Across the Generations

Tags

art, artwork, black paper, charcoal, Mi Tientes, old car, pastel pencil, sketches, sketching, snow scenes, street scenes, white on black

Snow Scene in Pastel and Charcoal

The Story Behind the Sketch:

It had been a rather hectic Sunday, it was getting late,  & I was unprepared as far as having a project  to take along to The Monday Painters group , next morning.  I had recently been looking through old family photos—and there are many, since my Dad had been a professional photographer. Impulsively I grabbed an album & looked for anything that might serve as a source of inspiration. There was one of my favorites, a night shot taken down the road from the house I grew up in. Why not give it a try, using black paper & white pastel pencil?  

The Technical Stuff:

Canson Mi Tientes black paper , Carbothello white and dark grey pastel pencils, General’s White Charcoal pencil.

My Experience in Doing this Sketch: 

I did this very quickly, in short bursts,  between talking to artist friends, and watching them work. It was one of those magical occurrences; it flowed. I guess I expected little  from it ( was not tied to an end result) , so I was very free in my working. The one thing I did expect to be able to do was to use only white  on the black paper, but there just wasn’t enough contrast that way. I  ended up having to use a very dark grey Carbothello to accent certain places. i found the General’s white charcoal best for getting the whitest possible highlights.

On an emotional level, I found it satisfying to have taken an image which my Dad had captured by means of a camera, ( over 50 years ago),  and translated it in yet another way. He may not have been an artist in the usual sense of the word, but his ability to perceive beauty in the world around us was a gift that was passed on to me; it has come across the generations. Thanks, Dad!

NOTE: All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2013. I am more than happy to have you share them through your own blog, and hope you will do so—but you must give me credit. Anyone who uses them to make money will be prosecuted.

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Inspiration is a Gift…

Tags

art, artwork, cobalt blue glass, Derwent, graphite, illustration board, money plant, nature, pottery, sketches, sketching

Graphite Still life of Money Plant , Pottery, and Jar

The Story Behind the Sketch:

…And then, sometimes a Gift is Inspiration!

When my friend Carole gave me a lovely pottery pitcher with a motif that reminded me of  money plant seed heads, “Still Life!” was the first thing I thought of. The wheels started turning; I knew had some dried money plant out in the shed, & could probably dig up a piece of cobalt blue glassware  to coordinate with the dark blue designs on the buff-colored piece. A painting was my original goal, but after photographing and doing a “preliminary” sketch, I decided I was pretty satisfied with just the sketch itself. 

The Technical Stuff:

Crescent Cold Press illustration Board, 3B & 9-B General’s Graphite Sketch pencils, Derwent Graphitone water-soluble graphite pencils to help make a soft background tone on the wood siding. A paper stump was used for the delicate blending on the seed heads.

My Experience in Doing this Sketch: 

I had taken photos of three different arrangements of the objects used. After narrowing it down to two, I asked for advice  from artist friend George on how to combine the best features of each. I think his advice was good. ( Sometimes it really helps to have a “fresh eye” look at things like this.)

 

NOTE: All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2013. I am more than happy to have you share them through your own blog, and hope you will do so—but you must give me credit. Anyone who uses them to make money will be prosecuted.

Procrastination & Priorities

Tags

art, artwork, children's story, drawing, illustration board, sketching

Rough sketch of character from my children’s story

This post is a lot less about the sketch & more about the reasons we don’t get around to sketching, or fulfilling our creative dreams. I have written a children’s story which I intend to illustrate & self-publish, but it took me “forever”  to actually start one (now completed) watercolor illustration. Why? My excuses ranged from the fact that it’s home-improvement season, to caring for an ill cat, not getting enough sleep, having too many social obligations, a cluttered work environment, and having to get down on the floor & cut a hunk of illustration board into workable pieces to start.

Some of these are more than just excuses; they are circumstances that have truly interfered with my ability to produce. However, the bigger problem is that I have not learned to make creative time my top priority—and for any of us to make our artistic dreams happen we have got to do that.

I have something to give to the world, & so do you! Make sure you find time to create it, whatever it is!

P.S.  Check out Filio Kondylis’ blog http://filiokondylis.wordpress.com/ for her insightful thoughts on our attitudes & behavior as artists. It’s been very worthwhile for me.

 

 

The Appeal of the Unfinished

Tags

art, artwork, Creatacolor Monolith, Derwent, drawing, Eberhard-Faber, graphite, H pencil, illustration board, sketching, strathmore, tree, wagon wheel, water-soluble graphite, wood fencepost, woodless pencils

tree and wagon wheel in graphite

What is it that is appealing about an unfinished work? It could be that it’s  like a flower; something beautiful unfolding. It could be the mystery in it; the potential, the chance for our imagination to fill in the blanks.

I  also think that it’s due to the delicious contrast present in an unfinished work; the bright white against  the darkness of the places already “filled-in”. It’s like the brilliance of a sunny day.

The lesson I learn from this is to let some white areas in the finished drawing, and try not to add so much detail to the darker areas that I lose the brilliance. In other words, fight my tendency to get carried away!

The technical stuff

Strathmore Illustration board, vellum finish, is the substrate. 2B sketch pencil used to outline basic shapes. Cretacolor Monolith woodless pencils, 2B & 9B,  used to achieve good darks.  Derwent Graphitone  water-solubles for areas of solid tone, Everhard -Faber Microtomic H to do some very light shading  and to clean up the edges on areas where the graphitone or creatacolor pencils are used, as they leave a slightly ragged edge, at least on this paper.  ( I always knew there had to be some use for the ‘hard” range of pencils; just didn’t know what it was till now. )

Summer Treasures

Tags

art, artwork, botanical drawing, Creatacolor Monolith, Derwent, drawing, Eberhard-Faber, graphite, illustration board, plants, Queen anne's Lace, sketching, strathmore, water-soluble graphite, Wild Carrot, wood fencepost, woodless pencils

Queen Anne’s Lace

The story behind the sketch:

Ugh–Summer heat. 90 humid degrees and then some. I just want to stay inside & hug the air conditioner. But the fact is that if you dont go out into the heat, you miss so much beauty .Summer is filled with treasures, among them the wildflowers. Queen Anne’s Lace has always been one of my favorites.

My experience in doing this sketch:

I decided to go “big” on this, due to the detail involved.  The image size is about 8.5 x 14″  ( For me, that’s large.) I didn’t know exactly how to proceed with drawing the flowers; they are so complex. But I slowly began & kept adjusting, till I found the right approach. Too much detail made them too dark, & too little didn’t give them the texture they actually possess. Putting lots of darker shapes in between the parts of the blossoms helped. It was an interesting “puzzle”, working out how to make the shapes of everything stand out; darkening an area in the background to bring out a light object in the foreground, & vice-verse. The wood was a pure joy to do. Water Soluble graphite pencils made it much easier to achieve variety and texture, as well as a subtle background.

The technical stuff

Strathmore Illustration board, vellum finish, was the substrate. 2B Everhard -Faber Microtomic sketch pencil was used to sketch in somes basics & add detail, Craetacolor Monolith woodless pencils, 2B & 9B, were  used to achieve lots of texture & good darks. (I like these pencils because you can vary line width by angling the pencil.) Derwent Graphitone  water-solubles were used to get a soft background & fade it out at the edges, as well as on several places on the wood post.

Caricature

Tags

art, artwork, caricature, drawing, farm buildings, graphite, outbuildings, sketches, sketching

Outbuilding in graphite

The story behind the sketch:

I was in the mood to paint, & thought I would be brave  and sketch this building right on the watercolor paper & start painting. But after a few sketches & subsequent erasures, I decided to save the paper & do a separate sketch as usual.

My experience in doing this sketch:

I was running  out of time ; it was hot, & miserable, so I did this quickly . Surprisingly enough, the quick ones often seem to be the most appealing. I think this is because in sketching quickly, an artist almost does a caricature of the subject, be it person, building or other. The basic lines, shapes, & tones are rendered, & exaggerated a bit, in order to fix them in the mind for later, more accurate, detailed, paintings.

Will I ever actually do a painting of this subject? I hope so. But if not, I’ve gotten a pleasing sketch out of it. Maybe that’s enough.

Coop on a Bridge II

Tags

2B, 6b, 9B, art, artwork, cold-press, drawing, farm buildings, graphite, illustration board, sketches, sketching, strathmore

Coop on a Bridge II

This attractively run-down little building, whose purpose when viewed from the other side was dubious, was clearly used as a chicken coop. It was built right on the barn bridge, so the the stone wall of the bridge formed its foundation in the back. 2B, 6B & 9B graphite sketch pencil on Strathmore Cold Press Illustration Board—-the kind with the raised thistle logo in one corner; VERY nice to work on.

Getting the appearance of chicken wire over the cut-out window gave me a “fit”, but I decided  that a “suggestion” of wire was a lot more important than getting the precise number of holes, & in the right size. (“Perfection is a direction,—- not a place”!)

NOTE: All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2011. I am more than happy to have you share them through your own blog, and hope you will do so—but you must give me credit. Anyone who uses them to make money will be prosecuted.

Everybody’s a Critic!

Tags

art, artwork, chicken coop, drawing, farm animals, sketches, sketching

drawing in wake of farm animal attack

This was supposed to be “Coop on a Bridge 2”—from the other side. However, when I left my spot at the farm to go eat lunch with the other artists, I came back to find my equipment in disarray, pencils strewn over the grass, and this sketch lying face-down on the ground. My first reaction was “Oh no!” But then the humor of the entire situation hit me. Apparently, one of the donkeys, cows, or possibly the horse, had decided to express his opinion of my work! Other casualties included a 5H pencil that had been sampled, and half a stick of white charcoal. We weren’t able to get the animals in a line-up, but if we had, the guilty party would have been the one with the white mustache!

NOTE: All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2011. I am more than happy to have you share them through your own blog, and hope you will do so—but you must give me credit. Anyone who uses them to make money will be prosecuted.

Sway-Back

Tags

art, artwork, blackmith shop, curved roof, drawing, farm buildings, outbuildings, sketches, sketching, smithy, sway-back

 blacksmith shop

On another farm today. I chose to draw this building because of its interesting sway-backed roof. The side wall shows the settling of the foundation, too. The farm’s owner told me that it was once used for a blacksmith shop. ( I’m guessing not a commercial one, but one that met the needs of the farm itself.) 2b, 7b & 9b graphite pencils, on Master’s Touch spiral-bound hard-back sketchbook. (This paper is actually an off-white, nice weight paper. Fairly good to work on although darkest darks seemed to be hard to get with graphite. Its’ an economical choice, though; good for everyday field-sketching. )

NOTE: All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2011. I am more than happy to have you share them through your own blog, and hope you will do so—but you must give me credit. Anyone who uses them to make money will be prosecuted.

Two-in-One

Tags

art, artwork, corn crib, drawing, farm buildings, hog stall, sketches, sketching

• Hog Stall and Corn Crib

It was a mostly cloudy day at the old farm today, but the sun came out at noon long enough to cast an interesting shadow under the eaves of this building. The sketch was done with 2B and 3B graphite to get the major shapes & some of the wood texture in. Then the darks were put in with 9B and followed with hard and medium charcoal pencil. On Strathmore Drawing.

  This is efficiency: one side of the structure was built to hold corn, the other is where the hogs stayed. Not too far a toss to get the feed to the hungry snouts!

NOTE: All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2011. I am more than happy to have you share them through your own blog, and hope you will do so—but you must give me credit. Anyone who uses them to make money will be prosecuted.