sketchbook :: Happy Christmas!

Few quiet moments these last days before Christmas. Yet I did steal two in order to spend a little time with my sketchbook. It's a new sketchbook for me, begun at the Solstice. A sketchbook made by Cachet, with multi-media paper and a spiral binding, one that I can enjoy yet not allow it to become too precious. My poinsettia above was sketched lightly in pencil, washed with watercolor, then purple ink lines added.

And Kiddo's Christmas cookies were sketched with watercolor pencils, then washed lightly with water. I do like the paper in this book. It's not slick, like some multi-media sketchbook papers, so it does behave a bit more like watercolor paper. It has a slight texture, not too much though, just about right for pencils and ink. Over the past few months I have tried and abandoned a few other purchased sketchbooks for one reason or another. This one though, looks like it may be a keeper. And now that the rush is over I am looking forward to a few more quiet moments, hopefully spent with my sketchbook!

I hope your holidays are happy and that you have a joyous, and art-filled, new year!

sketchbook Tuesday :: November's color

I love the subtle color of November. The ochres, deep blue-greens, and muted violets found in the softly lit November landscape are somewhat a relief after the fiery color of October. A brief walk around my yard revealed these remnants of color from seasons already gone, now that November is here. They were sketched with watercolor and a little watercolor pencil, in my handmade sketchbook. What month has your favorite colors?

Sketchbook Tuesday :: meeting Deborah

This past Saturday I had the wonderful opportunity to meet fellow artist and blogger, Deborah Lowe, of Making a Splash. We met at Cheap Joe's, looked at the art and talked art supplies, of course. Her energy, and love of color and line must have rubbed off a little as I found myself buying a set of Inktense pencils before leaving Cheap Joe's. Once home I put them to use with a pen and ink drawing of a few flowers from our yard.

It was such a treat meeting Deborah! And naturally, the paparazzi was on hand to record such a momentous event!

Sketchbook Tuesday - New watercolor pencils

I received an early holiday gift, a set of 12 Prismacolor watercolor pencils. It has been a little while since I worked with watercolor pencils, and the ones I have are not Prismacolor brand, so I got this new set out and gave them a whirl. First I made the color chart shown below in the back of my sketch journal. What I immediately liked about these was the way they laid down on the paper. Very creamy and smooth, just like you'd expect from Prismacolors. They did dissolve nicely when touched with a water brush. I also played around with them sketching Christmas tree ornaments last evening. I discovered that the black is very intense and that drawing the snow man in graphite first was a bad idea. To brighten him up I went back in with a white gel pen, which I also used in a few other places on the other ornament sketches. And a little brown Micron pen too.

The range of colors in the set of 12 is okay. I love that dark umber and the Copenhagen blue. I can see replacing a couple of the others down the line though, if I continue to use these for sketching. I do like that every pencil mark doesn't wash away, leaving some saturated linear elements here and there. And again, I loved the creamy, soft feel of drawing with these. All in all, I believe I could have some fun with this set!

Sketchbook Tuesday - Marsh Memories

Sitting here in our mountains on these cool, wet foggy days, I find myself longing for the Low Country. A wide horizon with a watery view. This is a quick sketch from one of my many photos, done with watercolor pencils and a little colored pencil over top.

Sketchbook Tuesday - Summertime

The Professor and I recently celebrated our 27th wedding anniversary. This is an occasion that we don't usually mark with gifts, choosing instead to dedicate a trip taken or a new item for our home for our anniversary. I happened to pick up these bluebird salt and pepper shakers and they became our anniversary gift this year. The other evening I sketched them in graphite and added watercolor pencil for a bit of color.

This sketch is one of the last remaining page spreads in my Spring sketch journal. And now today marks the beginning of summer. Time for a new season and a new sketch journal.

Happy Summer Solstice!

In summer, the song sings itself.  

 

~William Carlos Williams

Sunday sketches

I haven't posted sketches in a while. How did that happen? Well, here are a couple of recent sketches from my handmade sketchbook. The one above is the view off our back deck, minus lots of tree limbs. I sketched this with pencil and colored pencil, washed with water. It was late in the afternoon. I just love the light that time of day. And recently geese have been flying over in the late afternoons, on their way from the pond in our neighborhood to a pond over on the next hill. Can you hear them honking?

This was a quick watercolor sketch. I couldn't let February get away with sketching tulips.

Sketchbook Tuesday - Freshly baked

Well. With all the cleaning and de-cluttering going on around here I thought I'd try on one of the new Blogger templates for size. The birds just seemed so appropriate. I tried out various ways of using my old header but settled on no header at all for a cleaner look. What do you think? I also added the page tabs but that bit is still under construction. I do like the idea of having static pages as a place to store information, just haven't quite worked out what yet. However, I would like to give things a fresher, simpler look around here.

And speaking of fresh and clean, a little while ago I was given this lovely Sunshine Award for "Creativity and Positivity in Blogging" by fellow blogger Pam Johnson Brickell of South Carolina Low Country Nature Journaling and Art. 

A beautiful splash of sunshine from the Low Country is just what is needed to brighten up the place. Of course the hard part of accepting such a wonderful award is choosing who to pass it along to. And choosing folks that I haven't already recently passed awards along to. There are, however, lots of creative bloggers in my blog list over on the side bar. So I am simply asking you to please take a moment and look them over. I am often updating that list too, as I discover blogs that I enjoy. It's a very long list so if you plan on looking at them all you may need to grab a cup of coffee and settle in.

The sketch above is of today's loaf of artisan bread. We've been having fresh bread almost daily since I got this book.

Mixing it up

Sound
mixed media on paper
5.5 x 7.5 inches
©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

I have so many ideas that I want to try. And since I am working on my hundred painting project this year, knowing that I have that one clear goal, I feel a sense of freedom to play with these other ideas without commitment. I know, that sounds strange. How could such a huge project free up my thinking for other works? But it has. So there it is.

This is a drawing where I experimented with mixing media. I began with a water soluble graphite pencil, a blue gray watercolor pencil, and a brown Neocolor II crayon on hot press paper. I scribbled in my medium and darker values then washed it with water. While it was still wet I squirted it with water from a spray bottle. After it dried I went back in with a graphite pencil. One idea down. About a thousand to go.

Sketchbook Tuesday

I decided to do a little media exploration to see how well I might get along with various media for working in my sketchbook. You would think I already had some idea but by doing this exercise I did learn a thing or two. I chose one of my reference photos and repeated it in all sorts of different media. The images here are just a sampling.

I learned that I do like watercolor for its immediacy in journaling and that a black grape Prismacolor pencil works wonderfully as complement to landscape colors when I want to scribble in a bit of structure with line.
I also learned that a good old pencil is still a favorite of mine for sketching. It works just as well as a brief statement, like the one above, as it does for more finished drawings.
And as much as I enjoy colored pencil and watercolor pencils I do tend to spend much more time when working with these media. Sometimes that is exactly what I want, to spend some time, but if I am looking for a way to quickly get down an idea this would probably only frustrate me and not be a good choice for sketching. This is all good stuff to be aware of if I am to make a habit of keeping an artist's journal. So what are your favorite sketching tools? When working in your sketchbook, what floats your boat?

You went on ahead

This is another one of my Neocolor II and colored pencil pieces on hot press paper, about 5 x 8 inches. A trail that we have hiked many times now since we moved to these mountains. Years ago, we would take our dog, Henry, hiking with us. He loved to run ahead but would always stop and wait for us to catch up. He was a dog that needed to go first. Always.

Once upon an autumn

Fall
5.5 x 7.5 inches
Neocolor II and colored pencil on hp paper
©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Just about one month ago it looked like this around here. Now the leaves are gone and the colors are softer. This is another of my Neocolor II studies, washed with water, then covered with dry colored pencil. And it's been sitting around for about a month waiting to be finished, so today I did. Just clearing the decks before the Keeping an Artist's Journal class begins next week.

Sketchbook Tuesday

Looks like posting works from my sketchbook is turning into a regular Tuesday thing. And that's okay. Maybe it will inspire me to work in my sketchbooks more regularly, knowing that there is always another Tuesday right around the corner. Pears are becoming a regular subject for me too. I just love their shapes and the subtle gradations of color. I did this page spread while the Professor and Kiddo were out Trick-or-Treating last Saturday evening. It's all done with watercolor pencils in my hand.book journal.

A little quiet time

Autumn Woods
5.5 x 7.5 inches
Neocolor II and colored pencil on hp
©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

The little ghosts and goblins have all settled and we are now preparing for our winter with warming soups, fresh baked bread, pulling the sweaters out of their storage boxes and planning creative time spent indoors. I am looking at all the projects started on my drawing table and really hoping to be able to spend more time with them this month, as all the festivities and work of the last couple of months is now mostly behind me. November is a quiet month and I am ready for it now.

Looking ahead

Hatteras
neocolor II and colored pencil on hp
5.5 x 7.5 inches
©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Here it is October already. Turn around once and it will be the winter holidays and then the new year before we know it. This is a view from the most southern tip of Hatteras Island, near where the ferry takes you to Ocracoke. I worked on this from an old photo of mine. This area is probably filled up with over sized beach houses and souvenir shops by now.

Thinking about it

Sims Pond
Neocolor II and colored pencil on Arches HP
5.5 x 7.5 inches
©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

I didn't mean to take so long before posting again. Time flies by so fast these days. Thank you to all who commented on my last post. I really appreciate all of your supportive comments!

This is another of my mixed media studies using washed Neocolor II crayons and then dry colored pencil on top. The view is of Sims Pond, from one of our Parkway excursions last month. Doing these studies makes me want to paint. Just paint. And draw. I have lots of ideas lately, lots of works in my head that I wish didn't take so long to actually do.

Something that has scared me

I know there are a lot of things in this world that are truly scary. Things that we should be frightened by. But these innocent looking fish are what I chose for Everyday Matters challenge #239, draw something that has scared you. (I found the photo reference on Wet Canvas, from Gallery318.) Sure, fish are supposed to be calming, beautiful to look at even, but they give me the creeps. I don't want to swim with fish. I do, however, enjoy eating fish. Just as long as someone else has done the hard work of catching and cleaning it beforehand.

Maybe it's because fish tanks were always a part of the doctor and dentist's office decor when I was growing up that I learned to mistrust fish. Or that when I was really young we had a small aquarium in our home, with guppies. The guppies quickly multiplied. I named each and every one "Charlie". Well, I was only 4 or 5 at the time. Then one of the original Charlies ate all the other Charlies. It was devastating. When Kiddo wanted a fish I made it clear that I would have nothing to do with its care. She was probably 4 or 5 at the time. So the Professor bought a small tank and a couple of gold fish. Kiddo was devastated when one of the fish died. Late one evening the second fish leaped out of the tank and I had to be the one that discovered it dead on the floor. How gross. Had to get the Professor to perform last rites for that one. Fish are just creepy.

Yet again

At Bodie Light
Neocolor II and colored pencil
approximately 7 x 10 inches on Arches HP
©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

This is a view of a waterway through the marshes surrounding the Bodie Lighthouse on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Yet another in the experimental series I am currently obsessed with. There is much more dry colored pencil worked over the Neocolor II washes on this one than what I did with the previous piece. I am enjoying the process of allowing the work suggest what I do, as opposed to more closely following a reference. Colored pencil tends to be a very tightly controlled medium. Working this way feels like letting go of those constraints just a bit.

First aid

This is my drawing for last week's Everyday Matters drawing challenge #238, something you'd find in a first aid kit. This is what I always carry with me in my purse. It's Kiddo's Epi-pens, a few packets of Benadryl, and some band-aids. The Epi-pens are because of her allergy to peanut. The Benadryl is just in case, and I believe moms are supposed to carry band-aids. Every so often the Epi-pens expire and we get the prescription renewed. The old, unused Epi-pens are triumphantly thrown out. Such a relief.

Evening sketches

Some recent sketches from my hand.book journal. Above is our Corgi napping in that twisted around way that she does. I love how she shows off her little short legs this way.
And this one of Kiddo and our Springer. I thought I'd be able to get a view of our Springer's face, but much too soon he flopped back into his usual evening time resting pose.