I found a wonderfully rumpled birch tree last week which I knew would be fun to draw. It had nice rolled bark, a mix of textures, and… a face!
I like the contrasting vertical and horizontal lines in this drawing, along with the tattered sheets of bark sort of exploding out at you. I kept it pretty clean in order to preserve that effect, forgoing some of the gnarly bits found on the tree itself.
Continue reading “Is That an Ent?”
Here’s a great funky fungus that both my mother & I drew recently. Read on to see how our drawings turned out.
Continue reading “Family Fungus”Using colored pencil & technical pen, I drew a different crop of pixie cups today. These I found with Cassie on our first hikes of 2020. There’s a close relationship between my time in the woods, my efforts in photography, and my drawings of Nature. I wrote about it here. It makes me happy to know exactly where these little lichens live, and what Cassie was getting up to as she pottered around while her dad took a few pictures.
These little subjects, moss, lichen, woodgrain, mushrooms, etc. exhibit colors, patterns, textures, and volumes that I enjoy trying to capture in my artwork. I definitely don’t feel I’ve mastered it.
Thanks for having a look!
I’ve had good luck finding natural treasures out in the woods during the early weeks of Winter, and some of them have readily lent themselves to my drawing hobby. Sometimes it feels like I draw the same things time & again, but I enjoy it and I’m still trying to get it just right.
These colorful turkeytails Cassie & I found last week. I might have embellished them a little… I didn’t have any grey pencils so the blues are pretty powerful. The little guy in the upper right got a bit overworked, but otherwise I’m pleased with a couple hours enjoyment.
And they were kind of blue!
I found time for a little drawing today. And it is little, about five square inches. I like compact and small images and often start an illustration by tracing around the base of a coffee mug or roll of tape.
My friend Lauren was admiring a leaf I drew and saying she’d like to try one like it. I prepared this little cheat sheet to help her in her efforts.
Read on to learn how I draw a leaf like that.
Continue reading “Drawing with Pointillism to Render Nice Leaves”My Nature illustration kick continues, this time returning to an old favorite.
These are inspired by some turkeytails Cassie & I found in Allegheny Cemetery last year. In the spirit of the place, you might be able to imagine a skull in my drawing if you squint.
Continue reading “Turkeytails Forever!”
