I felt that a splash of color was necessary today. In fact, I think I need to start being more colorful in general. I’ve been feeling kind of glum lately with the semester wrapping up and all kinds of assignments due soon. This is just a small practice drawing I made of some silk flowers at my grandparent’s house. I was experimenting with this pink/orange combo, which I have never used before, but was always curious about. I almost chickened out and made the background blue, but I decided not to and I’m glad that I went with my instinct instead. I used to do all kinds of drawings in colored pencil when I was a kid and I stopped a few years ago, but I think I am going to start up again.
All winter I’ve been drawing skeletons of trees which has been very instructive. I’ve learned more about the structure of how they grow. Now that spring is here I have a chance to draw the leaves too. I took a pen and ink class at the Worcester Art Museum about five years ago and the teacher spent a whole session discussing how to draw trees and leaves in pen and ink. He used a lot of examples from Claudia Nice. I wish I had that book to refer to now that I want to draw them. When I’m at school I tend to draw a lot of trees because I think the trees are the only beautiful thing on campus (for the most part). I have about a month left there—my goal is to get better with foliage.
The very fact that I can draw outside in the open air means that spring is here. That is what I thought when I saw Inspire Me Thursday’s spring challenge this week. Although this drawing doesn’t look particularly spring-like, it felt like spring to me as I was drawing it. I was at school today and I decided to do a little sketching after my classes (boy am I glad I carry my sketchbook with me everywhere now!). The Campus Pond is one of the prettier spots on campus and all winter I was itching to draw it, but it was just too cold. Although I would have loved to use a lot of greens and other springtime colors, I had to use what was available to me, which is why I used my sanguine pens. The trees in the foreground are actually dead, which is why there are no leaves on them.
I don’t think I have ever loved spring as much as this year—I’m not sure why. What I notice the most about spring is the movement. There are more people outside, the birds are singing, even the effects of the wind are easier to see because there are actually leaves on the trees. (Today was super windy and I had a hard time drawing this pic.)
After getting all mopey this afternoon, I decided that I’d better do something, even if it was just a sketch one of the everyday matters challenges. So I decided to draw the magnolia tree in the front yard for edm challenge #59: signs of spring. When the flowers on this tree start to come out, I get cheered up because I know it is going to start getting really warm. (One year, the tree started budding in November because it was unseasonably warm.) I used my new Caran d’Ache Neocolor’s, which are really like hi-tech crayons. 
I wanted to see what they were like with water so I smeared some on with my fingertip. It was kind of fun and I can’t wait to do some more stuff with them. I dug through my childhood sketchbook and I found this drawing I did of the same tree back in 1998 (I was fifteen!). Looking through my old sketchbook was enlightening and I could see a definite upward progression in my skill level during the two years that I kept it. It was encouraging to see that I was improving even then.
I took Saturday off from work so I could go to a family Easter thing (it was really nice), but I didn’t get any time or unction to draw all weekend. Even today—my first day off in weeks—I seem to be stuck in the mud, so to speak. I still have a bunch of projects that I want to get done, but I’m not sure if I can bring myself to start them.
I drew this ceramic woman last week, but I want to do it again in color because that is my favorite part of it. My Yiayia has had this for as long as I can remember and I’ve always loved it. The little container that the woman is holding has little silk flowers in it—purple violets.
My mother bought this teapot for me when I was 10 years old. We took a trip to Princeton, NJ and my mother bought teapots for me and my two sisters. I chose this teapot because I liked the wavy edge around the lid. It reminded me of Mrs. Potts on Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. I did these in my Tombow brush pens but unfortunately this scan came out really bad and I’m not sure how I can improve the quality. For all the white parts I used the gray tone markers and it looks really cool if you look at it in person, but not in the scan.
This is all I did last week because I was so busy with school. Unfortunately, I don’t think this week’s schedule will be any easier. Last Thursday I got a chance to go to Jerry’s Artarama and I got some new art supplies though, which is really exciting. I got the pitt artist’s pens in sanguine and Neocolor II watersoluble crayons. I haven’t got a chance to do anything big with the crayons yet but I did get a chance to use the pens (see examples below). I really miss sitting down to draw something more complex—I hope to get a chance to do it soon.
On Wednesday it was snowing in the morning. I was at school and I sat inside and sketched this tree with ballpoint just to kill some time before class.
This was my first attempt using my new pitt artist’s pens in sanguine. I was at the Rainforest Cafe with Jeet and I made a point to try out each different pen.
On Friday my Spanish teacher canceled class and I had an extra hour to kill so I sat and drew this tree. Trees seem to be one of my favorite themes these days mostly because they are one of the only interesting and convenient things for me to draw at school.
I was going to make a drawing for the everyday matters spring challenge this morning, but it is snowing out right now and it feels more like December than April! Yesterday I stayed inside and did some sketching, but I was uninspired. I did a quick sketch of this owl that my Yiayia has in her den (no erasing!). I’ve drawn this a few times when I was a kid, but I always got frustrated because the smooth surfaces are actually pretty hard to get perfectly. I think this is the best version yet. I would love to paint this in watercolor someday or do a pen and ink wash version of it. Hopefully I will have better mojo this afternoon when I have some time to sketch. I feel like I just need more time to dedicate to practice, but whenever I really feel like drawing, I have something else going on. These days, whenever I actually have the time to draw it feels more like a chore than anything else. I’m not sure what I should be doing.
grape juice with tic tac toe
G. B. Shaw
About a month and a half ago I lost my Prismacolors—I was heartbroken. Since I live in multiple locations right now, I knew they could have been in any number of locations, but luckily I found them last week (under my bed). I have been celebrating our renunion with random sketches in colored pencil. I actually like colored pencil for sketching because they are mostly permanent and I’m sick of ink for now. I’ve been trying to draw in more permanent media lately, or at least not erasing obsessively. So far I think the exercise is paying off because I notice that I am getting more confident (even if everyone gets to see all my screwups).
We went to Red Robin for mango margaritas and Jeet decided to buy me the glass! I love the blobs of colored glass all over the place and I thought it would be perfect for colored pencil on tinted paper. This was a pretty quick sketch, as my crazy perspective shows.
I felt that a splash of color was necessary today. In fact, I think I need to start being more colorful in general. I’ve been feeling kind of glum lately with the semester wrapping up and all kinds of assignments due soon. This is just a small practice drawing I made of some silk flowers at my grandparent’s house. I was experimenting with this pink/orange combo, which I have never used before, but was always curious about. I almost chickened out and made the background blue, but I decided not to and I’m glad that I went with my instinct instead. I used to do all kinds of drawings in colored pencil when I was a kid and I stopped a few years ago, but I think I am going to start up again.
