Fall Leaves Inspire Drawing Practice - Painting and Drawing Tips

Have you enjoyed the Colours of  Fall?? 

The trees are beautiful, their reds and yellows glowing in the sunlight.  

My Pumpkin Patch - Leaves and Pumpkins Collage

But here in the Fraser Valley we have more.  The fields of blueberries glow in fuchsias and pinks as the bushes say good bye for another season.  And just this week I saw the red fields of cranberries.  The fields are flooded and the the berries are floating and ready to be scooped up.  The greens of our tall firs make an awesome background.  

I know those colourful leaves are also creating havoc in your life.  They are falling everywhere, need lots of raking, and plugging up drains.   

But don't throw all those leaves away!!

Drawing from life is an important practice to improve your drawing skills.  Leaves are a great subject, eacy to find and very low maintenance.  (They never need to stop for a coffee break) 

As Max and I walk the trails I am always on the alert for a new type of leave.  Some I will press and flatten as they dry but others I will leave to crinkle and roll.  You can get such interesting shapes if they are left on their own.  

3 Ways Leaves Inspire my Practice:

1.  Design:

As many of you know I spend a great deal of time this summer focusing on line drawing of flowers.  Of course leaves came into play.  Using leaves as a design feature to balance a drawing was an interesting part of my practice.   

Petunias and Daisies, one of my summer flower drawings

Look what happens when I remove some of those interesting little leaves I added to my imaginary flower arrangement.  

Petunias and Daisies with some of leaves removed

Really it is amazing what a few little imaginary leaves will do to this arrangement.  Playing with leaf shapes really focuses on design and composition

2.  Shape and Form: 

This particular drawing I did in early spring when the primroses started to bloom.  They were such a wonderful shot of colour when everything was still gray and dreary.  I placed the leaves around the flowers to create my own spring surprises.  Working out the complex curls and wrinkles in the leaves was not easy.  Note how some of the work was done by watercolour and some by ink drawing. 

Spring Surprises - changing my pen stroke for the different planes of the leaves teaches a lot about structure and folds

3.  Patterns:

A page of leaves floating is a very pleasing sight.  Focusing on each leaf as it sat in front of me made me aware of several drawing practices: contour drawing, fore shortening, developing curls and folds, and the differences the shading and fill patterns make.  

Floating Leaves - Love the curls of the top leaf

Adding a pattern to the leaves changes things again.  This is one leaf that I tried drawing from different angles.  

Leaf with different patterns - each one tells a different story.  My favourite one is in the middle

I have found that my practice this summer - focusing on line drawings of flowers and leaves has had many benefits for me.  I see more when I look at flowers and plants then I use too.  But most of all, I feel a greater sense of confidences in my drawing and compositional skills.  I have enjoyed creating my line drawing this summer and almost finished a whole book.  I look forward to sharing that with you soon.  

Special News: 

Show and Classes  November 3-28,
Landmark Pop-UP Gallery, 15140 North Bluff Rd, White Rock.  

Show: Nov 3-28, Wed - Fri 11-5pm, Sat. 10-5pm & Sunday, 12-4pm 
Reception: Nov. 10, 6:30-8:30

Classes: Thursday, November 10 & 24 - 10-12:30pm.   Drawing and Watercolour  with Wendy - $50 each, max 5.  

 1: - Get that Line Drawing Right -Thursday, Nov. 10
Is your Drawing Process a Conversation between you, your subject, and your support? Join Wendy Mould, AFCA, CDM as she uses the bare line to bring her Blackeyed Susies to life.

 2 - Values, Light & Shadows Bring Your Subject to Life – Thursday, Nov 24
Are your Values, Lights and Shadows making your subject full and vibrant?  Join Wendy Mould, AFCA, CDM as she breaths life into a flat, outline drawing.

 Beginners to Advanced Welcome.  Contact Wendy to Register 

 Move your work to NEW LEVELS?  

Contact Me for:

1. Private Drawing Lesson: (3 Sessions 2.5 hr each $250)  North Langley, BC (Walnut Grove) 

Do you want your animals to breath, your flowers to sparkle or your people to walk?  Whatever subject your like to paint or draw I can build a drawing program for you.  Private Lessons allow you to focus on the skills you wish to develop.  Wendy is a experienced teacher, providing a calm, relaxing experience as you learn how to use the principles of drawing.  Beginner to Advanced are welcome.  Special rates for younger students.  Contact Wendy for More info

2.  Online: Teaching, Mentoring or Critiquing Your Work - Don't live in the Fraser Valley,  I would be happy to tailor a program just for you online.  Drawing and Painting Lessons, Mentoring you on your Art Journey or Critiquing Your Work with an Eye to Move It Forward.  Drawing & Painting Lessons: 2-30 sessions $75.  Mentoring or Critiquing 30 minutes sessions $25.  Flexible schedule and sessions can be longer or shorter depending on your goals. 

3.  Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

Original work, Commissions, Prints and Cards of her Work, 

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Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy

Can Repetition REALLY be FUN?! Painting & Drawing Tips

You love to paint but your drawing Sucks. 

Not much fun painting something that really doesn't look right.  Despite what they say, colour doesn't hide mistakes. 

TULIPS IN THE SUNSHINE - Sketchbook Practice

Improving your drawing skills requires only 1 thing, PRACTISE.  No surprise there, we all knew that.  But how to make that practice interesting and exciting is the challenge.  

I know where you're coming from.  I am a self taught artist and learning to draw well was a huge learning curve for me.  Pushing myself to practice was something I had to learn to do. 

Things I do to make Drawing Practice more fun.  

1.  Have a special spot with supplies handy.  I have a drawing table now but early on my drawing place was the kitchen table or the couch.  I had my portable kit packed and handy so there was little set up time.  I started with a small basic kit: sketchbook, erasers, set of pencils and a few pens. As I worked I added more things.

 

2.  Have reference material handy.  I always had a collection of 8 or 10 pictures I was interested in drawing.  These are usually in a special Album on my ipad but sometimes I print them out as well.  Depends on what you like to work with.  Using the special Album in your Photos means you can find your picture quickly, no scrolling. 

Tulips in the Garden - I love it when the Tulips start to grow, they are the first big splashes of colour in the garden.  

3.  Be easy on yourself.  Tell your Inner Critic to take a break and just draw.  See post: Turn your Inner Critic into you BFF

4.  Challenge yourself.  I make mini-challenges for myself.  When I judge my drawing it is based only on my challenge. I try not to be critical of anything else.  

 

To me these Tulips are friendly and happy - makes me feel good to work with them.  

A Challenge that can turn Repetition into Fun

Take a picture of a subject that is not too complex.  For this example I used a picture of my tulips from our garden last spring.  Fill you page with tulips.  To provide variety I reversed the picture and drew the same tulip.  

Reversing the image gives variety to your practice

Why draw the same thing?

a.  Your drawing improves as you become more familiar with the subject

b.  Easier to focus on things like colour, values and mediums if you are comfortable with drawing the subject

Sketchbooking - TULIPS IN INK - Trying different mediums brings new ideas in focal points and composition. 

c.  Composition Skills are tested as you try different placements of your subject.  

d.  Inspirational thoughts will begin to bloom. "What if I make them . . ."

A Free bonus offer, I have prepared a Free Download of my Tulip Pictures to help you get started on your practice. ( I know you will have trouble getting tulip pictures at this time of year.) When picking pictures, you need pictures of your subject that show a few different views. They need lighting that shows shadow patterns. And enough information that allows you to build a few different kinds of compositions  (It is important that you inspire yourself with good references when working on a challenge.)  

For lots more ideas and inspiration check out my video: Repetition Can be FUN!! 

Take the Challenge and Enjoy your practice - You will be amazed how quickly you get caught up 'In the Moment' and your drawing becomes FUN. 

See you next week.  

Get Free Download of my Tulip Pictures HERE.

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Lots of One-of-a-Kind items, original art, art prints, art cards, jewelry, pottery, painted scarves, and more. Anything that inspires an artist to create.  
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Art by Wendy Original Work, Art Cards & Prints, Memo Pads and Doodle Cards will be available   

Looking to Move your work to NEW LEVELS?  

  Online Coaching/Teaching  (3 sessions 30 minutes each $75)

Are You and Your Inner Critic looking to expand your discussions.  Here's how it works: Send me a few pictures of your paintings.  I will prepare material to facilitate a discussion.  We meet on Zoom for our sessions and discuss your work. I am a sounding board and coach with suggestions, techniques and tips to help you meet your goals and move your art forward.  More info here.   Looking forward to working with you.  

  
Many find this post helpful: Turn your Inner Critic into your BFF

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy