Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to take a moment to wish all of my readers a very Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! 

I thank you all for following along and for all of your comments, which I so enjoy reading. I look forward to having you join me for a new year full of artistic adventures!

Ink and colored pencil study of my Christmas cactus.

Squirrel on Tree - Ink and Colored Pencil

This is another sketch from a few years ago. We live near the University of Michigan campus here in Ann Arbor, so squirrels are always around. This one was climbing down a tree as we sat outside on a beautiful fall day. It is skinnier than you normally see at that time of year! 

I tried to capture the wonderful curves of the tail as it swished around, so I included some of the line work here, even though it may look a little odd in the finished drawing. 

I quickly added some colored pencil after the fact. It should probably be a little more gray, but at least the color adds a bit more life to the drawing.

Red-Tailed Hawk Tail Feather - First Molt?

I had a rare find when I was out and about recently -- a beautiful feather. I looked it up and think it is a red-tailed hawk tail feather from a first molting. I was able to do a very rough sketch of it and took some photos. I hope to do a more detailed pen and ink study of it, adding color. This is graphite pencil with some colored pencil added to get a sense of the color scheme. 

I love the pattern of dark brown, tan, and creamy white and was fascinated to see all of the details up-close.

Have you ever found anything unusual in your wanderings that you were able to draw or photograph?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holiday Wishes!

Merry Christmas and happy solstice! I did this little sketch of our cat, Lucy, sitting at the window sill at our old place a few years ago. Loved how she was looking out the window as it was snowing. I added the hat, but otherwise the red walls and red and green drapes were actually how we had the living room decorated! :)

As we all look forward to celebrating the upcoming holidays, I want to thank you all for your interest in my blog and wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and happy holidays! I look forward to creating more artwork in the new year and hope you will join me for the journey.

Raspberry sprig - light and shade study

I've been working on a drawing of a raspberry plant. It's a cutting that I took from the bush in our side yard. I'm excited to be working from a live plant this time! It really does make all the difference.

I had started with a nice drawing and began inking and doing some colored pencil work, but it was looking rather flat. I realized that I needed to go back to some basics and do a light and shade study of the leaves in particular to get some depth and form back into the drawing.

So, this is the rough light and shade study on tracing paper that I will continue to tweak. I'll use this as a reference point when redoing the original drawing so that my shading/light looks correct in colored pencil. Stay tuned for more progress!

Chive blossom sketch

Who knew chives could be so pretty? :) Our neighbors have a bunch of chives in their flower bed and they have a beautiful, light purple flower. When you clip the stem off, you can clearly smell the oniony scent of chives.

The bloom consists of a cluster of small, individual blossoms that together look similar to a thistle. Lots of detail to draw each one, so I settled for a looser interpretation to get the idea across.

Rough sketch - daffodil blossom

This is a rough pen and ink and colored pencil sketch of a daffodil blossom. It was a freebie at the grocery store. They were clearing out flowers that were nearly wilted, so in addition to one for my 2-year-old to hold while we shopped, I asked for one for myself!

I could have been a little more delicate on the colored pencil application, but I just wanted to get some rough color laid down to get a sense of the blossom.

Lady Slipper Orchid - pen and ink, colored pencil

This is a lady slipper orchid that I saw at the Meijer Gardens Butterfly exhibit a few weeks ago. I did work from a photo since I didn't have time to sketch while we were there. I loved the rounded and curled petals and leaves.

I started with just a rough sketch and then decided to go over it in pen and ink. I wanted to add some color since it included such a beautiful purple, so I went over everything with colored pencil. I used three colors in most areas, except for the green stems (just using two there.) It was a relatively quick drawing that I did last night, so I was pleased with how it turned out.

Pussy Willow Branch - colored pencil and pen and ink

In Eastern Rite churches, pussy willow branches are typically blessed and distributed with palm branches on Palm Sunday.

The pussy willow branch is both strong and woody, but with very delicate, fluffy blossoms. I first did this drawing in graphite pencil. Then I decided to do the line work in pen and ink, erase the pencil, and add some color with colored pencil. The branch has a bit more reddish in it than came through in this rendering, and the blossoms are quite silvery/white in the highlights.

I enjoyed the view of this particular branch as two of the blossoms still had the papery brown covering on the back, and one blossom at the bottom had fallen off, leaving a few wispy bits on the branch.

Rose - colored pencil study - almost done

The rose is coming right along. I spent a good bit of time this evening on the rest of the stems, and then working on the buds and the one leaf study that I included. I thought I might be done, but realized that I still need to work on the center of the rose itself. Still needs a bit of shaping/shading.

So, I'll leave it for now and hopefully do some final touching up to finish it.

Hoping for spring! Daffodils

In the spirit of anticipating spring, I wanted to post this sketch I did last April. I can't wait for my tulips and daffodils out front to start blooming this year. I hope to do a lot more sketches like this to capture the variety of shapes and colors that we have in our little flower bed.

For this drawing, I especially like trying to render the papery, brownish-gray membrane that covers the bud. The colored pencil on the stem seems a bit dull to me, but I think it was a combination of the paper I used and layering it on top of graphite. I think I'd like to play around with pen and ink and colored pencil like I did with the seed pods I posted a few months ago.

Woodland Peony - opened seed pod

I'm liking this Woodland Peony seed pod, so I've done another sketch. This time, the pod has burst open and spilled out most of the seeds. As before, I used pen and ink and colored pencil. It's shape is so distorted from the original star-like pod that it is hard to recognize. When I first saw it I was surprised. I think I assumed the pods would crack open and the seeds fall out quickly (especially since they look so plump and heavy.) Instead it sort of inverts and the seeds appear to ooze away slowly.

Woodland Peony - seed pod

This is a sketch of a woodland peony seed pod. It has such an interesting-looking star shape and the pods are beginning to burst open with bright red and dark blue seeds. I used pen and ink (mostly for outlining) and colored pencil.