Friday, July 27, 2012
Back to the Drawing Board
I know this expression says a lot. Something doesn't work the way you thought it would? Something doesn't go the way you planned? Something unexpected happens? It's back to the drawing board to try again. For me and my art, I take this expression literally. I have two places to work in my studio: at my desk and at my drawing board table. When I am at the beginning of a complex project, I spend time at my desk doing research and studying photos on my computer, and I doodle at the drawing board. I bounce back and forth from table to desk as an idea is tested, tweaked, and discarded when a better idea emerges. It is an essential stage because this is when I start to fully understand the nature of the thing I'm working on. How it grows. What is its character. I go back to the drawing board again and again until eventually something clicks. I've got a drawing in my mind that starts to work on paper. I don't mind getting to a dead end and having to start over, because I am learning all the while. And I know my end result will be better for all the trials it took to get there. Sometimes I wish I could be this persevering in other aspects of my life, helping me overcome other barriers, real or imagined. Ah well, at least in this arena I know what works. I have to go back to go forward.
Monday, July 16, 2012
Flame Azalea composition
OK so life got in the way of my Plan to Paint. A strange wind storm two weeks ago left us without power for a week! Then it took me a week to get things put back together (including myself). For some reason that whole episode wiped me out and I had zero energy or inspiration to do anything creative. Until today!
I know this doesn't look like much, but it represents two hours of work. I'm trying to construct an interesting composition of the beautiful flame azalea just coming into bloom. Of course, now in July, the flame azalea is just another bland green shrub, blending in with everything else. But when it first comes in to flower, it is a real show stopper. I've got lots of pictures and some sketches from back in May and June. So today I am sketching branches and understanding how the shrub grows. This way, I can create a branch from my photos and sketches that will be botanically accurate, even though it doesn't actually exist. It sounds sort of sneaky, but it isn't. It is art! As I've said before, it is in the composition that the botanical artist finds a channel for creative expression.
I think now I've worked out in my head how I'd like to portray this specimen. Let's see if I can get it to work on paper!
I know this doesn't look like much, but it represents two hours of work. I'm trying to construct an interesting composition of the beautiful flame azalea just coming into bloom. Of course, now in July, the flame azalea is just another bland green shrub, blending in with everything else. But when it first comes in to flower, it is a real show stopper. I've got lots of pictures and some sketches from back in May and June. So today I am sketching branches and understanding how the shrub grows. This way, I can create a branch from my photos and sketches that will be botanically accurate, even though it doesn't actually exist. It sounds sort of sneaky, but it isn't. It is art! As I've said before, it is in the composition that the botanical artist finds a channel for creative expression.
I think now I've worked out in my head how I'd like to portray this specimen. Let's see if I can get it to work on paper!
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Flame Azalea
Time to begin a new painting! Today I am starting to work on a flame azalea, a shrub which grows out by the road in front of my house. I've sketched the blossoms before (see posts April 25 - May 10, 2011). And now my friend, Daniel, has commissioned me to paint them!
First, an introduction:
Isn't this beautiful? Even with my finicky camera it looks great. You should see some of Daniel's shots. He's a terrific photographer and his photos are even more gorgeous. Actually, I am not entirely sure why he wants a painting when he's got such lovely photos. But a painting can reveal more of the soul of the thing, can't it? And he has a sentimental fondness for flame azaleas, going back to his childhood home in South Carolina where his dad cultivated them. So the challenge is set!
The flame azalea, also known as Rhododendron calendulaceum, is one of only15 native species which grow in the Eastern U.S. (By comparison, plant enthusiasts have selectively bred azaleas for hundreds of years, yielding more than 10,000 hybrids!) It is one of the most spectacular native shrubs of the Appalachian Mountains and can be found from southern New York and Ohio south through the Appalachan Mountains to northern Georgia. It has a wide range of color from clear yellow to oranges to brilliant red. My shrubs are mostly yellow-orange to solid orange. R. calendulaceum was first collected in 1795 from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina by Andre Michaux, the French botanist and explorer, but it has been around much longer. This native species has been growing relatively undisturbed in the Appalachians for millions of years!
As for the plant's habit, this is what I've learned: Like all native azaleas, it is a well-branched deciduous shrub. This means it drops its leaves in the winter. It is upright with spreading branches, about 5 to 10 feet high. (My shrubs, which get absolutely no attention from me, are going on 50 years old and are about 6 - 8 feet tall.) It is a naturally occuring tetraploid, having twice the number of chromasomes in comparision to other native species. Because of this fact, it does not hybridize easily with most of the other natives.
The terminal inflorescense (the bunch of blossoms at the end of the stem) can contain 5 - 8 flowers, with the individual corolla (one blossom) varying from 2.5 - 4 cm. long to 3 - 5 cm. accross. The corolla is openly funnel shaped, and the tube is the same length as the width of the petals, or slightly shorter. The flowers have a prominant blotch (this is a horticultural term meaning a darker blotch of color at the center of the bloom) but are not fragrant. The undersides of the leaves are pubescent (fuzzy), but not waxy white. The flowers open along with the leaves, or shortly thereafter.
I could go on to describe more excruciating details about the morphology of this plant, but I will spare you. It is stuff I need to know as I set out to draw it, but it really is pretty dry stuff! Let's just agree that it is a wonderful subject to paint and worthy of its distinction in 2000 as Virginia's "Wildflower of the Year". Onward!
(p.s. for your amusement, I have also posted some more musings "around the house" and "on other stuff". Check out the links to the right.)
First, an introduction:
Isn't this beautiful? Even with my finicky camera it looks great. You should see some of Daniel's shots. He's a terrific photographer and his photos are even more gorgeous. Actually, I am not entirely sure why he wants a painting when he's got such lovely photos. But a painting can reveal more of the soul of the thing, can't it? And he has a sentimental fondness for flame azaleas, going back to his childhood home in South Carolina where his dad cultivated them. So the challenge is set!
The flame azalea, also known as Rhododendron calendulaceum, is one of only15 native species which grow in the Eastern U.S. (By comparison, plant enthusiasts have selectively bred azaleas for hundreds of years, yielding more than 10,000 hybrids!) It is one of the most spectacular native shrubs of the Appalachian Mountains and can be found from southern New York and Ohio south through the Appalachan Mountains to northern Georgia. It has a wide range of color from clear yellow to oranges to brilliant red. My shrubs are mostly yellow-orange to solid orange. R. calendulaceum was first collected in 1795 from the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina by Andre Michaux, the French botanist and explorer, but it has been around much longer. This native species has been growing relatively undisturbed in the Appalachians for millions of years!
As for the plant's habit, this is what I've learned: Like all native azaleas, it is a well-branched deciduous shrub. This means it drops its leaves in the winter. It is upright with spreading branches, about 5 to 10 feet high. (My shrubs, which get absolutely no attention from me, are going on 50 years old and are about 6 - 8 feet tall.) It is a naturally occuring tetraploid, having twice the number of chromasomes in comparision to other native species. Because of this fact, it does not hybridize easily with most of the other natives.
The terminal inflorescense (the bunch of blossoms at the end of the stem) can contain 5 - 8 flowers, with the individual corolla (one blossom) varying from 2.5 - 4 cm. long to 3 - 5 cm. accross. The corolla is openly funnel shaped, and the tube is the same length as the width of the petals, or slightly shorter. The flowers have a prominant blotch (this is a horticultural term meaning a darker blotch of color at the center of the bloom) but are not fragrant. The undersides of the leaves are pubescent (fuzzy), but not waxy white. The flowers open along with the leaves, or shortly thereafter.
I could go on to describe more excruciating details about the morphology of this plant, but I will spare you. It is stuff I need to know as I set out to draw it, but it really is pretty dry stuff! Let's just agree that it is a wonderful subject to paint and worthy of its distinction in 2000 as Virginia's "Wildflower of the Year". Onward!
(p.s. for your amusement, I have also posted some more musings "around the house" and "on other stuff". Check out the links to the right.)
Friday, June 8, 2012
Post #101!
I just discovered that I have published 100 posts on this blog! Sounds like a milestone, doesn't it? For a project that I wasn't at all sure I'd stick with, I'd say it has been a success. Thanks to all of you who have followed me thus far! No telling where this thing is going . . . I'm open to suggestions!
So it seems appropriate to post a dog theme on day 101. It isn't dalmations, but it is cute, nonetheless. This is the finished portrait of Ginger, biscuits and all. Enjoy!
So it seems appropriate to post a dog theme on day 101. It isn't dalmations, but it is cute, nonetheless. This is the finished portrait of Ginger, biscuits and all. Enjoy!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Dog biscuits galore!
If you were a dog, wouldn't you love to have your portrait surrounded by a pile of crunchy treats? Ginger is the sort of dog who is completely and totally motivated by food, even at her advanced age. She's always been easy to train, as long as there's a biscuit waiting at the end of the task to be performed. Every time we look at this drawing, we're going to say to ourselves, "Good girl, Ginger!"
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Dog Doodle
Hello people! I'm back!! Both sons are officially graduated from their respective institutions and our daughter is safely ensconced in her study abroad program in Morocco. Whew! So I'm starting out with something easy. Sort of a warm up, if you will.
I know. You are thinking, wow, she's hit the bottom of the botanical barrel. Drawing dog biscuits. OK, so it isn't in any remote sense a botanical drawing. Even if it is organic dog biscuits! So why draw them? Well, I'm finishing up my little project for Katie which was a drawing of Ginger, our dog (see May 7 post). I thought it would be fun to draw some dog biscuits on the matting before I have it framed!
Actually, it is a great drawing exercise for several reasons. First, it is easy because it is practically impossible to mess up the color. Dog biscuits are brown, after all. The ever present worry of turning something muddy from incorrect color mixing just doesn't apply. Also, the shape is very forgiving. Dog biscuits are hard, crumbly, rounded, toothsome, crunchy things and so a precise, steady hand is not required in order to draw one successfully. In fact, if you are a novice at drawing, I highly recommend trying to draw one! Finally, whenever I get to draw something easy, I like to let the pencil do its thing and not think too much about it. I can get in to a sort of zen state of non-thinking, which is really very refreshing. I become the observer, watching with curiosity as the biscuit takes shape on the mat board.
In choosing my projects, most of the time I like to undertake a great challenge and then muster the perseverance and fortitude to see it through. But at times like this, when my mental and emotional energy is flagging a bit, I find it satisfying just to color within the lines. Enjoy!
I know. You are thinking, wow, she's hit the bottom of the botanical barrel. Drawing dog biscuits. OK, so it isn't in any remote sense a botanical drawing. Even if it is organic dog biscuits! So why draw them? Well, I'm finishing up my little project for Katie which was a drawing of Ginger, our dog (see May 7 post). I thought it would be fun to draw some dog biscuits on the matting before I have it framed!
Actually, it is a great drawing exercise for several reasons. First, it is easy because it is practically impossible to mess up the color. Dog biscuits are brown, after all. The ever present worry of turning something muddy from incorrect color mixing just doesn't apply. Also, the shape is very forgiving. Dog biscuits are hard, crumbly, rounded, toothsome, crunchy things and so a precise, steady hand is not required in order to draw one successfully. In fact, if you are a novice at drawing, I highly recommend trying to draw one! Finally, whenever I get to draw something easy, I like to let the pencil do its thing and not think too much about it. I can get in to a sort of zen state of non-thinking, which is really very refreshing. I become the observer, watching with curiosity as the biscuit takes shape on the mat board.
In choosing my projects, most of the time I like to undertake a great challenge and then muster the perseverance and fortitude to see it through. But at times like this, when my mental and emotional energy is flagging a bit, I find it satisfying just to color within the lines. Enjoy!
Monday, May 14, 2012
Artichoke - final
I'm off to the framer's with this one . . . I ordered the mat and frame last week, knowing it would be a tight turnaround. It will be done just in the nick of time for the charity auction next Wednesday. (If you are interested, check out Piedmont Council for the Arts.) Working under such a hard deadline has been a good experience. No time for messing about with this piece! I'd say the result is satisfactory, wouldn't you?
Hope all moms had a very happy Mother's Day yesterday! I sure did :)
I am heading into several weeks of nonstop family activity -- the two graduations are upon us! So I will sign off for a bit. Please check back in once June rolls around! My next project is sure to please!
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