“Leash-time Sketching”

Tags

botanical drawing, graphite, Master's Touch, nature, sketch diary, sketches

Sundrop And Wild Grapevine Sketches

The story behind the sketch:I decided that our elderly cat Smokey, who seemed a bit depressed, needed a pick-me-up. It was time to end his mainly-indoor existence & let his feet touch the grass. I started taking him out on a leash, which he loves. My problem was that I ended up just standing around while he spends much of his time lounging on the ground & eating grass. A small folding chair & a bag to keep my sketchbook in solved the problem.

my experience in doing this sketch:

Leash-time sketching is different from normal field-sketching; It is “catch-as-catch-can.” When Smokey decides to move, I have to change subjects! I didn’t get any further on the sketch of the sundrops than a contour drawing. ( But I really observed how that plant is made, which is worth something in itself.) During the drawing of the wild grapevine, Smokey decided to take a nap—-so I had plenty of time to do some shading & detail on this one.

The technical stuff:

Because I had to carry my supplies around, I pared down to the absolute necessities: a #2 HB school pencil with a new eraser on the end, ( well-sharpened), and a “Master’s Touch ” brand hardbound sketch book.

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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Another Page from My Diary; Fox

Tags

animals, artwork, drawing, Emmitsburg Maryland, graphite, January, nature diary, red fox, sketches, sketching

RedFox in Graphite

The story behind the sketch: Spring is officially here, but I’d like to pay homage to Winter one last time, by sharing this page from my nature diary, entered back in January.

As my husband & I walked in the “natural” portion of a town park nearby, I was feeling rather gloomy since there was little color, compared to that of the bounty of wildflowers that had been growing there a few months ago at our last visit. But we found a treasure that was equal to or beyond the color of Autumn: a red fox, sitting out in a field, leisurely grooming himself in the sun. Luckily, he wasn’t aware of us, and I was able to snap several pictures before he finally realized he had observers.

my experience in doing this sketch:

At first,  I was only doing a “preliminary” sketch, very rough & all in one grade of pencil—just to kind of get the “idea” down on paper. ( Which I ran out of space on when it came to the fox’s long tail!) But later I went back & added more detail–just for the heck of it. It’ still kind of rough, but that’s okay; it doesn’t  have to be a super-detailed drawing; it  preserves a memory for me, & as I drew it, allowed me to familiarize myself with the way a fox is “made” , as simply taking a photo could never do.

The technical stuff:

A #3B Eberhard Faber Microtomic graphite sketch pencil was used to “rough-in” the image. Softer grades were used to add some detail–5-9B.

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.

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.

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.

A Hairy Situation

Tags

3B, 9B, animals, artwork, colored pencils, cream-colored paper, drawing, graphite, Hair Sheep, Prismacolor pencils, sheep, sketches, sketching, wax-based pencils

Hair Sheep in Graphite & Colored Pencil

 

The story behind the sketch:

The painting-out season is nearing an end, so I was looking through photos from the various locations where my artist’s group has met this year. I found a really good photo that my friend Karin had taken at one of the farms, the subject’s being what is known as a Hair Sheep, according to the owner. Basically, this is a “self-shaving sheep”.

my experience in doing this sketch:

Well, it was a bit of a struggle! The wool and skin were the same color, so it was hard to visually separate the the two. I ended up making the wool darker than it really was to remedy this.

The second problem came from working on cream-colored paper; it’s okay for some subjects, but it does make it harder to get a strong contrast between lights and darks. To get the sunny look I was after, I needed intense darks, & no matter what grade of graphite pencil I used I just couldn’t get them. I finally resorted to using a black Prismacolor pencil,—– & called the drawing “done”.

The technical stuff:

3-B pencil was used to sketch-in the rough outlines, with just about every grade of pencil between & including 9B , with the addition of a black Prismacolor pencil. ( For those of you unfamiliar with Prismacolors, they are wax-based pencils that are relatively soft, and very nice to work with, the colors being more intense than the colored pencils you probably used as a kid.)

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.

A Page from My Diary

Tags

artwork, botanical drawing, colored pencil, crayola colorerd pencils, drawing, money plant, prismacolor, Prismacolor pencils, sketches, sketching, Tombow watercolor markers, ULtra-Color pencils

Page From Nature Diary

The story behind the sketch:I kept a nature diary faithfully for eleven years. Of course, at the time, I had few friends , little social interaction, no email, no computer, and wasn’t concerned with having an income. ( Things do change.)

In recent years, my entries have been sporadic, but at least there may be  some continuity to the one above. This  drawing of a Jack-in-the-Pulpit was done  last summer. Now this summer I have been taking photos of another plant in its various stages. At present the berries are turning  form pale green to bright red; would make a luscious watercolor.

my experience in doing this sketch:

Running off the page didn’t bother me, as my main focus was on the glossy green seedhead. I found I just couldn’t get the highlight I wanted on those “berries” , (partly because the paper is cream or ivory-colored, ) so resorted to using white-out. But hey—anything goes.

The technical stuff:

Prismacolor, UltraColor, & Crayola pencils, as well as Tombow dual-ended watercolor markers,  were used to add color to the outlines made by  a  standard #2 pencil. And then , of course, there was the white-out.  Paper: Masters Touch spiral-bound sketchbook. Sold at Hobby Lobby. A pretty versatile paper, although the ivory color does make high contrast difficult.

NOTE: All images and text in this post are Copyright K. A. Renninger 2012. 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.

Early Bloomer

Tags

artwork, botanical drawing, drawing, flowers, graphite, iris, nature, plants, sketches, sketching

The story behind the sketch:

This year, all the blooming plants are out about a month early, so we’re already enjoying my favorite flower, the iris.

Although this flower is a colorful dark purple and white, I wanted to see if I could still capture its essence in black & white.

my experience in doing this sketch:

Sketching flowers in all their detail, is , for me, a sort of meditation. In the best moments, the flower is all that exists in the world. I suppose that is Zen.

The technical stuff:

Unfortunately, I can’t tell you the paper I used, as it was very old stock; it has a texture that sort of looks like parchment; just slightly toothy; good for getting a velvety look on the petals . I believe the graphite stick is a 6B, although I apparently, at one time, started to use the wrong end of it, where the grade was marked. ( Whoops!) A 6B pencil was used to get the delicate markings on the upper part of the fall.

It took a light touch and a sharp pencil to do the veining on the white upper petals. On this sketch I didn’t do any blending. It’s all “straight from the pencil”, using line to create gradations in tone.

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.

A Little Color

Tags

artwork, botanical drawing, colored pencil, drawing, money plant, prismacolor, sketches, sketching

The story behind the sketch:

A money plant appeared, seeded from goodness-knows where, among the catnip patch. Never having really studied one in its early stages before, I was intrigued by the very smooth, sturdy green pods which I am used to seeing in their fall form; a light grey-brown casing in which lies the pearlescent “coin”.

Due to bad weather on the usual panting-out days, I hadn’t done anything from life for a while. Armed with my trusty hard-bound sketchbook ( which I would recommend every artist have) I sat down and got some real-life practice in.

my experience in doing this sketch:

I had always thought of the coins as being ovals, but realized how many angles actually comprise those ovals. It was hard to get all the details in this tiny ( no more than 3 x 5 “) sketch, but I did my best to capture the wonderful thin burgundy-colored outlines around the green pods, as well as some of the veining on the petals .

I really like colored pencil ; it’s neat, clean & easy to use, and with the addition of a colorless blending pencil, it’s easy to get a smooth look in areas where you don’t want the paper to show through. I chose to use both blended & un-blended areas in this drawing to capture the variety of textures.

The technical stuff:

Prismacolor, UltraColor, & Crayola pencils were used. A soft white eraser helped in a couple of spots. An old fashioned typing eraser ( made like a pencil with a brush on the other end) is great because it’s a little more abrasive, but these are getting very hard to find anymore. Paper: Masters Touch spiral-bound sketchbook. Sold at Hobby Lobby. A pretty versatile paper.

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.

The 5-Minute Sketch

Tags

animals, artwork, cat sketch, drawing, gesture sketch, school pencil, sketches, sketching, strathmore drawing tablet

Gesture Sketch of Cat

The story behind the sketch:

Thomas was sitting on the couch in the cat-nap position; sort of sleeping while sitting up. I liked the way his paws were folded and wanted to capture that in particular. I was busy with other things but decided to take a few minutes to do a sketch.

my experience in doing this sketch:

Thomas’ eyes didn’t stay closed long once I knelt in front of him & started to work. He was mystified by my studying him so intently. But after a few minutes, he relaxed and resumed his napping. I found it fairly easy to do his body but quite a bit tougher to draw his head & facial features. Since this was basically a “gesture sketch” ( one where the artist  sets a very limited amount of time to draw, & tries to capture angles, general shapes & the “direction of flow” ) I didn’t  go for complete accuracy or much detail. This  was just to allow me to capture the essence of Thomas’ posture. A gesture sketch can really help set in the artist’s mind the contours of the subject , which is quite an aid should a more detailed drawing be done later.

The technical stuff:

A plain ol’ school pencil was used for this ( a perfectly servicable tool for many sketches).  On Strathmore Drawing  tablet paper.

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.