I start school tomorrow—I’m kind of excited about it but I’m also feeling a little apprehensive. This is my last semester and I’m feeling under pressure to savor every moment of this because I know I’m never going to have this experience again. I know I’m going to miss going to classes and writing papers when this is all over. I think I’m going to try to go to see a lot of guest speakers this semester, and otherwise be a good student.
“The material memories are not usually part of what is said about a picture, and that is a fault in interpretation because every painting captures a certain resistance of paint, a prodding gesture of the brush, a speed and insistence in the face of mindless matter…” -James Elkins
Here I depicted the same subject with different media: watercolor and graphite. It seems like these tulips have really tickled my fancy—I haven’t been this inspired by one subject in a long time. I used to wonder why artists would spend so much energy working on a series of paintings on just one thing. But there really are so many new things to see in these tulips, especially as they age each day.
The watercolor version is super loose and not at all like the graphite version. 
You can see the paint splotches where I went fast and did not let things dry properly. It was fun and I wish I painted like this more often. When drawing with graphite, I always feel under pressure to make my drawings technically accurate. The amount of detail that I can achieve with pencils is way more than anything I can do with watercolor (although I am trying to get to the same level in both). In the graphite sketch I only used my eraser once or twice and I didn’t use any kind of blending tool at all. I have a hard time making myself draw like this because I always want it to be “perfect.” I need to loosen up!
Well, I’m feeling a lot better, although I still have a stuffed up nose and an itchy cough. I sketched one of the tulips again yesterday, this time in graphite. They are really so beautiful that I can’t resist drawing them. Too bad I have to work all day today or else I would be drawing them again.
I was lucky enough to get some beautiful pink tulips yesterday because I am sick with an awful head cold. I have just been lounging around the house doing watching tv or sleeping because I am so knocked out by it, but I felt good enough to make a half hour sketch of my flowers this morning. I did it in colored pencil—it has been a long time since I have done anything in colored pencil. Sometimes I dislike colored pencil because all the burnishing can be tedious and hard on the wrist, but I really like to use them as sketching pencils, especially the browns.
I have been trying recently to do my drawing without the benefit of an eraser just as an added challenge. Lately I’ve been feeling discouraged that I’m not improving fast enough so I’m trying to add new levels of difficulty all the time. Unfortunately the scan does not show much detail at all, but I’m pretty happy with this sketch overall.
I have a whole shelf full of art supplies and what do I go for? A ballpoint pen. Truthfully though, when I draw with ball point I feel like I am under no pressure. It really is the best feeling in the world, even if the drawing comes out awful.
There is a bookstore near where I work so I stopped in after work yesterday and got this carrot cake for the main purpose of drawing it. I was attracted to the layers and the nut encrusted icing. It was tasty too.
I have been really intrigued with drawing food items recently. I also had Everyday Matters Challenge #36 in mind (draw in public). I really don’t have an issue with drawing in public and I actually like the attention quite often. Most of the time, however, people just leave me alone, as in this case. Brown 01 Micron.
I asked my boyfriend for a word that started with “e” and I promised myself that I would illustrate it no matter how obscure a word it was. Thankfully, he picked something easy. I was inspired by a silk scarf I have with this design on it. This is a detail of the larger piece because I thought it was too busy to display the whole thing. I drew the flowers with pen and ink (no pencil) and painted them with watercolor and gouache.
This is for Everday Matters Challenge #17: draw a musical insturment. I had a hard time coming up with ideas today so I decided to draw one of the challenges. This is a Peruvian ocarina, a type of flute like thing. I can’t play it or anything—it’s just a nice little trinket that someone gave me as a gift. I felt like a kid drawing this and then coloring it in. Mircron pen and marker.
My aspirations have been simple these days: practice, practice, practice. Since it has been months since I’ve done real pen and ink (with an old fashioned dip pen and ink bottle), I decided it was time that I get back into my groove and start remembering everything I have forgotten. It takes some time to get used to the pressure and speed necessary to make a good line.
I didn’t use pencil for these and it shows because the drawings are poor, but it was fun anyway. Afterwards I did some watercolor washes to give them a little color. I’m not happy with these, but they were good practice in any case. The last sketch was the best of the three. By that point I got more comfortable handling the pen and my wrist was a bit more loose. At least I know I haven’t completely lost my touch…
Tea! Thou soft, thou sober, sage, and venerable liquid, thou innocent pretence for bringing the wicked of both sexes together in a morning; thou female tongue-running, smile-smoothing, heart- opening, wink-tipping cordial, to whose glorious insipidity I owe the happiest moment of my life, let me fall prostrate thus, and … adore thee. -Colley Cibber
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This is a quick sketch of the remnants of my breakfast this morning: earl grey tea and a slice of cranberry bread. Of course the only evidence of the bread is the crumbs I left behind. I used my Tombow brush markers for this—they are very fun to use especially for quick things like this.
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