Zinnias and an old farm house…

I’ve put away the pens and I am now embracing loose watercolors and pencil. I used a lot of pencils in college, and I always enjoyed them. I’m not sure why I stopped using them. After trying several different brands I have settled on Blackwing pencils and the original Palomino pencils. Beautiful pencils and the best graphite I have ever used!

I am also skipping the pens with my watercolors, for now. That may change. But, I really love the challenge of painting loose. In theory it seems easy enough, bold brush strokes and minimal detail. But the challenge of telling the your story with minimal brush marks is really exciting to me.

Loose watercolor of zinnias on St Cuthberts Mill Saunders Waterford cold press paper

Old Stone Farmhouse on St Cuthberts Mill Saunders Waterford cold press paper

The Old Stone Farmhouse in pencil in a Paper-Oh A5 journal

The zinnias were cut from our garden. They are a favorite in our house for cut flowers and the great variety of colors and blooms. The old farmhouse is located just outside of town. I don’t know the history of the house, but there is something about the crumbling stone and brick walls that really intrigues me. It’s a favorite subject of mine.

Right now my watercolor paper of choice is St Cuthberts Mill Saunders Waterford cold press, the sketchbook used for the farmhouse is a Paper-Oh A5 journal.

Thanks for stopping by…Erik

Daily sketching and looking for spring

We’ve had some unseasonably warm weather this week in NW Ohio. Last weekend the temperature climbed into the mid 60s, which led to several long walks. This week has also been warm. The forecast calls for more cold and maybe a bit of snow this weekend, but we know spring is coming. Our daffodils are pushing through the dirt and standing tall, the crocus are showing some green, and the snowdrops are blooming everywhere.

Snowdrops sketched in the garden

Our empty garden containers drawn in my Leuchtturm1917 journal with a Preppy fountain pen

Sketching tall trees and low buildings

Sketching my sweatshirt in the sun

 

I took some time this week to make a sketch of our empty garden containers sitting on our deck. It’s been a while since I actually enjoyed a little urban sketching. I decided to switch to my Leuchtturm1917 journal for this one. I went straight with the pen, no pencil layout, just pen. There is something exciting about going into a drawing with a pen, you can’t erase, you can’t undo, you can only keep going forward. I like that. I also took a walk out in the yard this morning and decided to capture a little clump of the snowdrops. I used the Leuchtturm1917 journal for this one too.

I’d like to spend more time working on the observation drawing, or urban sketching. It’s fun to be creative and imagine something, but it’s also a lot of fun to actually be part of your environment while your sketching.

That’s all for this post, thanks everyone…Erik