Days 109 and 110

My thoughtful hubby brought home a gold brush pen that someone was getting rid of at work. I decided to give it a try for my daily sketch. This gold foil wrapped bunny seemed like the perfect sketch subject given the medium.

sketch of foil wrapped bunny

gold brush pen in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan

I wish I had stopped with the outline sketch because the pen wasn't good for hatching or filling in. I switched to colored pencil to finish the sketch off. That didn't go much better.

The next day went a little better. I went to my painting group and saw this sweet cherub in the yard. I did a quick sketch before I headed home at the end of the day.

sketch of stone cherub

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy Rowan

Days 83 and 84

Since the calendar says it is spring, I am going to continue with the flower theme. Although some may argue that this sketch doesn't quite apply.

sketch of paper flower in glass vase

graphite in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

 The paper flower was a gift from one of my kids. I love how it sits proudly in the glass vase like it belongs there.

Day 84 I did a sketch of the hyacinth budding in my landscape. It might be difficult to see here, but I added a light touch of colored pencil to the ink sketch. Sometimes a little color is needed to clarify the lines.

sketch of hyacinth buds

sepia ink and colored pencil in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Days 77 and 78

Let me just say that I love my husband. And although I love him everyday, I admit that on Day 77 I loved him just a tiny bit more than I thought was even possible. That's because he came home that day with a pot of tulips which he bought me just so I wouldn't have to search that day for a subject to sketch.

Here is my first sketch of the tulips.

tulip bud sketch

sepia ink in cahier pocket sketchbook

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

And here is my second sketch.

tulips sketch

colored pencil in cahier pocket sketchbook

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

Days 67 and 68

My family loves radishes. Our favortie type of radish is the French Breakfast radish. Sliced thin and placed on a cracker with some goat cheese they are delicious. I will have to sketch a bunch of them this summer.

But we think regular old radishes are yummy too. When I saw this good lookin' bunch in the grocery store I knew they could work double duty for me, both as a sketching subject and as some fresh vegetables at dinner.

Since I was pleased with how the colored pencils worked in the Japanese maple sketch, I decided to try it again here...

sketch of radish bunch

sepia ink and colored pencil

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

and here, on this green Hershey's kiss.

sketch of Hershey's kiss

colored pencil in cahier pocket sketch book

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

What can I say, as much as we like fresh radishes, we'd never turn down a piece of chocolate!

Day 38 - Japanese Maple

Aloha!

You may have noticed that it has been a few weeks since I posted anything from my "Sketch-A-Day" project. Yes, it's true, I've fallen behind. But not with the sketching! Just with the scanning and posting.

You see, my family and I hopped on an airplane to escaped the cold, snowy weather we've been having. We split town and spent a couple of wonderful weeks in warm, sunny Hawaii.

Now we are back and I've started the process of scanning all of my February sketches. I plan to post them over the next few weeks.

Today, picking up from where I left off, I am posting the sketch from day 38. It shows a japanese maple and a small evergreen bush that can be found in front of my house. The bush is covered with snow that fell that day.

japanese maple sketch

sepia pen and colored pencil in pocket cahier sketchbook

copyright 2010 Stacy L. Rowan

I did the sketch in ink but wasn't in love with it, so I decided to try and add some color. I got out my infrequently used colored pencils and added a light touch of color. I didn't want to go too heavy because I still wanted the ink lines to be the main player. I was amazed at how the color brought the sketch to life. Now it is one of my favorites!

------------------------------------
You may also notice that I now have word verification on my comments form and that all comments are being moderated. I hated to make these changes, but I was getting overwhelmed with spam comments. I hope these additions won't discourage you from commenting. I value all comments and feedback I get from my readers. Thank you!

Colored Pencil Landscape - Feb VSD

Lake Louise
6" x 4" colored pencil on matboard
Stacy L. Rowan

I wasn't sure if I was going to get to the Virtual Sketch Date this month. As it is, I am squeezing my entry in under the wire. This month's lovely reference was provided by Debbie Later. Thank you Debbie!

Two things caught my eye in this reference. First was the variety of beautiful blues. From turquoise to peacock to cerulean - it was a bonanza of blue.

The second thing I noticed was the play of vertical and horizontal lines. The trees on the mid-ground mountain provide the verticals and the striations on the background mountains along with the reflections in the water provide the horizontals.

I decided to simplify my drawing to basic shapes in order to focus attention on the colors and direction of the pencil marks. It was a different approach for me and I'm still trying to decide what I think of the end result.

Please remember to check out the VSD results post and the VSD Flickr group to see all the other entries.

2008 in Review

Daffodil
7" x 5" colored pencil on Pastelbord
Stacy L. Rowan

So it's that time of year for looking back and reviewing progress and accomplishments.

I started out the year posting some objectives. I did well with the first objective of having more fun with my art. The VSD was a large part of that. I worked some on clarifying my intentions, but I don't think it was evident on this blog or in discussions I had about my art. I also did more sketching, although I'd stop short of saying I made sketching a regular practice, and I didn't sketch at all on my vacation abroad. In fact I learned that sketching while traveling with a crowd is near impossible, especially when the crowd is relying on you to be their primary translator! Live and learn.

I also had goals which were based off the objectives, but don't think I shared them here. Since you didn't see the original list of goals, I'll limit my review to the highlights.

Overall, my biggest accomplishments for the year all fall under the catagories of visability and frequency. I showed my art eight times locally in addition to entering two juried shows and one competition. I also started a blog for selling my art and announced it to my mailing list by email. I joined the VSD in May and participated every month since. As I mentioned, I did more sketching this year both in graphite and watercolor. I also started my KMBW (Keeping My Brushes Wet) series of simple still lifes which keeps me painting more frequently and allows me to complete works more regularly. Overall I was very pleased with my productivity and progress this year.

For anyone who hasn't taken the time to look back and focus on their accomplishments, I highly recommend the exercise. Most of the year I am so focused on my next project or objective I move on without a thought to what I have finished. When I sat down with a pencil and notebook and thought back over the last 12 months, I was surprised by how much I had actually got done. It's a great feeling to have when setting goals for next year.

Speaking of which, I'll be back in the next few days to post my 2009 goals. Until then, enjoy your New Year's Eve celebrations and have a happy start to 2009!

---------------

About the image: I finally finished this colored pencil daffodil a few months ago. Some work in progress shots can be seen here , here and here, but I think this is the first time I posted the completed image. I was really pleased with how this came together on the Pastelbord. So much so that I am currently searching my references with a plan for creating a series of cp flower macros. After spraying and framing, I will put this drawing up on my sales blog. Look for it as we get nearer to Spring.

Valentine's Day

colored pencil daffodil work in process

on 5" x 7" Ampersand Pastelbord

Stacy L. Rowan

Forget the groundhog's prediction about how long winter is sticking around. (Is he ever right anyway?) I have a prediction for Valentine's Day. I predict that a lot of people are eschewing material gifts for their loved ones. Instead they are opting for creating handmade items to express their feelings. What gives me this insight, you might ask? The recent increase in searches for the topic "how to draw roses". I always get a fair number of hits from this search string, but since last weekend there has been a definite jump. Love is in the air and everyone is trying to draw roses!

Speaking of searches, I recently solved a little mystery I had surrounding image searches. Many of my blog visitors find me through an image search. (Is this true for other art blogs too?) Yet whenever I tried to find my own images using Google image search, I always came up empty handed. I know I'm not the best searcher out there, but could I really be that bad?? I didn't think so. So I came up with the hypothesis that when the search originates from my ISP, Google won't show me images from my own Picasa blog albums. To test my hypothesis, I gave my husband some appropriate search terms and asked him to do an image search from his work computer. After some gentle reminders, he finally tested my theory for me. Lo and behold, my hypothesis was right! Okay...so I admit that I don't know if it is exactly right in all the details... but I do know he can easily find my images. The same ones that I can't find when searching from my computer. Ahhh...it's good to know that my internet search skills are not as horrible as I feared. Now I can rest easy and enjoy Valentine's Day.

Happy Valentine's Day to you too. I broke with tradition and decided to share this daffodil work in process instead of a rose. Too many people were already doing the rose thing.

Meditiation

Work in process

colored pencils on Ampersand Pastelbord

Stacy L. Rowan

Working on pencil drawings can produce a very meditative feeling for me. This is true whether I am working with graphite or colored pencils. Since the drawings build rather slowly and changes are only an eraser stroke away, I find it easy to get "in the zone". I can shut down the rather incessant analytical chatter that normally rambles on in my brain and enjoy the process. I have been appreciating these meditative mediums lately because I find they are a good balance to an otherwise busy schedule.

Graphite drawings are great for investigating and focusing on values. They reinforce the importance of working with the full value range.

Colored pencil drawings are obviously good for learning to work comfortably with color. I am using the drawing above to immerse myself in a subject that is yellow. I've drawn and painted yellow objects before, but still feel it is the most challenging hue for me.

An Experiement

Hi all! I know I haven't been posting much, but that doesn't mean I'm not hard at work creating. It just means I'm not ready to share yet. Unfair, I know.

But I thought I would share this work in process which has been on the back burner for a few weeks. I am interested in learning how to do watercolor and colored pencil works on supports that don't require glass when they are framed. This is my first experiment and it is with colored pencil.



The support I am using is Ampersand Pastel Board. It is a rough support that feels a bit like sandpaper to me. Prior to this I have only worked on smooth paper. This surface has a very different feel, making it an experiment on several levels! I also have some Ampersand Clayboard to try out with my watercolors, but I'm still decided on a subject for that. In case you can't tell yet with this, I am drawing one of the daffodil pictures I took earlier this spring. Don't worry if parts of it look a little strange. I promise it will all work out in the end. You can find the value study for this drawing here.

Proof

I really hate when I come to check the dates of my blog posts and realize it has been a whole week since I last posted. The guilt...the shame...it's almost unbearable.

So to relieve my guilt and prove I have been working, I am sharing the ugly stage of my pen and ink WIP. You can see I was jumping around a bit. The right hand side of the building has one full layer of shading and two partial layers. I did this because I was anxious to see if my sloppy lines would be noticeable in the end. Thankfully, it seems the top layers will cover my flaws. Now I know not to work on pen and ink too late at night when I am already bleary eyed.

copyright 2007 Stacy L. Rowan

I am also sharing this value sketch for a new colored pencil drawing I have started. I get double points for this because not only does it show that I am working, but also that I occasionally do some preparatory work like a good girl before jumping into the meat of a project. Excuse me for a minute while I polish my halo.

copyright 2007 Stacy L. Rowan

In addition to these two projects, I've also started the drawing for my next watercolor painting. I won't show that now, but will save it for next week when I am again feeling guilty about letting a whole week pass with no new blog posts.

Please Pass the Pepper

Yellow Pepper

colored pencil on Stonehenge paper

approx 5" x 6"

copyright Stacy L Rowan 2007

This is a colored pencil piece that I just finished. Well, I'm not actually sure it is finished. I did this drawing as a fun, practice piece since I haven't worked a whole lot in colored pencil. The reference was posted as a monthly challenge in the Wet Canvas colored pencil forum. I was attracted to the reference and thought it would provide good practice for color layering.

Since I didn't intend for this to be a finished piece, I'm not sure I will take the time to add in a background. On the other hand, I do quite like the way it turned out, so I might. Decisions, decisions...

This is my second pepper piece. I did a watecolor painting a while ago of a bowl of red peppers from my uncle's garden. My mom has questioned whether I have some strange addicition to peppers. I wouldn't call it an addiction, I just find peppers interesting to draw and paint. I like their interesting shape and shiny surface. Plus they come in so many different colors.

I also find that pears are an interesting subject. I have two drawings of pears. And flowers, I've painted lots of flowers. Old stone buildings appeal to me too. Isn't it interesting that most people have a few subjects that they come back to time and time again. I'd like to know what subjects show up frequently in other people's work. If you're interested in sharing, post a comment. In the meantime I'll be off working on my watercolor of an old stone building.