Category: Drawings

Art, Collage, Drawings, Journals

Bosc Pear

Shelly

Bosc Pear
Bosc Pear (detail)

I like the way this one turned out, including the little stamp. It’s a little different from what I’m used to doing with watersoluble crayons, in that I used very little water (just the fading of the edges at the top). What I did was layer and blend the crayon with my fingers (I used Portfolios, which are ridiculously smushy), then wipe away as much as possible with a paper towel. That left pretty much just the stained paper.

The stamp was an afterthought, made with an eraser and an Xacto knife. I will never, ever be a printmaker, because I find the inverted backwardness of it frustrating, so eraser stamps are about as much as I can manage.

Art, Collage, Drawings, Journals, Paintings

Red and Bosc Pears

Shelly

Red Pear
Red Pear (detail)

I’ve already uploaded details of the top two spreads, but I thought I may as well scan the full pages, too. The top entry was done before the Prismacolor drawing I did this morning. I forgot to put an interleaving sheet of paper between the pages, so the crayon and pencil transferred to the opposite pages. Oops. I also stamped the wrong date on that page. Numbers are hard, m’kay?

Red Pear
Red Pear (detail)

The second was done with watercolor pencils and a Niji water brush. I really like the way these brushes work, and will have to purchase a flat and a larger round when I get a chance. The little round I have is great, but not the right tool for all jobs.

Bosc Pear
Bosc Pear (detail)

The bottom one is acrylic applied with a Q-tip. One of these days, I’m going to have to actually buy some watercolor and acrylic brushes, but in the meantime, this worked pretty well. The smudgy effect suits Bosc pears, I think, because they’ve got a muted, matte finish.

This was a seriously limited palette: raw umber, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, and a touch of titanium white.

Art, Collage, Drawings, Journals

d’Anjou Pear

Shelly

100_4433

I occasionally forget how much work Prismacolor takes, which is about the only time it sounds like a reasonable medium to use. I also forget that it does not scan well, at least, not with my scanner, as some pigments are more opaque to light than others. Unfortunately, the ones that are more opaque are not necessarily the darkest in value, which leads to weird blotches that are not otherwise visible to the eye. In fact some of them are under-layers that are completely covered with other, less opaque colors.

D'Anjou Pear

There’s also a noticeable color shift, due in part to the opacity problem. The color in the snapshot is correct, but in compensating for the opacity discrepancies in the detail, I had to skew the color a bit. So, the detail is warmer than it should be, while the two-page scan is a bit washed out. (detail)

Art, Drawings, Journals

Red Pear

Shelly

Red Pear (detail)
Red Pear
watercolor pencil on 90lb Stonehenge paper
5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches

I used Koh-i-noor aquarell pencils with a Niji water brush. You’d have to be a masochist to use water-based media on paper that is not well suited to it, when you don’t even like–or have any skill with–watercolor in the first place. Just sayin’…

I do really like these brushes, though. They’re affordable, portable, and they actually work pretty well (considering I have no clue what I’m doing). I need to get a flat one, for washes, because the little pointy one I have is absolutely the wrong tool for the job.

Oh, and I had way too many light sources while trying to work on this, which is something else I don’t really recommend. Another thing I don’t recommend is setting your big box of pencils on the couch next to you, when you know that the dog is guaranteed to want to lie down there. Anyone for a game of 72 Pick-up?

Art, Drawings, Journals

Pear Again

Shelly

Red Pear (detail)
Pear (detail)
graphite stick on 90lb Stonehenge paper
5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches

I sometimes find that with certain media does not scan well, especially on Stonehenge paper. My scanner seems to penetrate the graphite (or oil pastel or crayon or colored pencil), washing out areas and leaving others dark and clumsy. I’ll have to see how photographing this one works, because the scan is pretty bad.

Also, I found that Miss Brown is smitten with pears. I had a difficult time convincing her to leave it alone long enough for me to draw it. And then, I was a meanypants and put it up out of her reach.

Art, Drawings, Journals

Pear

Shelly

Red Pear (detail)
Red Pear (detail)
pencil and graphite stick on 90lb Stonehenge paper
5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches

I started out cross-hatching, then I couldn’t keep my fingers out of it, so I blended the pencil a bit. Then, I thought I’d try using a baby wipe as a blender, and it worked surprisingly well. Apparently, whatever is in the liquid works as a solvent for graphite. Who knew?!

It won’t win any prizes, but I’ve been really sucky about drawing lately, so I figure that anything I do is better than doing nothing.

Art, Drawings

Blue Tree

Shelly

Blue Tree
Blue Tree
wax resist (wax crayon and India ink) on leaf from 19th century patent book
9 x 5 1/2 inches

The altered books group posts monthly techniques. I hadn’t done wax resist in years–and never with India ink–so I thought I’d try it. I used RoseArt crayons, which aren’t as heavily pigmented as Crayola, but they are waxier, so they might be better suited to resist.

Blue Tree
Blue Tree
wax resist (Portfolio water-soluble crayons and India ink) on leaf from 19th century patent book
5 1/2 x 9 inches

I also did one with Portfolio water-soluble crayons. That was only almost as stupid as it sounds. The top layers of crayon washed away in areas, but I can go back in and replace them. What’s more interesting is the way the ink bloomed. There are circular spots in the top drawing, where the ink dropped onto the paper. In the bottom one, there are lines, where I used the dropper to squeeze swathes of ink along the edges of the paper. In the scans, those areas read as tears, though close up, it’s obvious that they are not.

You could use other colors of ink. Watercolor or acrylic paint mixed with a small amount of water might be interesting, too. Pretty much anything that flows well and is water-based should work.

Art, Drawings

Another Dinosaur Egg

Shelly

Stonehenge Journal: Dinosaur Egg
Dinosaur Egg
RoseArt metallic gel markers on 90lb Stonehenge paper
7 1/2 x 5 5/8 inches

This one took forever to get the “right” color blend, for some reason. I like it best of all the dinosaur egg drawings so far, though.

I stopped at Target last night on my way home from work. I was nearly out of glue sticks, and I wanted to check out their marker and pen selection. I picked up a package of 12 non-metallic RoseArt Color Sharp markers, which is what the metallic markers I’ve been using are. The original metallics package, which I no longer have, identified the markers as “gel markers.” The ink rests on top of the paper, which allows them to show up on dark paper. The new marker package does not say “gel” on it, and I was disappointed to find that the ink sinks into the paper. They won’t work for my purposes. Hrmf.

There was a package of RoseArt metallic markers, but there were half as many for three times the price, so I passed on them. Now, I’m wondering if they’ll have the old type of ink or the new type of ink. I’d hate to waste $12 on something I can’t use. Maybe I should just wait, because by the time my current set is worn out, I might be sick of them.