet of paper, I used Prismacolor pencils to add the color.

Wild Violets - Drawing 8

Last week I gathered an assortment of wild violet flowers and leaves, placed them a glass and photographed them. It was a cloudy day and I used a white background. I believe these components were helpful in producing these detailed photographs.

I find the beauty of these plants stunning. The colors and graceful shapes take my breath away!

Learning from the last drawing's lesson (Muscari), I did not sit down to draw this in the dining room with the east and south facing windows. Last time I had a difficult time placing the shadows because the lighting continued to shift as I was drawing. This time I set up the violets in a room with western exposure (end of day sunlight) and drew in the morning using a desk lamp to provide shadows. I drew for an hour and a half (it takes me a long time to get the shapes correct). I stopped and went to an appointment. When I returned home it was late afternoon and the sun was shining into the room, though not on the desk where the violets were.

The flowers and leaves had moved during these few hours! They must have followed the sun. Now there was no way to put the leaves and flower stems back to the original set up, so had to leave this sketch as is.

Mother's Day Bazaar in Guilford, CT

I spent most of my studio time this week getting ready for the Mother's Day Bazaar, a gift show, in Guilford, CT, so was not able to devote time to drawing a new flower for my series of 52.

Here are some photos of the set up at the bazaar.

 

In keeping with my commitment to use the materials I have collected over the years, I created these journals:

Strawberry - Colored Pencil Study

For Week 3 of Mastering the Art of Colored Pencil we drew and colored a strawberry. Here is mine.

Muscari - Drawing 7

I picked and brought inside some Muscari which is blooming in my perennial garden.  I took some photographs, then selected and drew three.  Two days later, I used colored pencils to create this study. I like the way the flowers and stems look, but the leaves need more work. I was working in my dining room with natural light and the lighting changed several times. The shading isn't quite complete on the leaves.

Here are a few of the photos and the drawing in progress.

Mastering the Art of Colored Pencil

I am enrolled in this four week course which is offered by the Connecticut Natural Science Illustrators. Over the past two weeks I have spent time in the studio doing these homework assignments. It is challenging and definitely beneficial.

Create a Color Wheel with our pencils

using at least 3 colors, match the paper swatch

create spheres with different color schemes

draw and color shell

Garden Songbirds Set 4 Completed

Back in February I began another set of collage backgrounds for the Garden Songbird Silhouette series I was working on. I finally had the opportunity to finish this set.

Evokes Springtime, don't you agree?

 

These are available for sale. Contact me via email or visit my Etsy site. Both links are to the right hand side.