koukla carolyn

Japanese Maple, colored pencil in kraft paper sketchbook, 2008

One thing that I love about where I live now is that when I look out the window I can see a little bit of nature. In the apartment where I lived before, I saw a brick wall when I looked out the window. It was highly depressing. This is a sketch I made of one of our Japanese Maples with my new Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils. I haven’t really tried them for anything serious yet, but I do like it the color range that they have (I bought the set of 60). They seem softer than Derwents but harder than Prismacolors. I love the buttery texture of Prismacolors but it seems as if I get a lot of wax bloom with them. I haven’t noticed that problem with the Polychromos yet. One thing I love is the name, which is Greek for “many colors.”

Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf. Proverbs 11:28

Fig Leaf Sketch, ballpoint and colored pencil, Carolyn Pappas 2008

Garden Sketch (8/30/08), black pitt pens in kraft paper sketchbook, Carolyn Pappas 2008

Drawing leaves outside has been sort of a theme for me lately. I guess the main reason is that I figure that soon it will be too cold to do a lot of sketching outside and by the time I get home from work, it will be dark. I am already preparing a list of ideas for still lifes and reference photos to use for the colder season.

Despite having an extra day off, I wasn’t very productive in the art department. I have been so tired out from everything that has been going on in my life that I just lounged around at my parent’s house. I had a lot of fun playing around with the puppies, watching tv and finishing a Really Good Book. Sometimes not doing anything important is the best thing to do and I feel really energized now because of it.

Orange Leaves, pencil in sketchbook, Carolyn Pappas 2008

I have been very busy for the past few days moving and getting settled in my new home. I have to say that even though this will be a huge adjustment for me, the place itself is really nice and I will be comfortable here. One thing I will love is the abundance of plant life, both indoors and outdoors. I took 20 minutes to sketch these orange leaves from a tree in the backyard. The tree does not have any fruit, either because it is an immature tree or because this is New England and oranges aren’t exactly a native species.

I hope to do a LOT more drawing and painting now that my situation is more settled and I have gotten a lot of things out of my way. Since I have been so preoccupied with other things going on I forgot to mention that I got a nice compliment from Vidhya, who keeps a very nice art blog. She awarded me with this blog award:

Even though I don’t think I’ll continue the chain, I do think it’s a great honor and thanks Vidhya!

Concert on the Green, staedler pigment liners in 5×7 sketchbook, Carolyn Pappas 2008

After work on Thursday I went to see the Valley Swing Shift Orchestra play on the town green in Windsor, Connecticut. It was a really nice show and I took the time to do a little sketching of the spectators. Unfortunately, I had to leave early because of the bugs. They came out in swarms—big green mosquitos—and bit me right through my socks! The tops and sides of my feet are covered in giant red welts and it is so uncomfortable. Next time I do sketching outside I am going to take bug spray.

I have been without a scanner for some time and I finally got it hooked up to my new computer today. I got a nice lime green Dell and I love it! So I will be posting more updates to my blog and my flickr pages now that I am set up again.