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. )

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Summer Treasures

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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.

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.

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.