Silver Thaw

Honestly, we've had the wimpiest winter this year!  No snow.  No frigid temperatures.  Not even any "wintry mix".  But this morning we awoke to one of my favorite winter phenomena: a silver thaw.  Peter and I set off on a walk through the neighborhood.  It was early, so we had the forest of frozen trees all to ourselves.  Every branch of every tree and shrub was covered from limb to leaf in ice.  As if dipped in glass!  And nothing was stirring to break the magic spell.  Only the sound of our breathing and the drip drip drip as the spectacle melted in the warmer morning air. 

If you ever have a silver thaw where you live, I encourage you to go outside and really experience it!  See how the ice transforms otherwise anonymous trees into splendid, shining, fragile things.  The white iridescence around every single branch makes a sea of lace almost too much for the eye to behold.  Today is overcast, but when the sun shines on a silver thaw, the light show is spectacular. Peter challenged me to try to paint an ice-dipped leaf, but this might be one of those wonders of nature that an artist just can't capture.  Maybe I'll give it a try, though!

Here are some images from our walk.  Enjoy!

Winter dogwood branch - 4

Now I'm going to let you in on another drawing board secret.  Have you ever noticed when you look at something - I mean really stare at it - whatever is in the background behind the thing you are looking at is blurry? Your eyes can't focus on all the details everywhere all at once.  You can only see the sharp details of the thing you are looking at.  So as an artist, I can tweak my image to help the viewer understand what is the focal point using this principle.  It is called an 'atmospheric fade'.  I try not to overuse this technique, because can exaggerate the depth of field too much and the image becomes unrealistic (not good in botanic illustration!).  But sometimes it is useful to help put things in their proper perspective in space.  So in my branch, take a look at the little stem furthest back:

Well, the photo isn't great, of course, but I drew that little stem with every bit as much detail as the rest of the branch.  But there's going to be a problem making that next little stem down the branch appear in front of the other.  So, I took my kneeded eraser and went over this whole area carefully to remove some of the graphite.  What this does is make it look just a bit fuzzier and lighter than the rest of the image, so your brain with think, "Aha! That little stem is behind all the others!" and the picture will make sense.  See if you can tell the difference:

What this does is force you to look at other parts of the image more closely.  The fuzzy, light stuff in the back will 'fade into the atmosphere', much as it does in true life.  OK now look at the whole finished drawing and see you like the overall effect:

Winter dogwood branch - 3

The silvery branch is growing steady but sure on my paper.  I am nearing the home stretch!  I'm a bit disappointed with the quality of the photos that I'm taking of this drawing.  There must be a trick to capturing the subtleties of graphite in a photograph, but I don't know it.  Ah well, you will just have to imagine the steely gray bark, as smooth as you might expect on a young branch.  There are shiny dark brown patches in places, as layers of new bark grow over the old.  Scuffs and cracks and broken off stems reveal the harsh reality of living out in Nature. And the giveaway clue for tree identification -- those beautiful fuzzy gray buds at every tip, waiting.  Right now the branch is floating on the paper, but the next time you see it, I will have grounded it with a cast shaddow.  Until then, enjoy!

Winter dogwood branch - 2

Progress report: back at the drawing table after several very busy days doing family stuff, I'm settling in to a rhythm working on my branch.  The silver tones are soothing and subtle, and somehow all the administrivia bouncing around my head like popcorn just fades away.  I love it when that happens!  You can't really see all this bliss happening on the paper -- my photography skills can't capture it.  But I hope you enjoy seeing this update anyway!

Winter dogwood branch - 1

Today I am setting out to draw a dogwood branch.  This is a terrific candidate for a pencil drawing as it is completely grey with the exception of a slight rosy tint in the buds.  I'm intrigued with the graceful lines and those beautiful, fat buds which sit like tiny little puffs of meringue at the end of each stem.

This photo doesn't do much justice to the branch itself or to my initial sketch, which you can barely make out in the foreground.  But I wanted you to see what I'm seeing.  The first step is to faintly sketch the form on the paper, making sure the proportions and angles are all accurate.  This took me about an hour.  Now I'm ready to go back in and begin shading.  Stay tuned! 

The eyes have it

Happy New Year!  Hooray it's only January 3rd and I'm back at the drawing table!  Today I'm beginning a series of graphite drawings for your viewing pleasure.  January to me is cold and bleak and the colors come in shades of grey.  So why not spend some serious time with grey and see what we come up with?  I do love drawing with pencil -- you can achieve an infinite range of nuance and subtlety going from silvery white to practically black .  I promise by the end of this little exercise, you are going to love the color grey, and perhaps January won't seem so bleak after all!



So why eyes?  Not exactly botanical!  Well, these are my eyes, and I'm rather fond of them.  Yesterday, sweet daughter Katie gave me an eye makeover, which required us to take a hard look at my face for an extended period of time.  I don't stare at my face often (hence the need for the makeover) and I was reminded what a beautiful thing eyes are. 

I remember drawing my eyes years ago when I was back in school.  Today, staring into my little mirror, I found those same eyes residing in an older, wiser face.  The CoverGirl look is long gone, as little lines and wrinkles establish themselves.  (These eyes have seen a thing or two!)  It is way more fun drawing older eyes, I must admit.  There's more character to them, and I can blame all the imperfections and asymmetry on age, not my pencil!

In portrait work, it is the eyes that nail it, if you ask me.  Capture the eyes and you've got the person.  I think I came pretty close in this sketch . . .  I have to say it was disconcerting to look down at the paper and see me staring back! 

I'm organizing a new schedule for myself here in the new year (aren't we all?), which should result in more frequent blog entries.  Check back often, and see what I'm up to!
Enjoy, and best wishes for an abundance of good things in 2012! 

Watching

For those of you who haven't given up on me entirely, I thought I ought to check in and let you all know I'm still here!  In mid-November, we celebrtated Henry's 18th birthday, which coincided with a trip to New Haven to see Andrew, followed by a quick visit to see Dartmouth College, followed by Thanksgiving, followed by a big music event at the high school which I helped to coordinate, followed by college applications, followed by houseguests, followed by . . . let's see . . . getting ready for Christmas!  Not a lot of quiet time to paint or write!

Yet my eyes are still watching, looking, seeing beauty even as winter settles in.  The leaves are now all down and brown is the faithful, ubiquitous, solitary color that must sustain us until spring.  The landscape is dull, and one might think of it as dreary and depressing.  This balmy weather we're having isn't helping.  But I think of it differently.  Look past the browns of the earth.  Look up!  Look at nature's architecture that is only revealed in winter.  I love looking at tree branches against a sharp blue sky.  It takes my breath away to think of those massive limbs over time arranging themselves to maximize exposure to sunshine.  Grabbing their piece of the sky.  Remember in first grade when the teacher asked you to draw a tree and you drew a straight brown stick with a green ball on top?  How different it truly is in nature. Every limb describing its slow, arching, stretching movement towards the sun.

Yes, winter is static.  Quiet.  Seemingly dead.  But watch for the signs of life.  They are still all around us.  This winter I'll show you what I mean, so stay tuned!