Sea Souvenirs

Sea Souvenirs

watercolor

6 x 12 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

I am finally at that point where I am calling this one finished. This was fun to paint, even though it was so like a puzzle. The inspiration for this piece was from a photo that I had taken looking down onto shells piled on top of a table. They were collected while on one of our beach trips to Edisto Island, South Carolina. I liked the textures, warm colors, and the random arrangement of the shells. And this painting gives me lots more ideas for future paintings as you all know how I like to paint sea shells.

sketchbook :: more Autumn leaves

Have I mentioned just how stunning the color has been here this fall? I just had to paint a few more colorful leaves from our yard and finished the page with a scene of fall color that I captured with my camera on a recent drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway. But you don't have to get out with all the "leaf-lookers" on the Parkway to find Autumn beauty, it's everywhere this year. Cheap Joe's blog, The Sketchbook, has a nice post with wonderful photos of local scenes celebrating this year's fall color.

Sea Urchin

Sea Urchin

colored pencil on Rising Museum Board

5.5 x 7.5 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

A little here and a little there and I have finally reached a stopping point with this drawing. It still needs a bit of cleaning up, and I may still do some tweaking, but I am ready to let this on sit a while.

This little sea urchin is one of our beach finds and now lives in a pretty glass bowl on a table near our front entrance, along with other treasures from the sea. Now to select my next project. I have been thinking about getting those oils out again, but do I really have the time? Hmmm. . .

What's on the drawing board

Here's the colored pencil drawing I am currently working on in its beginning stages. You can see where I have begun blocking in some of the darker areas and bits of color here and there over my first layer of a creamy yellow. It still has a long way to go before completion, but it's only approximately 5 x 7 inches, so hopefully this little sea urchin won't take me too awfully long to finish.

Sketchbook Tuesday - connections

Well, you can see that my stitching of this hand made sketchbook isn't as tight as it could have been. Oh well. Next time. This is how my paper white bulbs look now. The quote is from Ralph Waldo Emerson, found in my current reading, The American Transcendentalists, Essential Writings, edited by Lawrence Buell.

I have long been interested in the Transcendentalist movement beginning with my reading of Thoreau's Walden back when I was a high school student and again with an American Literature class in college. I decided to revisit this interest and have begun with this volume by Buell. Since I have embarked on my 100 painting project, which will be largely inspired by landscape, I am also inspired to study more about landscape painters. For some time now I have been particularly intrigued by the painters of the Hudson River School. While researching reading material I discovered these artists were influenced by the Transcendentalists. A connection. So I have two books lined up to continue on this research theme of American landscape painters and the philosophical inspiration behind them, Nature and Culture, by Barbara Novak and American Wilderness by Barbara Babcock Millhouse. Landscape has been an interest of mine for a very long time and I am excited to be taking the topic further through such strongly connected research.

Another connection is that a new blog has been started by Katherine Tyrrell on the very subject of landscape. The Art of the Landscape appears to be off to a great start and I am sure will be a valuable resource with much careful research.
But the connection goes even further for me. It turns out that the Transcendentalists were influenced by the German writer and philosopher, Goethe. Who wrote Theory of Colours. And influenced Rudolf Steiner. Rudolf Steiner developed the Waldorf educational method. A model that we follow (loosely) in our homeschool. Through my home educational research over the years I am very impressed with the Waldorf method and if we had a Waldorf school in our area I would have given it serious consideration for Kiddo. I have read several books on the topic of Waldorf education but nothing by Steiner himself. Or Goethe for that matter. They are going on my list though. If you have book recommendations on any of these topics I would love to hear them.

Sketchbook Tuesday

Lately, it seems like Tuesdays have been my day to post sketchbook drawings. I didn't mean for an entire week to pass since my last post, but here we are at Tuesday again. So here are more sketchbook pages from my watercolor Moleskine that I did while we were at the beach a couple of weeks ago now.
With traveling, visitors, birthdays and parties, and a little design work keeping me very busy, October has just flown by. I am now actually looking forward to November and the peaceful return of a routine to my days.

Unfamiliar ground

The thing about taking an art class, if you are really going to get anything out of it, is that you must stretch yourself to try techniques and subject matter that you wouldn't usually do. In fact, some subject matter I have made a point of avoiding in order to focus on my strengths*. (*read comfort zone) Waiting for those people to get out of the way so I can get a clear reference photo of that landscape scene. Pausing while the animals or birds move on so I can more easily see that tree or flower. Shoo!

This past week the watercolor pencil class was all about animals and people. Now I had to confront my most dreaded subjects. I did learn that if I want to become comfortable with these subjects I need a lot more practice. That's something to work on.

Above is a watercolor pencil sketch from a photo of my daughter, from our recent trip to the beach. It's about 6 x 8 inches on cold press watercolor paper.
The assignment here was to do a portrait of your favorite bird. I found the image of the bluebird in the Wet Canvas image library, again it's about 6x8 inches on cold press.
Learning about textures I tried a study of a feather in my watercolor moleskin. At least this was more familiar territory.

All you need is love

Homeschooling and a bit of free-lance work is keeping me quite busy these days. I am finding it difficult to get much time for art. However, we did do a little nature study today as a part of our homeschool lessons. After collecting a few treasures from our yard, Kiddo and I came in from the cold and wind to steaming cups of hot chocolate and recorded our finds in our nature journals. We are saving a few forsythia branches in water to see if we can force the blossoms to open early.
I was also treated to a nice surprise by Diahn with this lovely award. Thanks Diahn!
Since it's Valentine's Day tomorrow and I haven't passed one of these on in a while, I thought it a good time to play. I am supposed to list seven things that I love and then pass this award on to seven bloggers that I love. So here goes:

Aside from those I love most, Kiddo and Hubby, family and friends, and our two furry companions, I love

1. the scents of rosemary and lavendar
2. Chopin's Preludes
3. seeing a V of honking geese flying over our house
4. reading the novels by Sarah-Kate Lynch
5. the first daffodils in spring
6. salty ocean breezes
7. the taste of chocolate

So hard to choose just seven, but I do love visiting the blogs of these folks:

1. Sandy
2. Margaret
3. Sharon
4. Kathleen
5. Sherry
6. Rachel
7. Annie

Happy Valentine's Day!

Nature Studies

A collection. I realized I hadn't yet posted these sketches. I'm still very busy right now with other work although I am managing to work on a new colored pencil piece as well. I'm just not ready to show it yet so you will have to wait a little while longer. These are all in my small Winsor Newton sketchbook, the one on top is done with walnut brown Polychromo colored pencil, the other two are in graphite. I don't know why I keep getting that pink band along the center, that's just something that seems to happen when I lay this book flat to scan and I haven't figured out how to make it go away.

Lately I have been feeling a lot like the quote from Annie Dillard about sticking a net into time and saying 'now'. These summer days up here in our mountains have been stunningly beautiful. The flowers in our yard are blooming, the vegetable garden is growing, and the dogs and Kiddo are enjoying lots of time outdoors. Kiddo, at 9, is at that age where despite her growing independence she still needs her mom about. And I don't want to miss any of that as I already know how fast things like that can change as kids grow older. But I have lots of ideas to keep me going with my art work and Hubby is enjoying the last of his summer break before he heads back to the classroom for summer courses. Sometimes these long days of summer just aren't long enough.

Paying Attention

graphite in small Winsor Newton sketchbook
quote by Annie Dillard from Pilgrim At Tinker Creek

I've been busy lately but not with art work. Some free-lance design work that I actually get paid for and then the other stuff of life thrown in just to keep me on my toes has been occupying almost all of my time lately. So I decided I'd post this little drawing I did in my nature journal while on my beach vacation last month.

Although getting away and having a break from the usual routine is refreshing, I find I am growing impatient to get back to my art work. We've been taking care of projects around the house, and the free-lance work is good for my pocket book, but I've had a sense of not being in balance. I believe it is coming from missing the time I would be spending drawing, because when I am drawing I am really focusing on something. It's a sustained attention that helps me stay balanced for all the other hectic times throughout the day. And until now I didn't realize how important that routine of drawing was to maintaining my sense of balance.

My calendar tells me that tomorrow is the summer solstice. The days will no longer expand, but begin to grow ever so slightly shorter. A time of turning inward. I am ready. I need to remind myself to pay attention more.

Taking a break

Perhaps it seemed I had dropped off the face of the earth. Well, I actually almost did just that. But we have now returned home to our mountains from a vacation at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Which is really only a spit of land hovering out there along the coast line.

Every time we travel to the coast I marvel at the amount of sky visible and a horizon that goes on and on. Here we can only catch a glimpse of sky with a horizon interrupted by the zig zag of mountains and an abundance of trees. At the coast, the openness of the sky is a welcome relief.
I did do a few sketches and drawings while away. Here are two from my new watercolor Moleskine. The top image of shells was done with Graphitints while the bottom image is a collage with a tourist map and watercolor. As I was doing these I was thinking of all the wonderful watercolors I see folks from the Everyday Matters group produce in their Moleskines, trying to channel some of their creative energy. Maybe I was too far away. These were fun just the same, so with a nod to all those inspiring EDMers I thought I'd share these here.

What you see

quote by Annie Dillard from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
graphite and walnut brown Faber Castell Polychromo in Windsor Newton small sketch journal

This has to be one of my favorite quotes from Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. "Cultivating a healthy poverty" she says. Sometimes I find it all too much. Too much clutter, too much visual stimulation. Often I am just looking for that elusive simplicity.

This also speaks to paying attention. I am guilty of not noticing what is right under my nose. The process of drawing, I have found, is largely a matter of paying attention. Learning to see as much as learning how to make the mark. I am enjoying finding things from nature to study and draw in this little sketchbook. Usually at some point while working on the drawing I am surprised that what I thought I was seeing isn't really what is before me. Drawing these natural objects is forcing me to take a closer look.

Being there

quote by Annie Dillard from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
walnut brown Faber Castell Polychromo in Windsor Newton small sketch journal

I apologize for my absence from posting. This last week and weekend were very hectic here with family visiting, dance rehearsals and performances. Fun, but I am so relieved that is all over now. All went very well. Kiddo was in five individual dance numbers, including modern, jazz, tap and ballet. I don't know how she keeps it all straight and does so well. These aren't just some kid-type recital shows either. They are full scale productions with dancers of all ages, including professionals, in a theater complete with the full complement of sets and lighting. Can you tell I'm proud of her?

But now it's back to the comfort of our day-to-day routine. Through all the recent flurry of activity any semblance of our normal routine was abandoned. Today I am trying to regain my sense of balance. I realized how I depend on the normalcy of our routine to maintain that balance in my life and activities. And even though it's sometimes fun and exciting to have a change of pace for a while I am always happy when things settle back into their usual rhythm. I'm a pretty boring person really.

New project - because of the starfish

Because of the sea shell and the starfish, and other natural objects I have drawn in the past, I have embarked on a new project. This new project is to fill a journal with nature study drawings and related quotations.

The blue sketchbook journal you see pictured is my small hand.book journal that I have been using exclusively for Everyday Matters sketches. I have had the small leather bound journal just sitting here waiting to be used yet I hadn't figured out exactly to what purpose. Until I drew the starfish. Then it hit me that I could dedicate this little sketchbook to intimate drawings from nature. Now, I also have a larger 9x9 inch Aquabee sketchbook that I use when doing nature studies with kiddo. And a 9x12 inch Aquabee sketchbook that I keep for more experimental and learning exercises. When do you have too many sketchbooks?
I dusted off my worn copy of Annie Dillard's Pilgrim At Tinker Creek. A treasured book that seems a most appropriate companion to this project. I read this book a lifetime ago, while in college and living in Cincinnati. I enjoyed the book then but at the time would never have guessed the turns my life would take to now. I opened the book this time to discover a setting in the Blue Ridge Mountains, much like where I now live, and worlds away from a Midwestern city.


So here are the first pages. Quotes are from Pilgrim At Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard. Drawings are graphite, mechanical pencil. The journal is a 4 x 6 inch Winsor & Newton. With the coming of spring and more time spent outdoors I am really looking forward to having this small journal along to record all the little treasures just waiting to be discovered. And if I am stuck inside I have plenty of natural objects available around the house, on windowsills, in bowls and baskets, tucked among books on bookshelves, we are a family of collectors.

Geometry in Nature

Here are two Everyday Matters challenges. This week's challenge #166, Draw a fish and two older challenges, #31, something you collect, combined with #78, draw a souvenir. These are both done with graphite in my small hand.book journal.

(I know I skipped last week's challenge #165, which was to draw the front of your house. When I had the time during daylight hours, it rained. I am not willing to work from a photograph for these challenges as my purpose in doing these is to gain practice drawing from life. So I will do a drawing of the front of my house when weather and time permits. I promise.)
So that is how I came to draw the shell. Wanting very much to do some drawing in my small journal I grabbed this shell figuring it must fit some challenge. I do collect shells. Although not an organized collection I have a lot of them. And they are souvenirs of sunny beach days.The starfish happened to be the closest fish-like thing I had available to draw. I really enjoyed drawing these objects from nature. So much so that now I'm thinking of doing some kind of series. Last fall we did a unit on 'geometry in nature' in our little homeschool. Kiddo and I spent an entire morning walking around the yard looking through our jeweler's loops finding triangles in spider webs, rectangular shapes in the structure of leaves, star shapes, ovals and circles in flowers. It was fascinating.