The scale of the clouds attracted me at first. Then it was the depth. There are dark grays in front of lighter grays; whites abutting grays; hard outlines against the blue sky and misty whites that dissolve. A recreation of this scene in pen or pencil would be a good way to expand drawing skill […]
The weather was very changeable out here today. We had a little bit of everything: blue skies, clouds, rain, sunshine. I like the wispy white forms in front of dark hill tops.
I’m drawn to geometric forms. If I don’t see them au naturel, I make them up. One way to ‘make up’ geometric forms in photography is to bring all shapes, no matter their depth, to the frontal plane*. This ambition is opposite to that which perspective aspires. *The 2-dimensional frame of the photograph.
This is an example of the drawings I do without looking at the paper. I have described drawing a family gathering such as this, as akin to drawing a landscape. The outline is virtually the same as a skyline. In most of my ‘blind drawings’, I peek a little bit, to get my bearings. In […]
My first blind drawings (drawing without looking at the paper) were of landscapes: skylines, in particular. The sketch below reminds me very much of a skyline. I traced the outline of each figure in turn, without taking the pen from the paper.
The unembellished blind-drawn outline of a figure is much like that of a line that describes the contours of forested landscape. The outlines of the figures below were drawn without looking. I added interior details after the outlines were completed. Blind Drawing of Two Ladies at Coffee Pen and Ink Sketch 10″x8″ 111# Moleskin Journal
I added watercolor to this pencil sketch. I’m working toward changing the emphasis of my sketching from the past year’s meditation on waiting. I would like to fill my next sketch book with colorful pen and ink and pencil drawings. To this end, I am looking for a better sketch book. Water applied to the […]
Nice walk to the lake today. Half hour to the lake, half hour to sketch and half hour back. That was the plan. I brought different pencils with me: a very soft 8B, a soft 4B, another soft 2B and a harder HB. After 30 minutes sitting on a bench, I finished the sketch you […]
There were so many trees, each of them different: different kinds of leaves, different tones, different shadings. The sketch below is a meditation. I could have worked on it all day. The overcast lighting would not have changed the shadowing that much. I have a photograph of this scene, so I can get back to […]
The nespoli (loquat) fruit tree in the back yard is loaded. There will be a lot of food for the birds, since most of the nespoli are beyond reach. I did a blind drawing (peeking a little bit) of the skyline formed by the fig, nespoli and pine trees. I filled in the fruits where […]
