An umbrella is easy to draw..right? DING! Wrong!
So many things to consider: Convex, concave, round, shadows, transparency, folds, foreshortening, colour, patterns…
A good challenge!
..two half open umbrellas..
pen and watercolor on Fabriano artistico watercolor block, HP, 23×30,5cm
..wide open umbrella..
pen and watercolor on Fabriano artistico watercolor block, HP, 23×30,5cm
..two closed umbrellas..
pen and watercolor on Fabriano artistico watercolor block, HP, 23×30,5cm
One of my demons in art, is the ellipse. I hate drawing ellipses. Maybe hate is a strong word..I really really dislike ellipses. So many objetcs have some sort of ellipse in it. And like with perspective, you can’t be an artist without coming across ellipses.
With a snowy and rainy weekend keeping us inside, I challenged that ellipse fear and went back to my spiral exercises(see bottom of page).
..Bowls..
pen and watercolor in Arches aquarelle block, HP, 18x26cm
..Jugs..
pen and watercolor in Arches watercolor block, CP, 18x26cm
I do these great spiral exercises to practice ellipses from the book “Sketchbook for artists”. S
..Spiral exercises four ellipses..
Bibliography: Sketchbook for the artist, Sarah Simblet..
I am rather boring when it comes to using new colours. Once i find my niche, I am happy for a long time. Probably not the way to be an artist. But I want to believe that it is me, the artist and not the tools that produces the masterpiece (which I’m still working on!!). And so my palette is always very limited to only a few well used colours.
This past week I cleaned out my palette, boutght a new Sennelier palette box and impulsively added some new colours. I am in love, but totally in love, head over heels! Two new colours on my palette..Sennelier grey and warm grey, both from Sennelier.. Absolutely beautiful and perfect for my new search of more faded colours. They will work great this winter…they have mystery, are cool to push you bit back, but then exposes a warmth which draw you closer. I use them clean and pure to have them shine their own star..I think they deserve it. Well, they definitely deserve a permanent place in my palette.
I worked on a thick pad of Canson mixed media paper, which is only meant for exercises, since it doesn’t allow for very wet work and the paper is rather fragile, even though it is 300g.
I had some lunch at a small restaurant close by and sketched my lunch of a vegetable soup, coffee and the surrounding salt and pepper set.
…vegetable soup and bread…
pencil, pen and watercolor in Daler rowney sketchbook
The coffee sketch was my first and when I tell you that I had a very upsetting experience just before I arrived at the restaurant, you’ll understand why the lines are so dark and the whole sketch is sombre and almost violent. I’m always amazed by the strong influence emotion has on art.
The salt and pepper set was the last sketch and you can see that my emotion has settled a bit by that time. It did my a world of good to do these drawings…therapeutic.
…vegetable soup…
pencil, pen and watercolor in Daler rowney sketchbook
…coffee and water with cpeculoos biscuit…
pencil, pen and watercolor in Daler rowney sketchbook
I have moved on from autumn colours to still lifes, done in the atelier. Working in thin washes, laying wet washes over dry ones. not my usual way of working, but I am quite chuffed and will do a series of these watercolors.
I need to bring in a bit darker values and I want to have more informal compositions. I think my inspiration comes here from Cézanne, whose watercolours I love. There is currently an exhibit of Cézanne in the Musee de Luxembourg in Paris until 26 February 2012, for those who want to jump in their private jets for a visit…and a lunch afterwards, maybe at the Mini palais restaurant?
…Still life with quince…
watercolor and pencil on Fabriano artistico CP, 30,5×45,5cm
I’m posting a close up to show the layering of thin washes.
…close up…
Until the next post where I’ll be back with another still life…hopefully a better one with darker values, more expressive compositions…and one where my patience has reigned!
When you forget a paintbrush at home, you use what you have available. In this case, it was my hands. And for this occasion it worked fine, although it will definitely not become my preferred way of working. I will in tie or glue my brush to my bag so I’ll never forget it again.
…interior of “la panettiére” in Toulouse…
pen and watercolorin watercolor sketchbook, 18x24cm..
The next sketch was done in the barn one evening.. and I only noticed the slant during the daytime the next day..the light in the barn at night is just not good enough for any art making, but I quite like the quirky feel to these pots. They are two of my very old terracotta pots from Provence and I adore them! I’ve started doing an oil panting with these pots..a canvas that has already been standing a few weeks on the easel…and now I’m subjecting my name to scandal by admitting it here..
…two provencal pots…
..pen and watercolour on Arches watercolor paper, CP, 18x26cm..
Africantapestry 