Drawing #100 - Suddenly Feathers

 An oversized card, this drawing is still probably bigger than the early ones. The scraps from a book had the words suddenly and feathers, but the feathers didn't survive the glue stick, but it's still the name. Really liked doing a color background with acrylic paint and a liquid gesso.

Drawing #99 - They Had Hoped

 Well, I'm back. The beginning of March was fabulous! I had a piece in a members' exhibit that opened the night of March 6 and that was exciting. Then I attended a two-day workshop in mixed-media collage over the weekend. This was wonderful and very stimulating. I did several pieces during the class and one small one I really like just after. And then the pandemic started shutting everything down. Somehow I've only managed to do drawings as birthday cards, one in May and one in June, since. Until now.

 The new drawing continues the previous numbering without counting anything from the time of the workshop. The beginning lines were from my memory of drawing drooping daffodils in the spring but quickly took their own direction. The collage uses parts of a page from my mother's accounting textbook, some from her elementary reader and a little from a nature magazine. The title is in the reader text but it could also have been "fear of trouble." The base is 14" x 11" Bristol paper that is sturdy and bright. I used ink, acrylic paint, colored pencil, and watercolor.

Drawing #98 - On the Rocks

My usual paper elements, ink, acrylic paint, watercolor pencil and colored pencil are joined here with a red thread. The title comes form the text of an elementary reader and inspired some  of the design. (And I didn't misnumber this but gave #97 to a drawing I started before this one but haven't finished). It is on 12" x 9" watercolor paper that was primed with a dilute transparent (and matte) gesso. Remember to click on the image to see it larger.

Drawing #96 - Bountiful

I gathered material to draw last year, a big basket, huge pine cone, gourd, etc. The result was more conventional than usual and I seem to have forgotten it in the 14 x 11" pad I used until I started #95 last week. This week I did some more with it and felt it was complete. It is unusual in having no writing either of mine or from old books. I think you can find hidden meanings and still enjoy the setting.

I did start another drawing this time using a sheet of 14 x 11" Bristol paper from the classroom. I've now bought a pad of this type as it seems really good. Here's a peek at the beginning of the new one.

Drawing #95 - All Their Powers

This is a little different in shape, on 14" wide paper but not the full 11" tall. I used some wonderful reddish papers in the collage and it demanded this treatment. The title is found in the text of the old book paper. Click on the image to enlarge.

Drawing #94 - Float Free

This is another 12x9 watercolor paper. I began with clear wax crayon to create a resist pattern then used my new pearlescent paints over the resist. Next I began collage and some watercolor pencil. Because of the paint, it has a different look depending on the angle of viewing. I like its light, airy feeling. As always, click on the image to view it larger.

After finishing two pieces the same day I started a new one in class that just grew seemingly on its own ideas. It is so far a narrow horizontal image. I don't know where it will go from here as it seems almost complete.

Drawing #93 - You Can Fly

This is a 12 x 9" watercolor paper with a gesso and acrylic base, collage, watercolor pencil, pearlescent paint, and ink. It began with a drawing of a wild turkey in flight, but isn't meant to be realistic, just a suggestion of being airborne. I was happy to work with these warm colors and the ink mostly in brown rather than black.

It will look better if you click on the image to see it larger.

Drawing #92 - Halloween

Our mixed media class met on Halloween, a dark day with bright foliage on the trees. I started out with a gray paper but went with a real Halloween look. It was fun and just right for the day. But the left side of the drawing intrigued me as something of its own. So below you can see the whole drawing (11 x 8 1/2 ") and also a slightly digitally finished piece done with the left edge rotated. Dick says it looks like a sea creature. Part of the collage contains warbler images from a state wildlife magazine.

 

Don't forget to click on the images to see them larger and separately!

 

 

Drawing #91 - Loft and Swoop

Inspired by drawing at the natural history museum, this piece began on a watercolor block primed with liquid gesso, three colors of acrylic paint plus white. The paint was applied with a palette knife. I like the matte finish from the gesso. The collage elements include pieces from the falling apart copy of Tennyson's The Princess. A new effect comes from a pearlescent watercolor paint in the color blue silver. The paper is 12 x 9." I also used watercolor pencils. Looking forward to your impressions. And as always, click on the image to see it larger.

Drawing #89 - Make Like a Phalarope

Our mixed media class resumed after a summer break last week. I found this wonderful 12 x 12" paper and set to work. I had it nearly finished at home but was in need of a gauzy paper I thought I had but didn't. As luck would have it, the teacher brought three papers for me today and one was the very missing one. I finished it and used one of the other papers too. I started with shapes suggested when we watched a shorebird at Howard Marsh last week that took to swimming when it reached deeper water, making like a phalarope, a smaller shorebird than we were watching. The drawing never really became about that and maybe I should name it for one of the words from my mother's reader: luscious. Bits from her plane geometry book are here too. I haven't worked with background paper in colors much and combined with the square shape was a bit of a challenge. Since my digital scrapbooking is almost all in a square that was a surprise. Once I signed off on this one, I started another square one in a very different color. We'll see how that goes. Don't forget to click on the image to see it larger. What mental images does it suggest to you?

Drawing #88 - To a Tangent

As always, this mental landscape will reveal itself to you with your own unique vision. For me it began with the concept of a circle of light. Circle led to my mother's old plane geometry textbook and pages regarding circles. There are three areas in which I've added text. One is about my mother and her book, one regards the family of moths called Geometers and the last is about going off on a tangent. None are meant to be readable now. The title of the piece is in one of the bits from the book. It is from my new 14 x 11 inch pad done in collage, colored pencils and ink. It is bigger than my formerly normal size but delicate in that I've only used fine ink lines rather than heavy ones, for the most part. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Drawing # 87 - Experiments in Watercolor Crystals

In class yesterday we geared up for being messy and experimented with watercolor crystals. I've never seen or used them before and was eager to try. We used watercolor paper and diffuser paper, something like that used in coffee filters. The teacher brought lots of stencil materials and dried leaves. I'm not keen on the realistic filters, but did use a small plastic grid and a dried leaflet. My first attempt got very wet but that created some nice flowing color in contrast to the partial grid and grittier areas. I'm calling it a new drawing. I also found blotting the leaflet created some interesting looks and share one on the soft paper. Nothing else looks like much, at least at the moment. Here's the first one on watercolor paper, 9 x 12.

This is a nice little look at the leaflet.

And here is last week in class with the piece I was working on then. I'm still working on it, but it is coming along pretty well. I'm also working on a larger piece. Yesterday I had it at class and got an old postcard glued onto it with some of the class ModPodge which the teacher thinks would be better than the glue sticks I normally use. Also from last week, I took in my smaller pieces with the wallpaper now in appropriate mats (not just the digital ones you see here) and the teacher has them displayed in the classroom.

We only have two more weeks of class and I'm going to try to make the most of them.

Drawing #86 - class collage

The teacher brought a few bins of collected pictures for use in collage. I chose one from a bin labeled cool colors. It is really a photo of basalt pillars in a sea cavern, but I turned it sideways to become a stairway to the light. I really can't take much credit for the result as it is all based on that amazing photo. Still it looks really interesting and something to share. It gives me ideas about color and shape and repetitions, so a good stimulus. Because the 4th of July is on Thursday, our class will be skipping a week. Hope I can keep working despite the heat in my studio. Enjoy this one. This is smaller, using 12 x 9" paper with collage and watercolor crayons in interesting colors.

Drawing #85 Revised - Dragon Flight

I did a little more work on this larger piece with the embossed wallpaper and got an idea from my husband about it's having a bit of a Chinese look and a mention of dragons. That gave me a new name and a little more appreciate of the piece. See what you think.

Drawing #85 - Pretty Bird

This is a larger collage with the embossed wallpaper. It is a heavy watercolor paper 20 x 15 inches, the largest size I've used, and that only once for the piece called "Somebody's Mother." I added more collage elements in various shades of white then went to acrylic paint applied with a palette knife. After that I added more collage, more paint, some watercolor pencil and standard colored pencils. I'm not sure it is really finished, but for now I don't think I can go any further. The title is again taken from part of a page for a Third Reader. I think the embossing appeals to me as a substitute for my black ink lines, having instead white lines. See what you think.

Drawing #84 - Starts and Slides

This whimsical piece is on a 9 x 12 inch sheet using acrylic paint left over when working on my latest collage with embossed wallpaper. I added collage, watercolor pencil, colored pencil and a bit of pastel. I've left out any inked lines just to see what it's like. The title comes from a line in the text collage, part of a page from an old copy of Tennyson's The Princess. Originally this size was a step up for me, but now it seems to be my small size. Don't forget to click on the image for a larger view. I think the possible ideas it will generate for you are many.

Drawing #83 - Clouds to Elsewhere

My mixed media class resumed yesterday with a collage project using the embossed wallpaper I enjoyed earlier with the "little trip" piece. The teacher had cut segments for another class to use and the remnants of that provided perfect pieces for me, similar to the one I used before. I also used a sheet from the gelli printing session done with a cloud stencil by another student who didn't want it. I added bits of dark blue paper, watercolor pencil, regular watercolors, and colored pencil. It is on a 14 x 11 sheet, a little larger than my normal size. The teacher commented that it had a look of fantasy. The look is quite different depending on the amount of embossed texture you see. What do you think?

I brought home more of the wallpaper to work on a watercolor block that is a little larger. The designing will need to be a bit different and challenging, I hope.

Drawing #82 - Than Ever

Another sheet of colored letter-size paper is the basis of my drawing from life of our wonderful white azaleas beside the front steps. This time the subject is pretty clear but there is still room for your imagination to roam. I've also written about the flowers across the image in the usual decorated, not-meant-to-be-legible style. The end of what I wrote became the title because they bloomed so well this year, better than ever. The collage is from pictures with acrylic paint and watercolor pencils as well as ink.

Drawing #81 - Study for "The perfect little trip"

The teacher of my mixed media art class brought some embossed wallpaper to class Thursday. It was part of some she got at a house sale. We both tried working with it. My effort used a corner for collage in a drawing. I combined it with bits from a birding tour brochure, text and a photo from a trip to France a few years back. I worked with other papers, watercolor crayons in interesting colors the teacher brought, watercolor pencils and regular colored pencils. The wallpaper is deeply embossed giving a lot of dimension but its softness tends to absorb and blur some of the watercolor. I thought it was just an interesting sketch until I looked at it with a mat when it became something more. It's on a larger sheet but ends up being about 8" x 10". See what you think.

Drawing #80 - To A Tea

This did not come out as my normal sort of abstract. Large circles immediately become faces and the teapot is very definite, and hence the title and the bit from my mother's old elementary reader that says "It seemed...made just to suit." Still I enjoy some of the effects such as the design made from writing across the image and embellishing the text so it isn't really readable but has a nice horizontal quality. Also the blue background areas were created with watercolor pencil which allowed a textured look. This is from a new mixed media pad that measures 14" x 11", larger than I've normally worked. Comments welcome (and remember to click on the image to get it larger.)