Sunday, August 31, 2014

Sketches from Paradise

I haven't quite developed the "sketchbook habit" that I am hoping for, but I have completed a couple more pages since I last posted with the leaves from my walk by the creek.  This time, I worked from photographs from my summer vacation in Hawaii
http://andria-drawingnear.blogspot.com/2014/06/top-10-hawaiian-vacation-memories.html
My inspiration photo
First, I sketched a bird-of-paradise plant from our hike up to Manoa Falls.  Following a pencil sketch, I outlined it with a thin black marker, painted it with watercolors, and strengthened the ink lines once the paint dried.
Following Alisa Burke's lead, I added a black-marker border and some journaling to capture a few notes about the subject matter. 
I get the most amazing feedback on my sketchbook pages from my budding-artist daughter, Katy.  When she saw my finished page, she threw her arms around my waist, sputtered a moment over what to say, and declared, "I love you, Mommy!"  If that isn't incentive to keep up my sketchbook efforts, I don't know what is!

Once I finished the bird-of-paradise page, my daughters wanted to watch me do a second page, and "voted" on the lizard we saw at the Nuuanu Pali Lookout on our trip. 
My second inspiration photo
Animals are clearly not my strong suit, and the girls clearly saw that, but enjoyed watching me work on the page and were gracious about my results!
 I always think I should point out, "in my defense," that most of my work is completed on the sofa with a five-year-old on my right side and a six-year-old on my left.  Not a whole lot of freedom of movement for this artist's elbows, and certainly no fear of drawing with an audience allowed!
I think I better stick to leaves and flowers for awhile!

8 comments:

Beverley Baird said...

Loved your artwork! The flower is beautiful.

Jewels said...

LOL - sounds like your children are very supportive of your artistic endeavors (which I think you are doing very well)...watching you may rub off on them if it hasn't already...hope you have a great Labor Day - hard to believe September is here!

denthe said...

I like your stylised sketches. Love the contrast between the soft colours and the strong dark lines. And the lizard has a mischievous look on its face :-)

Carin Winkelman said...

I actually love the lizard! It has character. ;-)

Terrie said...

your sketching efforts are impressive and I'm loving seeing what you're doing. how great that you have such a supportive audience! btw, that flower is a heliconia, not bird of paradise - but it's gorgeous none-the-less! i always forget i can sketch from photos....as i look around my family room i'm always uninspired to pick up a pencil, but from my photos....now that's another situation entirely. thanks for the inspiration!

Patty Antle said...

I love your blog. So nice catching up with you today. Congrats on a lovely Hawaiian vacation.

Parabolic Muse said...

Okay, that scene with Katy made me smile!!

I love this. We went up to the falls too, and this drawing and your colors took me back there right away. awesome!

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