Exhibit postcard

If you’d like to go to the opening reception on April 08 and need directions, please leave a comment.

Postcard artwork:  Beetles © Jessica Huppi.

Pheasant feather in colored pencil, on Colourfix paper, 2.5" x 3.5"

The piece above is on soft umber Colourfix paper, 2.5″ x 3.5″.  I think this feather was from the neck area of a Ring-necked Pheasant.  I use these feathers in my colored pencil class as a beginner exercise; they are easy to draw, and the beginners don’t need to worry about how to draw volume or cast shadows (yet).  Although the exercise uses a different surface.

I like to try new surfaces, and Art Spectrum’s Colourfix paper is intriguing, especially as it is available in multi-color packs of ATC-sized pieces.  It has a gritty surface and takes colored pencil really well, without unduly wearing down the pencil as rough surfaces can do.  It’s a very “forgiving” surface too, as it erases without changing the texture of the paper, and I was surprised that you can put light color over dark, and it will cover!  You don’t really need to use a lot of pencil layers, as you might with other papers.

Some of my students have tried it, and those who have really like it.  It covers more rapidly than bristol board or other papers.  You can also purchase it in primer form, to paint onto any surface.  We are trying the “clear” primer, painted on Stonehenge paper (it’s still drying…..).  I will definitely be exploring this surface some more….

The pet portraits were done from memory and reference photos taken by the artists themselves.  See my rules for posting others’ artwork below.

"Ginger" by Amiri

“Ginger”‘s reference photo was a tiny image, with a completely different background.  Nice work! I did not use a flash when taking this photo, but there is still some glare from all the layers of colored pencil.

Untitled, WIP Australian Shepherd, by GK

This is an unfinished piece, or WIP (work in progress) that I thought would be nice to show as it progresses.  Now I wish I had taken photos of it sooner!  This piece will likely not be burnished as the one above was, and you can see many layers of small pencil strokes.  I can’t wait to see this one get finished.

Pittosporum sprig, by Carol

This photo is a little dark, and doesn’t really do the drawing justice.   Carol collects twigs and branches on her walks, and draws from life.  A very elegant piece!

My rules for posting student artwork:

• artwork must be created by the student from life or from a reference photo taken by the student
• artwork will only be posted with the student’s permission, and will be attributed to them as they request
• student work created using published materials as a reference will  not be posted here without first obtaining the original artist’s permission

These are their value studies (photos used with their permission):

Landscape value study by Eloise

Landscape value study by Kate

The next step will be to transfer their drawings to Bristol board (preferably vellum surface), and start adding color with colored pencils.

I think this is a good exercise to break out of the mid-values that some of us get stuck in from time to time (I know I do!).

Butterfly Valley is famous, in botanical circles, for the 5 species of native carnivorous plants that thrive there.  Our quarry was the Cobra Lily, or Darlingtonia californica.  It’s not a lily at all, but a pitcher plant.

Stand of Darlingtonia californica in Butterfly Valley

I’ve been fascinated with carnivorous plants for awhile now…aren’t they strange looking?

A little red on this one...

I was looking for one that wasn’t all green all over; even though plants are my specialty, the green, green, green is rather boring to draw sometimes.  The more variable ones were in direct sunlight where it was really too hot to sit for any length of time.  So I found a spot in filtered sunlight and sat for about 5 hours or so.  I was going to do a double-page spread in my large sketchbook, but that was taking too long.

Green, green, green

I settled for a portrait of one pitcher, in a smaller sketchbook.  The sketchbook is a Hand Book Journal, 5.5″x8.25″.  I like this one because the paper is buff-colored, and has a little tooth to it, and takes a little watercolor well.  It also has this nifty elastic closure, so if the paper buckles a little bit, it will still smooth out later.

My field kit, with work in progress

Below is the finished sketch.  I used my favorite green, a combination of Winsor Yellow with Sap Green (Holbein).  A little Moonglow (Daniel Smith) in the shadows, and a touch of Alizarin Crimson and a little Burnt Umber here and there.

Sketch of Darlingtonia pitcher

I plan to spend more time in Butterfly Valley next summer, so look for more posts in the future!

Escargot study, indigo blue Prismacolor colored-pencil on vellum-surface Bristol

The graphite drawing was almost too easy for some people, but there is something about using color that adds a different dimension. It’s still a monochromatic drawing, but using a colored pencil instead of graphite seems to make people think about it more. I like this lesson, because the students have to figure out shape, volume, shading, pattern and texture….. And this will be their first time transferring a sketch onto Bristol board instead of doing a finished drawing on sketch paper.

WPA Arbor sketch done in the field

WPA Arbor sketch, corrected somewhat

On the left is the sketch I did in the field, while sitting on the arbor.

Next is the sketch after I got back to my studio and decided it had a perspective problem. What was really bothering me was that the “seat” was not very horizontal, so I changed that. Then my friend Laura pointed out that there was really no “eyeline” (or, horizon line) in the rocks on the vertical portion of the arbor. So, I rearranged some of the rock lines to make some of them horizontal.

The third photo is of the sketch, colored. I wanted to try some new Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils I recently acquired. I like them a lot, although this also would have been a good drawing on which to use Derwent Graphitints.

WPA Arbor sketch, colored with Faber-Castell Polychromos pencils

My favorite part of this sketch is the plant (naturally). I decided to leave the background blank because it was taking so long to finish! I guess everything looks better with a little color on it, but there are still some things bugging me about this. If I get them fixed, I will show you. And, the original is a lot less blue than this image. I guess my scanner tends toward blue; I should probably figure out how to fix that. But for now, on to something else!

Toyon, acrylic and colored pencil, 300# HP WC paper

Sorry about the glare from the flash, but I wanted to show you what they look like framed. I think they look pretty good! You can also see the calla on my website (I haven’t uploaded the toyon yet).

Yellow Calla, acrylic and graphite, Arches 300# HP WC paper

Eleven artists are showing work in this exhibit, and the subject matter includes botanicals, birds, mammals, insects, and molluscs. The reception is on Nov. 7, from 6:00 pm to 8:30 pm, and features live music, wine tasting from local vineyards, and appetizers.

Our reception coincides with the first night of the Sandhill Crane Festival, which is being held at the same location as our exhibit. The festival also features a fine art exhibit (reception also on Nov 7), with sandhill cranes as the central theme (I think they also allowed habitat and other animals associated with cranes as subject matter).

Wait, there’s more! Nov. 7 is also the First Friday Art Hop in Lodi, where galleries and other art-venues stay open until 8:30 pm to show off the work of local artists.

We’re going to have alot of fun, so if you’re in the Lodi area on Nov. 7, please drop by and say hi!

Coming soon: Keeping it in Perspective, Part II.

Entrance to the garden, in Land Park

The WPA Rock Garden in Sacramento’s William Land Park is a jewel. I’ve lived in Sacramento for over six years now, and found the garden quite by accident. I’d always assumed that there would be nothing to see there during our hot Sacramento summers. What a pleasant surprise that many plants are in bloom right now! It’s become one of my favorite places to sketch. In fact, I will be teaching a one-day nature-sketching class in the garden in April 2009.

When I visited the garden last month, I intended to do a sketch that would be the centerpiece of my first blog post. Sounds pretty simple, right? I sketched part of a large stonework arbor that I was sitting on at the time, thinking I would color it at home. Here is the sketch:

Pencil sketch of WPA arbor - before

When I looked at the drawing back in my studio, I realized there was a perspective issue with the drawing. Not a huge issue, but it still bothered me. Can you identify it?

(Hint: can you figure out, from the direction of some of the stones, where the eye-line is supposed to be? Do you see any others?)

In a future post I will show you how I fixed the perspective (or at least I think I did!), and then I will show you the final colored version (which I am still working on). I decided to use some new colored pencils I recently purchased (Faber-Castell polychromos) – and I really like them!

The sketchbook is an Aquabee Super Deluxe 6×9, and no, the image isn’t backwards, and I didn’t use the back side of the page. I am left-handed, and I don’t like the spiral edge under my hand while I’m drawing, so I turn the book over.

In the meantime, here are some more photos of the garden:

View of WPA Rock Garden, Land Park

View of cactus, looking east in the WPA Rock Garden