Smokehouse At Renfrew

Tags

Canson XL Mix Media paper, general's graphite sketch pencils, outbuildings, Pages from a Nature-Lover's Diary, Renfrew Park and museum, smokehouse

Graphite sketch of Smokehouse at Renfrew Museum, Waynesboro, Pa.

The Story Behind the Sketch:

It was a mild winter day, approaching Christmas,  when my hubby & I went for a walk at Renfrew park. The dull scenery had been lit up into shade of russet, orange and gold, by the low rays of the setting sun— and I could not resist taking a photo of this scene. While I did the sketch as a prelude to a watercolor painting, I’m also happy with what it is in itself; a pleasant black & white rendition of a colorful scene.

The Technical Stuff:

Paper: Canson XLMixed-media spiral bound sketchbook. Pencils: General’s 3B and 8B sketch pencils.

My Experience in Doing this Sketch: 

This sketch came into being on a Monday as I sat with my fellow artists around the big dining room table at the home of our leader, Becky, and worked at our respective projects.  I find black & white work easy to do while chatting and listening to other people’s conversations. (The decisions needed in making a color picture seem to require more concentration for me.) Although the drawing appears more like charcoal in this image, I actually used a 3B graphite sketch to do almost all of it, with an 8B for some of the darker areas. Some slight blending was done with a stomp  in the shadowed areas of the building. Once the real work of getting the perspective and proportions of the smokehouse correct, the rest was a breeze. ( Maybe excepting those 1 million little ivy leaves I had to draw that were growing on the trees!)

 

---

Today’s Excerpt from ‘Pages’:

Squirrel carrying leaves

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_18?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=pages+from+a+nature-lover%27s+diary&sprefix=Pages+from+a+natur%2Cstripbooks%2C328

NOTE: 

All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2015. 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.

Advertisement

Wagon Shed, Wind and Water

Tags

barns, Canson XL multi-media paper, graphitone, Kathleen Renninger, outbuildings, Pages from a Nature-Lover's Diary, titmice, wagon shed, water-soluble graphite

Wagon shed in progress

Wagon shed Sketch in water-soluble graphite

The Story Behind the Sketch:

Artist friends George & Charlie & I were set up out in a field sketching this old combination stable and wagon shed ( & corn crib, I believe) . It was an attractive scene, with interesting large rock formations in the foreground. We had stood up to get ready to go for lunch when a big wind came along & took everything—I mean, everything–the chairs, umbrellas, tables; our supplies were scattered everywhere. It so happened that I had just drawn a dark area in the opening at the left of the building and added water to it to intensify it—a litlle too much water, letting quite a pool in that area. I figured the air would dry it while I was gone, but the wind had other plans. As you can see in the first photo, it simply blew the blackened water down into the lower part of the drawing, letting a streak. )

The Technical Stuff:

Paper: Canson XLMulti-media spiral bound sketchbook. Pencils: Graphitone water-soluble graphite (light, medium and very dark). Brushes: Niji Waterbrushes, flat, and small ( pointed)

My Experience in Doing this Sketch: 

I used the light grade of Graphitone to sketch in the main shapes, then started toning & adding contrast with the darker grades , spreading, blending, & intensifying with water. While the grass in the foreground was actually one of the lightest values in the scene, this was in incidence where  discretion was the better part of valor. It would have almost required masking fluid to cover that area, especially the stems of plants growing tall against the rocks. Choosing to make this area darker than the rocks seemed prudent, and still made for an effective rendering. I also had to decide to limit the detail on the rocks, or they’d have become  too dark.  The tree foliage was done by “scribbling” & then extending the edges with a damp brush. I  ended up using a kneaded eraser to remove some of the detail from the roof to gain a little more of a sunlit look, & better contrast. I got lucky while stroking vertical lines into the siding on the front of the structure; at one point my pencil was just damp enough to let a very textured stroke or two—which I feel added to the overall effect quite nicely.

As far as that nasty streak left by the wind, it wasnt’ hard to turn it into a plant stem. (When you can’t get rid of your mistakes, camouflage ’em!)

 

---

Today’s Excerpt from ‘Pages’:

Titmice on Clothesline 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_18?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=pages+from+a+nature-lover%27s+diary&sprefix=Pages+from+a+natur%2Cstripbooks%2C328

NOTE: 

All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2014. 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.

Smokehouse in Winter

Tags

graphite pencil, Morilla, old farm buildings, outbuildings, paper tortillion, smokehouse, stump

Pointed Roof Smokehouse

The Story Behind the Sketch:

Now that Spring is here in all its glory, I can look back and remember Winter fondly for all the wonderful “moody” scenes of farm buildings and grounds that it provided. One such is the Smokehouse pictured in this drawing.  At first I was in doubt that it was actually was a smokehouse. Upon asking a few friends who are familiar with farm structures, on e told me that he had seen two identical buildings on a farm; the one that was on higher ground was a smokehouse, the other , in a depression, was a spring house. Since this building sat on somewhat of a hill,  I decided it must be a smokehouse. ( Further confirmation came when I  later saw that it was being used as a shed for a garden tractor.) 

The Technical Stuff:

Paper: Morilla sketch tablet, a fairly smooth paper but with just enough tooth to hold the pencil well. pencils: General’s 3B graphite for most of the sketch, with 8B used for the darker areas. A stump ( paper tortillion) was used to do some blending in areas.

My Experience in Doing this Sketch: 

At first I thought I’d be smart & try to do the whole thing in 3B pencil, just to show it could be done. I gave in to the temptation to use a softer grade, though when it came time to do the dark tree on the left. I decided from there that the shadowed side of the building and some spots in the grass could also benefit from a using the 8B . I still couldn’t get the tone I was after in spots. though, so I used the stump to blend & give me overall “color” in the grass, and both sides of the building—as well as softening the appearance of the trees and background.

---

Today’s Excerpt from ‘Pages’:

From here on out, I’ll be adding a new feature to my posts, an excerpt from my book, ‘Pages from a Nature-Lover’s Diary’. ( For any of you who are following my other blog, of the same name), please excuse the fact that this material has been covered there as well. )

Indigo Bunting and Goldfinch eating Dandelion seed 

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_18?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=pages+from+a+nature-lover%27s+diary&sprefix=Pages+from+a+natur%2Cstripbooks%2C328

NOTE: 

All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2014. 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.

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.

Nisqually Barn

Tags

battery-operated eraser, dairy barn, farm buildings, graphite, graphitone, illustration board, Nisqually Wildlife Refuge, outbuildings, rag mat, sketches, strathmore, swamp, Washington state

The story Behind the Sketch:

When I saw a post which I re-blogged,   http://photographybycjp.wordpress.com/2012/02/19/barns/ , of the twin barns at the Nisqually Refuge in Washington state, I was intrigued by the unusual shape of the buildings. This blogger was kind enough to post more photos & allow me to sketch from them. From the additional material I’ve read, Nisqually was a dairy farm that was rescued from developers. (Although the twin barns are a landmark, for the sake of composition I included only one.)

The experience:

Although my initial interest was in the barns themselves, I found myself drawn to the moody look of what seemed to be a swampy area in the foreground, complete with reflections of the trees. I decided to do an entire scene.

Being detail-oriented, I began to include every bit of shrubbery and plant material , soon realizing that, although all these ingredients had made for a nice photo, they created a drawing that was far too “busy” . There was no place for the eye to rest. I ended up simplifying all the shapes , minimizing the detail, & eventually fading-out quite a bit of detail around the edges to keep the focus in the center.

The technical stuff:

I used a regular school pencil to draw in all the main features, then added some delicate detail with a 2H graphite pencil and the darker areas with a 9B graphite. ( I especially like Derwent Graphic pencils.)  Some of the plant material was done with a Derwent Graphitone pencil. One of the neat things I discovered was that a battery-operated eraser will do a great job of putting soft horizontal highlights in water. Slick as can be! a lot of the “fading out” & minimizing of detail was done simply by rubbing over the existing drawing with a good ol’ dependable kneaded eraser.

Strathmore Rag Mat was the substrate. Not a bad surface to work on.

NOTE: All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2011. I am 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. 

Smokehouse II; Chimney End

Tags

artwork, drawing, farm buildings, graphite, illustration board, outbuildings, sketches, smokehouse, stone chimney, strathmore, water-soluble graphite

Brick & Stone Chimney on Smokehouse

Smokehouse on Old Farm

This is a follow-up to the previous post, “Smokehouse” . The chimney was what had caught my eye originally; it was so unusual , being constructed of two different materials, & rather large in comparison with the building. It was a “bear” to draw all those bricks, but worth it, I think. I don’t subscribe to the school of thought that advocates drawing or painting a “suggestion” of a surface or texture. I’d rather draw every brick & then smudge some of them out for variety.

Landscapes have never been my favorite thing to do, but I am finding I like to put a little bit of scenery around my buildings. It seems to evoke the offbeat charm of an overcast winter day for me, embodied in the dry grass , bare trees, and subtle colors.

This was done largely in 2 and 3B graphite pencils, with some 9B in the darker areas, & 4B Graphitone ( water-soluble graphite pencil ) for the grass. Even without using water, these pencils give a slightly different, softer look than regular graphite. An H graphite pencil was used to get the tinier branches on the background trees.

On Strathmore “Drawing”  (tablet).

NOTE: All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2011. I am 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. 

Smokehouse

Tags

artwork, drawing, farm buildings, graphite, illustration board, outbuildings, sketches, sketching, smokehouse, smooth paper, strathmore

Smokehouse on Old Farm

I’ve passed this building many times but never noticed it until the light was right. Sometimes on an overcast day, things will stand out more because your eye is not confused by patches of light and shadow. ( That’s my theory, anyway.)

I judged this to be a smokehouse &  not an out kitchen because of the distance from the house. The latter is usually closer than this was. What caught my eye originally was the over-sized brick and stone chimney, but I decided to give this more inclusive view a try . (The chimney end will be a future post, hopefully.)

I used a 3B  graphite pencil for the overall foundation sketch and an 8B for the darker areas. Some details were added with an HB. It was done on a smooth board, which I believe is Strathmore hot press illustration board.

NOTE: All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2011. I am 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. 

The Best of Both Worlds

Tags

artwork, drawing, illustration board, milkweed pod, outbuildings, sketching, strathmore, water-soluble graphite

Milkweed pods sketch

                                                                      

This drawing was done from a photo that I’d taken late in the winter last year. I have always been fascinated with the shape of milkweed pods & their shiny , soft “fluffy stuff”. It turned out to be the perfect subject for trying out the Derwent Graphitone water-soluble graphite pencils I’d just purchased. As far as I’m concerned, these pencils are great! Working with them combines the best of both sketching & watercolor techniques. I dont think I could have gotten the “shine” on the silky seed fluff nearly as easily or effectively without having been able to wet what I had already sketched-in , & brush over it. Substrate: Strathmore Illustration Board.

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.

Interpreting a Photo

Tags

artwork, bristol paper, drawing, farm animals, outbuildings, sheep, sketches, sketching, smooth paper

Photo credit : Linda Pedersen   Sheep in doorway                                                                        

My artist’s group met indoors this week since the cold & rain was upon us. I remembered to bring everything I needed except the project I was working on! Our host, Linda , generously allowed me to go through her stock of photos & choose something to draw.

My challenge with this picture was to capture the feel of the bright outdoors and the shadowed interior, including the  sheep itself. My artist buddy Bob donated a sheet of bristol paper to the effort. This is a very smooth-surfaced paper, but not disagreeable to draw on. However, to get really good darks, graphite wouldn’t do it; I used charcoal. At first my background was too dark & detailed to look sunlit, so I ended up lifting a lot of it out with a soft white eraser or kneaded eraser. I also chose  to simplify the background by eliminating some objects. I alos repositioned the sheep’s ear so that his eye would show; always makes for a more appealing picture.

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.