We watched a local parade today from a friend's yard. She holds a drop-in brunch/parade-watching morning in her yard on the route. It is great for families, kids table of breakfast outside, table for adults inside. This is the second time we've gone. I meet interesting people, watch the parade and the children and the excitement. It's great fun. I love parades and they always remind me of my Dad. Last year, we sat by the street in our lawn chairs, but this year, it was too hot! Our friend thoughtfully had a pop up canopy on the lawn from where we watched in shade along with a couple of nice families with overheated children. The yard has a hedge and gate so it's easy for toddlers to run around, not under the wheels of a float.
I did the drawing on site at the parade, moving people where I needed them for the design, including the little brothers in matching stripes lower left. I added watercolor back at home, from my head, then used a little colored pencil and a china white pencil for some accents. My first thought was to only color the flags, but I rejected that idea, because i had intentionally added a number of flags and it would have been spotty. I love painting crowds of people, the busyness, the color, the activity. There's always a lot going on. I am working on simplifying the shapes and looking at groups of people as masses rather than individuals.
I designed this sketch with everyone looking to the right, the biggest flag to the right and a little girl in Dad's arms pointing off the page to the direction the parade is coming from. Rather than leading the viewer's eye off the page, the design brings the viewer's eye there, and then carries it back into the page, where the two little boys are in the opposite corner, then around through the crowd. By the way, this is a parade painting without any parade. It tells the story through the crowd.
This is my two hundred sixty-eighth daily drawing. Again, thank you for looking and Happy 4th of July.
Each morning I sit on our porch with my coffee and fill my senses with the sounds, smells, and sights of our yard. The sun pours through the trees from the east, birds are busy among the flowers, and our gold fish pond bubbles away. This week, these small iris popped open. They last briefly, but are so beautiful. In the morning, they are backlit by the sun, and they sparkle against the green blue of the shaded trees. That was a challenge to capture, but I laid in the yellow and green in watercolor, then the purple/pink of the iris. Then I ramped up the darkness of the green blue with a series of colored pencil layers, darkened the yellow with pencil and added some yellow pastel in and among the greens.
This is my two hundred thirty-ninth daily drawing. It is my take on the theme "home" for our Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge for the month of May. Click through the link to see all our takes on the theme "home". Thank you for looking at the world through my eyes.
I have been sitting on my porch with coffee in the mornings, looking at a group of trees in the corner of the yard. In the morning, the sun comes in behind them, making beautiful sunlit patterns.
Recently, I was looking through Moira Huntly's book "The Artist's Drawing Book" by David and Charles publishers 1994. (picture below). She has a number of interesting techniques, including one I began to explore today.
I laid down a watercolor wash to approximate the greens and values of the trees. Then I laid charcoal over the entire page, and wiped out the lights using a gum eraser. I'm interested in the results, and will spend more time working in this piece. The eraser can build hard and soft edges. When I go back in, I will lay some yellow pastel to soften the edges of the black trees, and maybe use some ink for more definition. Not sure. I like the experiment.
This is my two-hundred thirty-sixth daily drawing. Thank you for looking.
Every week, we arrive at church to bunches of fresh flowers, and are welcome to take any home. The flowers come from the local Trader Joe's and a member of our congregation picks up the batches the store is replacing with new ones. They are generally very fresh. So, every week, we have some new fresh flowers at home, a treat.
This is my two hundred thirty-fifth daily drawing. Again, thank you for your continued interest in my view of the world.
There is a kind gentleman in our church congregation who picks up flowers from the local grocery and brings bunches of them to church, leaving them in a bucket for anyone to take home after the service on Sunday. Today I brought home a couple of bunches of sunflowers. The last couple of weeks have been feeling pretty gray and dreary. The sun flowers were just the trick to brighten the room and the day. I drew them with ink, added some watercolor pencil; my new Derwent Inktense and some older Derwent watercolor pencils to layer up the color. I like the pencils, because you can use them dry, add water, layer more pencil over the top which creates a variety of color and texture. Then I added some Chinese White pastel
pencil to the background for some interest. This is my 104th daily drawing. Thank you for your continued interest.
Tonight my daughter and I spent the evening at the Cutler Majestic Theater watching the Moth Radio Hour (really 2 hours) as a benefit for WBUR. What a great night, in a truly majestic theater. It is so beautiful, opulent. We sat in the front row of the balcony, which is a bit vertigo-inducing when you stand. Sitting up there, listening to well-crafted stories, while surrounded by exquisite detailing.... a feast for the senses.
There are a few photos of the drawing in process.
This is my forty-seventh daily drawing. Many are from my archives of photos of past trips and the others I draw on site. I was so glad to be up in balcony in this beautiful space tonight.
Thank you, as always, for looking.
A number of years ago we visited Athens. I had been there 25 years before, and was astounded at the growth in the city over those two + decades. Flying in over the city, it seemed to sprawl out and up against the mountains like the housing had been poured into its space. This is my 39th drawing for #dailydrawing. I was drawn to the large columns in the foreground framing the distant space. I drew the image in pen, added gray marker and some black colored pencil. As always, thank you for looking.
Once in a while, I pick my husband up from work on High Street in Boston. It's a pretty straight shot up the expressway, and a surprisingly reasonable ride in the afternoon, going against the mass exodus of homeward-bound drivers. Just as I turn onto High Street, this is my view. I enjoy the shadowed buildings against the sky, with some late sunlight sneaking behind the buildings.
I drew the scene with fine point indelible marker, then added warm gray to all the shadow areas, which is the dominant shape in this scene. I used colored pencil, black to emphasize the shadow, and a little red and orange in the stop lights.
This is my thirty-fifth daily drawing... thank you for looking.
My teaching schedule includes one block a week where I get to teach art. We have been working on value, and the five zones of light. Next week we'll try this exercise using white crayon and a watercolor wash. The students will make a contour drawing, all closed shapes, and label the shapes from 1 to 5, lightest to darkest. They'll apply white crayon to the lightest areas, and then cover with a watercolor wash. When that wash dries, they'll rub white crayon on the next lightest areas, then wash again, and so on. The result is a lovely, toned piece where the darkest darks receive 6 washes, and the image emerges with each subsequent wash... a bit like batik.
This month's Girls Just Wanna Paint challenge theme was mixed media. I took my "Favorites" study, and added some soft pasted accents. See the rest of their work here. Let me know what you think. Thank you!
