Category: pen and ink

Sketchbook Exchange – Finishing with a Peony!

The second round of the international sketchbook exchange has finished up! This round only had 7 participants, so it went a bit faster.

I had much inspiration to choose from with spring blooming all around me. However, I knew that when I went for our annual walk through the Nichols Arboretum Peony Garden at peak bloom that I must attempt one of these gorgeous blossoms for my last entry.

The peony garden is a real treat to have here in town. It is the largest collection of heirloom peonies in North America, containing over 270 historic varieties (cultivars) from the 19th and early 20th century.  They are arranged in 27 beds with each full bed containing 30 peonies, and when filled to capacity the garden holds nearly 800 peonies and up to 10,000 flowers at peak bloom. (source: About the Garden.)

I was fortunate to see the blooms at peak and took many reference photos! In addition to the wide variety of blooms, I really enjoy the buds. Round as a golf ball and bursting with color, I knew that I wanted to include both in my drawing.

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I did a rough sketch in pencil, using my 4H for light lines. Then I went over it with ink. This time, I used a new pen I purchased recently. It had read about it on a nature journaling group online. This is the Platinum Carbon Desk Fountain Pen, Super Fine. It has cartridges for ink, so it is clean and easy to use. It also has a nice feel in the hand and you can get a bit more variance in line width. I really enjoyed using it and look forward to doing more with it.

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Finally, to add color, I used my Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils. I puzzled a bit about how to render the delicate pink blossom. I layered Pink Madder, Pink Carmine, and Rose Carmine, which worked well. However, the shadow areas were a bit tougher. I tried a bit of Cold Grey II, but it was too dull. Finally, I realized that a light layer of Manganese Violet was perfect. It gave a bit more life and depth to the shadows without dulling. I used that throughout the blossom for shadow areas.

I am very glad to have been able to participate in another round of sketchbooks. However, I am looking forward to putting some of my work in my own sketchbook moving forward! A recent trip to South Carolina yielded more great reference photos and fun finds, so I have plenty of material for ideas. Stay tuned for a future post on that!

 

 

 

Legacy of the Land Through Art Exhibit – Artwork Finished! Part I – Jack in the Pulpit

Update 10/11/13: Auction Site for Legacy of the Land Through Art is up!  
Visit the site to view, bid on and/or purchase artwork from the exhibit!

It has been quite some time since I updated you on my pieces for the Legacy of the Land Through Art Exhibit (via Legacy Land Conservancy) coming up next month. I spent a good deal of time working on sketches this summer and ended up with two final pieces for the exhibit by the September 9th deadline. This post covers the process for finishing the first of the two, my Jack in the Pulpit portrait in ink and colored pencil.

Jack in the Pulpit is a woodland perennial that I encountered quite a bit in my forays to Creekshead Nature Preserve, my assigned project property. Creekshead is known for its spring wildflower display, and I made a number of trips out there in April, May and June to explore the area.

Ironically, due to some tight scheduling in the spring and weather-related delays, I actually missed peak bloom! Luckily, my focus is on plant portraits and details. There were still a number of individual plants blooming during my explorations that I was able to get a broad picture of what species were in the preserve and which I might want to depict on paper. Jack in the pulpit was one of the species that was present in great numbers, right alongside the trail, each time I went to the preserve. Its distinctive flower, a large, cylindrical, hooded flower with beautiful maroon/brown stripes, made it top on my list for a plant portrait.

I was able to observe and photograph the jack in the pulpit through early spring when the leaves were just starting to form and unfurl through mid-late summer when the berries were present in green, before the fall turn to bright red. I worked mainly from my photographs as my time in the field was very limited.

Studies and Sketches

Here are some of my initial sketches and studies as I began to get a feel for the plant:

Field study – sketches and notes.                             Graphite study from reference photos.
  Color study – using Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils.  

Composition
 
I struggled with what exactly to show in my finished piece. I wanted to depict the different stages of the plant as I observed it, but also wanted to show both the male and female of the species, the former with one set of three leaves, the latter with two sets of three leaves, each with one of the unique, pitcher-like flowers. I played around with sketches on tracing paper and also printed and cut out sketches so that I could move them around, trying out different layouts.

I played with the idea of making more of a composed floral piece vs. showing the plants in a more linear fashion in order to better see the features of the striping on the flower and hood as well as the mottling on the stems. 
Above is a test composition that I liked as it shows the broad, mature, umbrella-like leaves above the flower, as well as the female plant and some of the early spring versions of the plant with leaves unfurling. However, I felt like the composition was hiding some of the details of each of those and I also thought that if I rendered them all in color, they might blend together too much.

 

Here is another composition that I felt showed the plants more clearly, but it seemed to be a bit too busy, without a clear path for the eye. I also started running out of time and with the level of detail I wanted to give each plant, I wasn’t sure I could complete it by the deadline!


Ultimately, I decided on a more linear composition with fewer plants – just one male and one female. In one of my last trips to the preserve, I did get a chance to photograph the fruit directly, so I used that to fill in the last bit of the portrait, showing more of the life cycle of the plant, which is what I wanted to achieve.

I worked with a local gallery, Dexter Picture Frame Company, to get both this and the other piece framed professionally for the exhibit. I chose to go with a natural wood frame, in keeping with the organic nature of the piece. I also kept the ties local by choosing a Paul Hickman frame from his Urban Ashes line which uses salvaged or deconstructed wood from here in Michigan. This is the clear cherry wood, and I thought it complimented the colors in the stem very well.
 

Stay tuned for Part II for details on the second piece that I completed for the exhibit!

A View In Color

Remember the pen and ink commission I posted a while back? It was originally done just in ink, but after consulting with the client, they decided that they preferred some color (this is for a gift and is a special place to the recipients, so they wanted to make sure it really resonates with them.)

Here is the final pen and ink:



Today, I added the colored pencil. Here is the final result:



I think it turned out beautifully! I particularly like the way the water turned out. It really makes it the focal point of the drawing.

I used my favorite Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils and layered five different colors for the water: cobalt turquoise, dark thalo green, cobalt green, ultramarine, and navy for the darkest area near the horizon.
Greens used included chrome oxide green, pine green and earth green yellowish.

Have you had any holiday commissions to complete? How are they coming along?

A different sort of commission for me…landscape in pen and ink

I just completed my most recent commission in pen and ink. This was a little different than my normal subjects, but still an enjoyable challenge to render. As usual, this was done with my 3X0 (.25) Rapidograph pen on smooth Bristol paper.

The scene is a special one for the recipient, so a different composition was not really an option. Because the final drawing is approximately 9X12 (fairly small), I tried to focus on using various pen and ink techniques to highlight the different textures present. I did some heavy cross-hatching on the metal railing in the foreground; squiggly line work to show the foliage behind the railing; stippling to indicate sand on the beach; and various straight, fanned-out line work to fill in the palm trees.

I think it turned out very nicely and hope the recipient enjoys it!

Have you done any challenging projects lately? How did you manage to work around any tough parts?

Cat Portrait Commission – Pen and Ink

Ahhhh…how I love pen and ink! It has been some time since I have done a pet portrait, but I recently had a commission for a beautiful, Siamese cat. 

I worked from photos like I normally do, but the cat itself was difficult to photograph because of the dark markings on the face and there was some glare on the photos. It was a bit challenging to render, but even so, I think it turned out very well.

The final drawing was approximately 10″ wide by 8″ high and was done with my Rapidograph 3×0 (.25) pen on smooth Bristol paper. 

The fine pen was terrific for the face, but I started to question my sanity when I began to fill in the fur on the back half of the cat, most of which was dark brown to black. It went faster than I anticipated, though, and I think the fine pen lines worked really well to captured the subtle fur patterns, rather than just filling it in as a solid black.

This is an early photo of the pencil work as I blocked in the fur markings, etc. I always make sure my pencil areas are marked in before beginning any ink. If it doesn’t look right in pencil, it won’t look right in ink.

I did NOT fill in the fur on the back entirely with pencil (except for the tail), but rather just marked where there were changes in the direction of the fur as a sort of map to doing the pen work.

 
The final, finished drawing.
Once I finished with the pen work, I let it dry thoroughly overnight and then took my kneaded eraser to the whole thing to remove any stray pencil marks. I think the final turned out well and hope that the owner enjoys both the cat and the drawing for many years.