random reflections

Inktober 2018: Botanical Motifs

Using the list provided by Louise Gale, I completed a month of daily drawings in ink. I ended up watercoloring almost all of them; two were colored with markers. I wouldn't choose to do that again. It gave me an opportunity to play with the new Altenew watercolor set which worked well for these drawings. I posted the first 15 here. Here are the last 16:

From top left to bottom right: silver birch, ranunculus, freesia, crocus, pine leaves, Pervian lily (also known as alstroemerias), Douglas fir, echinacea, lotus, peony, Corsican or Black pine, frangipani, cedar leaf, fuschia, hellebore, holly

When I told Tracy I wanted to lay them all out, he suggested doing it like the calendar. Unfortunately, I wasn't as precise as I should have been in cutting the cards since they aren't all exactly the same size. Getting them down reasonably straight was a bigger ordeal than drawing any of them. Nonetheless, I like seeing them all together.

It's another dark and dreary day which meant that the light had to be supplemented, hence the shadows. I definitely don't have the right spot to photograph anything this large. 

This might be the first project of this kind that I've taken on and completed with so little stress. Doing a drawing a day, even while traveling, proved to be pretty easy. I often watercolored several at once which definitely saved time. 

 

Inktober: Part 2

We're more than halfway through October, and despite the travel and busy calendar, I've managed to keep up with my Inktober project. I haven't shared any of the cards I'm making with the list of prompts from Louise Gale, so I thought I'd share the first fifteen.

I'm pretty happy with the way they've turned out, especially considering how sporadic I am with my sketching. The prompts from top left were:  rose, gingko leaf, trillium, poplar leaf, chrysanthemum, seed pods, fern, poppy, daisy, dogrose leaf, lavender, start anise seed pod, dahlia, fan palm, and cosmos. Not having photographs of my own, or actual specimens to work from I had to rely on Google searches for photographs and drawings. Now I need to get back to the lessons in Louise's course. 

Take Three Thursday: Inktober

I decided to participate in Inktober--an online challenge to draw an image in ink each day of October. Although the official Inktober site provides prompts for each day, I am using Louise Gale's prompts. I purchased her book, Botanical Mandalas, some time ago, and am in the midst of taking one of her online classes now. For those prompts, I'm drawing on 3X4 cards to create an inspiration deck to use in creating mandalas if I ever get that far. But on Day 2 I decided to also make some drawings based on some objects I've found in Sarah's yard, as well as a pumpkin I bought at the store the other day. These drawing are in a sketchbook, and I've not set any expectations for the number I'll complete during the month. Here are the first three. I took the photos with my phone on Sarah's kitchen table, and didn't see the shadows until I uploaded them this evening. If I wait to retake the photos tomorrow when the light is better, I'll be too late for Mary-Lou's meme, Take Three Thursday! 

It's been a long time since I did any sketching, and I'm pretty happy with how these turned out, given how little practice I've had in the last year. The Inktober drawing can be all ink or colored in any way you'd like. I'm using my new Altenew watercolor set which is perfect for traveling. 

It's not too late to join in the Inktober challenge!

#The100DayProject

When I took on the #100DayProject I knew it would be hard for me to commit to doing a sketch every day for 100 days. I also allowed myself some slack so if I missed a day, it would be OK to catch up the next day. It didn’t happen often, and I did really well, until Day 75. At that point, we had company here, and then were on vacation. Despite the fact that I’ve taken some online courses on sketching while traveling, it’s not anything I’ve been comfortable doing. I always feel like my photography takes enough personal time while traveling, and to ask fellow travelers to find something to do while I sketch has never seemed reasonable.

But over the last month, since we’ve returned I’ve been working to complete the project, and now have 100 sketches done between April and August. Since I hadn’t done any sketching for nearly a year, I’m pleased with the outcome.

Some of the sketches I like quite a bit, some I wouldn’t think of sharing! I found some of the images to sketch on Pinterest, some came from photographs I took, some are objects I found around our house, or flowers from our garden.

More than half the sketches were done in ink, then watercolored. I used my good Daniel Smith watercolors, my Inktense watercolor pencils, and my Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors. Some were left as pencil sketches, and a few were just pen and ink, or colored with markers or colored pencils.

All in all, it was a good project. I don’t expect I’ll be able to maintain a daily habit even now, but I do hope to get 3 or more sketches done each week.

 

 

 

#The100DayProject

I'm quite sure I do not need another project, but it's been over a year since I have sketched on a daily basis. During an online class on visual journaling, I came across a book called The Zen of Seeing/Drawing: Seeing/Drawing as a Meditation. The class focused on contemplative photography, but I enjoyed the book not only as a new way to approach photography, but also as a new way of approaching drawing. So when the #The100DayProject appeared in my email, I decided to make a go of it. While we were in Florida, I ordered two books, and I've read parts of both. I'll be using them as a resource during the project. I decided to limit both time (20 minutes max), and materials: a small Moleskin Sketch book, a pencil, a Micron pen, and a waterbrush. If I have time, I'll add some watercolor to the sketch. 

With some encouragement from Honoré, I'm going to attempt a daily posting on Instagram as well. We'll see how that goes. I started The 100 Day Project last year, but didn't get very far. I thought, perhaps, a public commitment might improve my odds of success. 

Here's Day 1. I've decided to lay out my materials each night before I go to bed, and to be sure to finish the sketch before noon. If I'm going to draw an object, I'll find it the night before and lay it on the desk. I chose a little Easter decoration for the first one.