Working with Flowers and a Line of Action -Painting & Drawing Tips

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

I like flowers.
Big, Small, Pink, Blue or White.
Doesn't matter.  I enjoy painting and drawing them.

I know you are going to say, but wait, aren't you the wildlife artist.  I am, but flowers call to me and certain ones really call loudly.  Poppies are one of them.  There is something about the folds and curves of the poppies we have growing in our front yard that just shout my name.

THE DANCE OF THE POPPY - Watercolour,  4.5 x 6 

Drawing poppies presents challenges.  Those lines and folds that I love so much can really cause you grief if you don't have a firm plan in place to draw them.  I have found an approach that really helps me capture their beauty and excitement.  It is using a "Line of Action".  This approach is used a lot for drawing people (see my last post here) but not so much for other things.

The usual approach is to work with circles or oval type shapes with a flower like this one.  Yes, I do use those shapes for determining my composition.  However, for the actual drawing I find that gesture offers little information.

The oval tells me size but no real reference for placing the petals 

But a Line of Action is a gesture that really works.
Here's how a Line of Action works.  I study my flower and look for a strong line that indicates the main action or movement in the flower.

On it's own the line doesn't look like much, but it actually is a great reference!

This Line of Action tells me:

- the size of the flower

- the angle the flower will have

- gives a reference point for placing the center and most of the petals

- gives a reference for the size of the center and the petals.

The major components of the flower can be marked on the line and drawn from there. 

As you can see the points on the line give a reference for where to place each of the petals.  Also looking at the reference points gives a relationship for how big things are.  For example: the bottom petal is about half the length of the middle petal and the upper petals are larger than the bottom petal.  The end points of the line give a reference for the end points on those petals.  It is almost like magic.  This one crazy looking line is packed full of information, just waiting to be read!!

Have you used this type of line for starting a drawing?  Do you use other shapes or gestures?  What is your favourite?

If you would like to walk through a drawing using this method join me at Opus Art Supplies, Langley Store, BC on January 14, 2017, 10:30-12:30.  This will be a drawing class working with a black eyed-susie starting with a Line of Action.  $25 includes a small Drawing Kit.  Preregister here  through the store. This will fill up fast.

I offer Private Drawing Lessons throughout the year, and I would be happy to work with you.  Get more information on Private Drawing Lessons here. 

  A really special gift for the Artist on your list:

 All day Marketing Workshop - Let's Get Your Art Out There - Sunday, Feb 26 or March 5, 2017.  This is an opportunity to work with a small group focusing on ways that work for you, to market your art.  Whether you are looking at full time or part Art Sales, there are effective, proven strategies that will get your work out the door. $70 Limited to 8 per session.  Art by Wendy Studio/Gallery, N. Surrey, BC.  REGISTER NOW  with Wendy.   Out of Towners give me a call and we can set something up.

Great gift for yourself or an artist you know.  Gift Certificates are available.   

 Be sure to like and share my posts. You won't miss a single one if you follow by email or Like my Facebook Page. Keep up with all the art events by joining my Email List.
Have a great artful day,
Wendy

Get out of the Studio! - Plein Air and Drawing Tips for Sketchbooks

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

Grab your stuff and shut the door! Time to work from life.

Heron on the River- ink, pencil and watercolour pencil (dry)

Don't get me wrong, I am love my studio and on a wet, gray winter day it is my favourite place to be.  But now the temperatures are rising and the days are longer, it is time to be outside.  Hiking, canoeing, camping and sightseeing are awesome activities to inspire you.  With camera and sketchbook you can the capture the light, excitement and memories forever.  I guarantee, any drawing or painting you do on the spot creates a lasting memory of the moment.  The wonder, the smells, the emotions are stored up in that picture. 

Okay, you are thinking "I can't draw.  It takes too long, my partners won't wait for me.  I can't . . . . "

It is easy to come up with the "I can't's".  However, I am not talking about creating a masterpiece.  (Although, you will be surprised what you can create in a very short time)  Your sketchbook is your friend.  It is not judgemental, very forgiving and waiting there just for you. 

But to be successful you must be prepare.

To really get into the sketchbook habit means you must be VERY portable. For 'masterpiece'  plein air painting you need a car load of paints and brushes but your sketchbook puts you on easy street. Small pack, minimum materials, smaller format - ready when you are. It doesn't have to be limiting. My last two posts have talked about several different mediums one wet and one dry that are light and portable.  Today is both: wet and dry.

Fishing Shack on the Newfoundland Coast - Ink and Watercolour (wet) 

Watercolour pencils.  The secret ingredient.  They are can be used dry, like a coloured pencil or touched up with water to give them a whole new life.  They can be used straight or mixed to get endless colours.  They can also be mixed with ink.  You just knew I was going to get that ink in there somehow.  Here again, you can take a bucket load of supplies but I recommend you Keep It Simple.  A warm and cold blue, yellow, red and a black.  A 03 Pigma Micron pen (or any other permanent ink pen), a 2 B pencil, kneaded eraser, pencil sharpener and a water filled watercolour brush.  This can fit in a small bag with a sketchbook.

 My pocket sketchbooks. I got tired of trying to find a one size fits all so made my own.  They will hold all your supplies and more.  Best of all they fit in a large zip lock back for quick dry storage in your pack.  See them here.

Endless combinations are possible with this little pack.  Pencil and ink, pencil, ink and coloured pencil, ink and coloured pencil, and pencil and colour.  The watercolour pencils are very versatile, smooth value changes wet and rough texture when dry.  They invite you to mix colours as glazing and laying are so easy to do.

Detail from Fishing Shack on the Newfoundland Coast - notice the rich blend of colours using several layers of watercolour pencils and the rich, deep dark with the ink work underneath.  (I really love the combination.  But I know I am that crazy ink loving person!)

An added a bonus with the watercolour pencils, to speed things up you can get your sketch together, add the colour and later go back with a wet brush to finish things up. Your traveling companions with be amazed at what you can do in 15 or 20 minutes!!

Humming Birds at the Feeder - watercoloured pencils (dry)

Time to sketch, grab your friendly book and get on your way.

Do you have a favourite medium or practice for sketchbooking in the summer? I enjoy my books and I would love to give it a try.  My books are always crying out for new projects.

Looking for a starting point?  I will be happy to set you up.  Call me now and set up a few lessons to get you on the road to a summer of fun with your art. Your sketchbook will soon be full of great memories and inspiration for the winter. 

I have a few more tricks to share on sketchbooking.  Next week's post is a guaranteed minimalist approach but has lots of colour and life.  It often becomes a crossover too. (Definition of Crossover: it moves into the masterpiece section and ends up being sold.)

For Commission Works see here

For Private Drawing Lessons see here

For Marketing Mentoring see here

For Marketing or Art Presentations Contact Wendy 

 Be sure to like and share my posts. You won't miss a single one if you follow by email or Like my Facebook Page.
 Keep up with all the art events by joining my email list (see sidebar)
Have a great artful day, Wendy

Whoa!! Catch the Creative Spirit!! - Plein Air & Drawing Tips for the Sketchbook

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

Tired of the confines of the studio? 

Wanting to to make a break?  

Run with the wind and let the colours flow?  

Definitely how I feel in the spring.  Don't get me wrong, when the rain falls in January I am happy as can be.  My brushes are wet, my colours are flowing and my pencils are dancing. Ideas are flying. I can't even begin to keep up!  Being up all hours finishing a piece is just part of the mix.   But . . . . When the sun shines and the temperatures rise, I am done!!  With my sketchbook in hand I am gone.

Little Tree Standing - ink and graphite - love the view of the Coastal Mountains from Vancouver Island.  This is at Bennett's Point, just south of Campbell River.

To really catch the light, and be ready for action one needs to be prepared and travel light.  In my last post "Getting Loose and Free" I talked about the free and lively line you get with a pen and adding watercolour to the mix.  But there are other combinations that can be quick and dirty too! 

You can have lots of fun with a pen and pencil.  Yes, just a nice 2B graphite pencil.  The ink gives the strong line and dark tones and the graphite gives a quick, beautiful range of values that will seduce even the most hardly disbeliever.  Trees, logs, birds, water, all come alive with this combination. Sometimes I sneak in a 5B for it's really rich tone.  Using it means you get great darks but still keep the texture of your paper.

High Tide Mark - Ink & Graphite - A quick sketch while beach combing on Texada Island. 

With your pen work you can quickly capture the main ideas of the area, then use your pencils to shade things in.  I love to do some crosshatch as well. When you put graphite over the crosshatching you get intriguing texture.

Detail from Little Tree Standing - the crosshatching in the shadow areas with graphite shading gives energy to the shadows. 

However, the real pleasure is in the pen work.  You will find that your pen is full of energy, dashing about on the page.  Your mark making will become loose and free.  You won't worry about shading as you know you can jump in with a pencil.

Detail from Little Tree Standing - Let the pencil and ink work talk to each other, going outside the lines gives a greater value range and more interest to the work.

When you add the pencil, don't feel that you need to shade every little thing.  Like watercolours (see last post),  the graphite can be inside and outside of the lines giving a loose and free flow to your work. I love that tension created by the line telling the story but the shading echoing it rather than religiously following every stroke.

Long Beach, west coast Vancouver Island, BC.  - Capture the Memory!

Your good friend, your sketchbook, is waiting, grab a pencil and pen and hit the streets or bush, wherever you like to sketch.

Looking for a starting point?  I will be happy to set you up.  Call me now and set up a few lessons to get you on the road to a summer of fun with your art. Your sketchbook will soon be full of great memories and inspiration for the winter. 

In my next post I will have a few more ideas for that sketchbook of yours.  It will soon be crying out  for a lot more attention!

For Commission Works see here

For Private Drawing Lessons see here

For Marketing Mentoring see here

For Marketing or Art Presentations Contact Wendy 

Special Note to Fraser Valley Readers: 

The big Spring Show of all my new work is happening this week, Friday, April 29-Sunday, May 1, 10-4pm at Mandeville Gardens, 4746 Marine Dr., Burnaby, BC. Come down and say hi.  (and of course pick up a new piece for your collection.)

 Be sure to like and share my posts.
You won't miss a single one if you follow by email or Like my Facebook Page. Keep up with all the art events by joining my email list (see sidebar)

 Have a great artful day, Wendy

What’s with Mass? Can you really draw with it?

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

I like to draw. 

I like to work with line to develop my pictures, adding details as I go.

 But working with mass!  

I never really thought about how that works with a line drawing.

  

Just recently I took a workshop with Dawn Emerson. http://dawnemerson.com    She does great stuff with pastels, mixed media and paint and she incorporates lots of drawing in her work.  It was a great to work with her.

Our subject was four pears but seeing how they came alive with each approach was very interesting. We started off with drawing using line, definitely my comfort zone and but then we drew them with a different tool.

My Pears drawn with a brayer  (it is like a roller, about 1 inch wide)

Next we focused on the mass.  This is something I never really connected with my drawing, always being a "line guy".  To do this we covered the paper completely with a mid-tone and the shapes were lifted out or darken to develop them.  It really made me feel the connection of drawing with painting. 

   My Pears, starting with the mid-tone

The next project was working with space and shapes.  Really different for me but I did find it kind of neat.  I particularly loved the short fat pear in the middle.  He seemed to have real personality!

My pears with shapes and space

Before I knew it I was working away with charcoal and pastels, building shapes with mass, no lines in sight!! Quite a new experience for me.  My final project was this squirrel, developed with charcoal and pastel.

My Squirrel - Steve loved this one!

 As you can probably tell the whole workshop was a great source of inspiration for me.  I am anxious to try more work with the pastels but also incorporate this sense of mass into my drawings and paintings. 

Have a great day and hope your next workshop is an inspiration for you as well, 

Wendy 

Scout

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

Scout - 4.5 x 6.5 SOLD

Scout is done and ready to head north.  Scout is Buddy's live-in friend, (see Aug 19 post) they live in Yellowknife, NWT with my brother and sister-in-law.  She has a quieter nature than Buddy; she's a little skidderish and often slow to accept new people.  I felt truly honoured that after a very short time into my visit, she was out and about and even letting me pat her. While Buddy governs the house and keeps everyone in line, Scout just quietly does her own thing.  One of her jobs is to look after the house when everyone is out and to keep  an eye on Buddy.  (He sometimes takes advantage of an empty house.)   Scout is also a regular visitor to my sister-in-law's quilting room, she likes to check out the new projects and add her comments too!!

Scout was a real challenge to draw, her soft black colouring blended into a single shape and I really had to sculpture her body shape myself. My main strategy was to really focus on layering rather than trying to go dark too soon, not an easy thing to do!    I think she will be happy with her picture.  

As always cards and matted prints are available for all of my work starting as low as $3.50 plus postage.

THREE IN A ROW

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

THREE IN A ROW - 14 X 20 - $450 framed

Roses are red, violets are blue; how can summer be nearly through?  I think I was feeling the change in weather and wanted to slow it down.  As a result I dropped my pencils and grabbed for summer colour.  These lovely roses were from a bouquet Steve gave me earlier this year to celebrate our anniversary.  I loved the colours and took numerous pictures of them.  When I was trying to choose one flower to focus on I realized I loved all three.  Reminiscences to lady luck I felt that “Three In A Row” were winners for me.

The roses were done in time to enter the Autumn Salon Juried Show at the Federation of Canadian Artists Gallery in Vancouver. They were picked to show and so will be in the gallery Sept 25-Oct 7. Check out the show if you are in the area.

As always matted prints and cards are available for all my work for as low as $3.50 plus postage.

RODI - WANNA PLAY MOM?

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

RODI - 1997-2012

This is a memory piece of Rodi, who was a wonderful companion and friend for his family for over 15 years.  I knew Rodi as a young dog and watched his play; he came to our neighbourhood around the same time as I got Rusty.  They were only a few months apart.  Rodi grew so fast, it was amazing and at times a bit too much for Rusty but the two of them got along and we went on walks together.  Then we moved and so did Rodi’s family.  We kept in touch by email over the years and both dogs proved to be wonderful companions.  It was with great sadness that I learned of his passing but I know he left behind wonderful memories.  I was honored when his owners asked me to draw a memory piece for them.  When we looked at their pictures we found there were several that they really liked and so I created this collage of Rodi for them.  It was a pleasure to work on this piece and once again share with them the wonderful memories they had.  It really reminds me once again how much animals can enrich our lives.

A Still Life Stage

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

Still Life

The Framework Revealed

Steve, my faithful, underpaid, Art by Wendy employee, has just completed this wonderful still life stage for setting up a still life. (The whole thing is made from ¾ inch PVC pipes and two pieces of plywood.) I found the information and plans for it on Carol Marine’s blog, http://carolmarine.blogspot.ca.  You can buy a ready-made one or watch her free tutorial on how to make your own.  Her husband designed hers and once I saw it I knew my husband would want to take up the challenge.  Of course he made a few changes, as all builders do, but the main principle of Carol’s is with mine.  It is wonderful to have ‘good’ lighting to practice still life drawing with my students and it great for setting up a still life to paint with.  It is not bad for taking a picture of a still life, as well, as you can see from my pictures.  One of the main changes Steve made was to glue the top pieces together and the bottom so it would be easier to move around but the side pieces slip out easily so it will fold up flat like her’s.  Good luck with your Life Stage.

Enjoy the last days of summer and as always matted prints of all my pictures are available for as little as $7.00.

BUDDY

NEW WORKS FROM THE STUDIO OF ART BY WENDY

BUDDY - 5.5 X 7.5 - SOLD

Buddy is one of those cats that the poster “ I learned everything I need to know from my cat” was based on.  He owns the house that my brother lives in up in Yellowknife, in the Northwest Territories.  He is an inside cat so he has lots of time to look after the house and to check into everything that happens there!!  My sister-in-law, Cindy, likes to quilt and Buddy feels it is very important to supervise her every move: quality control.  As soon as she heads for her quilting room he is off and running, settling in to a good spot for the day. 
I am on a real cat kick this summer; don’t tell Rusty, my dog.  (Deep down I am a real cat person but because of my allergies I can’t have one as a pet.)  I have one more cat to do and that is Scout, Buddy’s partner in crime.  Scout is all black and will be a challenge.  For black animals you need good lighting for the reference pictures so there are lots of shadows to define the features.  On a winter day up north it is a little challenging to get the right light and Scout was really not all that interested in having a photo shoot when I was there.

 As always matted prints are available of all of my work starting at $7.