Sketches from Sequoia National Park

I took my small watercolor sketch kit with me to Sequoia along with a small size watercolor Moleskine. Along the way I did several sketches and kept a journal of my trip. Here are 4 of the sketches.


Beetle Rock ~ my favorite of all the sketches I did this trip. I first read about Beetle Rock as a child in Sally Carrighar's book, "One Day on Beetle Rock". What fun to see it in person!


General Grant Tree ~ trying to capture the sense of height looking up at the tree from down below.


Round Meadow ~ I love how the red trunks of the sequoia stand out from amongst the other trees with their grey bark and deep green needles. The meadow was lovely in shades of green and yellow


Tunnel Log ~ my second favorite of the sketches I did this trip. I'm learning to push the darks and it's making my watercolors better!

Houseplants

Another sketch for the Wet Canvas Scavenger Hunt. This is one end of the shelf in front of my living room window. The gernaium has insisted upon growing up through the lamp, despite my attempts to train it otherwise. It seems happy and the compact flourescent bulb is cool enough that the plant is unscorched, so I have left it to grow.

Feels good to be sketching again. I didn't realize how much I had missed it.

Back to Sketching

It has been a long time since I've done much sketching. The Scavenger Hunt at Wet Canvas has been on my mind lately and so today after reviewing the current list, I decided it was time to pick up the sketchbook and begin anew.

#1 ~ Egg Cup
#2 ~ Open Candy wrapper with Candy ~ in this case a Tootsie Roll Pop!

I'm definitely a bit rusty after so much time away from sketching. Since I hope to begin oil painting again in the next couple weeks, I need to work on my "seeing" skills!

ATCs & ACEOs

I discovered something new recently. The world of Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) and Artist Cards Editions and Originals (ACEOs). These are small works of art that are 2 1/2" x 3 1/2" in size. Some artists trade them (ATCs), others sell them (ACEOs), which accounts for the two different names. On my pad of Winsor& Newton 140 lb Hot Press watercolour paper, I can fit 8 or 9 of these cards on one sheet. It is a fun way to try out new techniques and play with series of images. In playing with these, I came up with two small series.

This first series is of some tiny Christmas balls I have. I've always loved tiny things so doing tiny art of wee Christmas balls seems a perfect intro into the world of ATC/ACEOs!
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This next series is my favorite so far and one I may attempt to recreate much larger in oils in the future. These gave me more enjoyment painting than I've had in a long time (and I really like to paint!)
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Finding the subjects for the Wet Canvas scavenger hunts forces me to think creatively about what I'm sketching and helps me to sketch things I typically wouldn't think of doing. Like this corner of my living room. The items that inspired this were; something taller than me; a hanging plant; eyeglasses with an eyeglass holder or chain.

Twisted Table Leg

This old oak table has been a favorite of mine for years. Its twisty legs were the perfect challenge to sketch for a table leg. I also wanted to include some other items for the scavenger hunt in this so included a mushroom cap, a map and the buckle of my watch!

Honey Pot

Every morning, my Dad has honey on his toast, so when this scavenger hunt called for a container for sweetener, I knew I had to paint his honey pot!

Third Flatiron

A mountain peak was the challenge for this sketch. Along the front range of Colorado there is no shortage of peaks to draw, but I wanted to do something that was indicative of where I was. This is the Third Flatiron that sits overlooking Boulder. I sat in the parking lot at NCAR (National Center for Atmospheric Research) and did this sketch. My dad has climbed this in the past!

String of Beads

Ball/marble/string of beads (round ones) was the third item on this weeks list. I recently learned how to make several types of Celtic knots and used them to string these beads. Two of the knots are sliding knots, which allows the length of the necklace to be lengthened or shortened! I had a lot of fun making this and so it was easy to choose it as the subject for this sketch. The challenge for me here is that the beads were all somewhat transparent and the knots intricate.

A Twig of Cotoneaster

#2 on this weeks Scavenger Hunt list is: A Twig. Lots of possiblities for this one! I walked around the yard with my pruners in hand. I had quite a bouquet of interesting autumn leaves on twigs, but when I walked around the front of the house and saw the bright red berries and deep green leaves of the cotoneaster (pronounced ka-TONE-ee-aster rather than cotton-easter!), I knew this was what I had to draw.

Seedpods

Every 9 days, a new "Scavenger Hunt" begins on WetCanvas. One of the participants of the Artwork from Life/Scavenger Hunt forum submits a list of approximately 26 items and up to 3 challenges. The members then post their sketches.

For this hunt, I chose to sketch the items in watercolor with ink accents. I use a Winsor Newton sketchbox, Winsor Newton Cotman brushes, Micron pens and Holbein Multi-Drawing Book/OF (approx 5.25" x 7.25"). The first item on the list for October 8 - 16, 2006 was: Seedpod (cone, acorn etc.) I looked through my Mom's collection of nature items and came up with these interesting items to sketch.


The acorn is from a Burr Oak. I do not know the type of cone or seedpod though my Mom believes she found them in California.