Pencil drawing of Lucy - sprawled in the sun

This is a pencil drawing of our cat, Lucy. She was sprawled in the sun on the floor one day. I did this to try and experiment with rendering her fur. I like how it turned out, though it is more of a rough finish than I usually do. It would be interesting to take this and render it in pen and ink, or finer pencil, or even colored pencil. She is a gray cat, so the graphite works well in terms of color for a sketch like this.

Finished! Dog portrait is done.

I have finished the dog portrait! I think it turned out well. I'm glad I took the time to really look at the shading and fill out a few more areas. I think the nose, eyes and mouth are much better.

I can always 'feel' when it is done and usually have someone else look at it to make sure I have captured the subject. In looking at the photo, I can see areas of shading that may be slightly different, etc., but the essence is there. It is very important not to overwork it once you feel you have a good finished drawing.

Inking of dog - nearly done

I am nearly finished with inking the dog portrait. It is really taking shape now. Just some additional shading and shaping around the mouth and darkening around the eyes and it should be good to go.

Pen and ink work continues - dog

I am making good progress on filling in the fur. I like how the nose turned out, though I can still see a few small areas for tweaking. That will come later. What is important right now, at least in my process, is to continue filling in fur, seeing how that takes shape, and beginning to add some more depth and shadow as I proceed.

Dog portrait - the inking begins

I have begun the pen and ink work on the dog portrait. I am hoping to scan in several stages so you can see how it progresses. I think the eyes are looking pretty good at this point, so I will continue working on the fur and see how it goes!

Another pencil draft of dog

Here is another draft of the dog in pencil. I made some additional tweaks on his eyes, the fur around his nose, and the nose itself. I've started the pen work on 140 lb hot press watercolor paper, which takes ink very well. I usually use bristol board, but did not have any on hand. I'll be posting stages of the pen work as it progresses.

Draft pet portrait of a dog

I'm currently working on a pet portrait of this lovely little dog. He has very expressive eyebrows and ears, I think!

As I look at this pencil draft - the final will be in pen and ink - I notice that I need to even out his nose and also make sure his eyes are the correct size. If you don't get the eyes just right, it doesn't matter how well-rendered the fur is, etc., it just won't work.

Stay tuned for further drafts and/or the final result in ink!

Impatiens studies

These are some studies of an Impatien that I did for a botanical drawing class. I like this one because it shows the one leaf with a tear in it.
And the one below includes some of the flowers and a bud. I really enjoyed the habit of the plant - the way the leaves draped and curved. Fun one to draw.

Iris studies

These are some studies that I did of a beautiful iris plant this summer. I was trying to work on the form of the leaf and bud and also played around with some detailed studies of the petals.

I wanted to see what I could do with colored pencil as well as some ink.

Negative space studies for botanical art

Welcome to my blog! I hope to use this site to show works in progress (botanical, wildlife, house portraits, pet portraits, whatever else comes to mind...) as well as other interesting sketches or projects that might not make it all the way through to a final piece. It's always fun for me to see artwork in different stages, including rough sketches and studies, so I thought I would share some of my own.

This particular post shows some of the negative space studies that I did in a beginning botanical art course. I love these because they really force you to see the space around your subject, rather than focusing on the subject itself. Very useful for helping one to learn how to 'see' differently.


The one on the left is a ground-cover rose bush, and the one on the right is a holly bush.