Safe and Warm - Carolyn A. Pappas

This is the closest I'm coming to Nature today. I think She would try to kill me if I were to go outside right now! The snow is coming down about 2-3 inches per hour and the wind is about 35 mph. Luckily I don't have to worry about commuting anywhere.

In this sketch I was experimenting with some grayscale markers that I don't use too often. I thought it the perfect opportunity because it is so gray outside right now. Even the pine trees outside look like a weird dark gray, although it is pretty to see the snow swirling around in the wind.

Bird's Nest - Carolyn A. Pappas

This is an early morning (I was still a little groggy) sketch of an abandoned bird's nest that appears to made with unraveled cassette tape. We are leaving it up in the tree in case the birds can use it again next year, or take it apart and build something new. Plus, it looks kind of nice up there.

Sketching While Trapped - Carolyn A. Pappas

The other day (Tuesday) I went out to the mall to do some after Christmas shopping with my mother. The mall was very busy, so much so that we were stopped in traffic for over one hour just waiting to leave. My mother (and a number of other people) actually called 911 to have the police come and direct traffic because some people were starting to get major road rage. Luckily I had my sketchbook with me and some pens, so I could at least do some sketching. I think it stopped me from having a full-on panic attack. I also love drawing trees in winter because you can really see their "bones" easily.

Foliage, part two - Carolyn A. Pappas

I finally got around to doing some scanning and uploading of my nature sketching sketchbook, so this sketch is about a month old. This sketch was another one done by looking out my window, although from a different angle. It reminds me a bit of this drawing from last year. The colors in the leaves have changed a lot over the past month; there are more reds and rust colors, as well as more of the birch trunks visible. I will have to do another version as it looks now.

Window Sketching - Carolyn Pappas

I was without internet access for some time, so I was unable to post. But
now I am all back up and running so I will show some of my sketches over the
next couple of days.

I made this sketch while sitting in my new studio on a stool next to my open window. It was an odd feeling because I could feel the breeze and hear the birds chirp just as if I were outside, but I was still in my house. I did this in colored pencil while waiting for my laundry to dry.

Sketching in Maine - Carolyn Pappas

©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, Ocean Sketch. PITT pens in large handbook sketchbook.


©2010 Carolyn A. Pappas, Trumpet Flower Vines. Ink in large handbook sketchbook.

A few weeks ago I was in Ogunquit, Maine on a mid-week mini-trip and here are some of my sketches from that trip. I spent about four hours at the beach in the morning, at low tide (the top sketch). The next day I came back to the beach at sunrise for the high tide. I only put my toes into the water though, because it was ice cold. The bottom sketch was of some trumpet flowers growing on the back patio of the bed and breakfast I was staying in. It was a great time, although I wish I were there longer so I could do even more sketching. I did take a lot of reference photos, however, and now I have a lot of material for seascapes and more flower paintings.

Drawing Vines - Carolyn Pappas

I bought some new pens recently, and I went outside this morning to try them out by drawing some vines. I was using Copic drawing pens which are disposable fountain pens with metal nibs. These pens aren't waterproof, which isn't a big deal for me at all, but I had a hard time using these pens. The ink would just stop flowing at random moments and certain parts of the paper would become marred because I had to go over it multiple times to make a mark. It's too bad really, because it was so nice outside and I'm sure I would have had more fun sketching if I had a better pen in my hand. On the other hand, I'm glad I got a chance to get outside at all though, because it is supposed to rain here all next week.

Shades of Green - Carolyn Pappas

Since it has been really hot outside (an understatement), I made these sketches over the course of multiple days and then I painted them inside. One of the things I love about spring is that the greens are all so different when everything starts budding. In the summer I think most leaves are a very similar shade of green, but I tried to change up my greens a little bit in these pictures.

Bad Storm - Carolyn Pappas

This is a sketch I made last month while visiting Greenfield, MA but I forgot to post until now. There are lots of beautiful big trees around the area, and I was so sad to hear that a lot of trees that were down as a result of a massive thunderstorm that barreled through last Wednesday night. Last I heard, there were still some people with no electricity on Sunday. I don't think that anyone was hurt, but I know that a few people narrowly missed being squished in their beds when a tree trunk came through their roof. I went up there this past weekend and got to see some of the damage, but didn't get to make any sketches unfortunately. There were huge trees snapped in half like toothpicks. I'm sure it will take a long time to clean up the area so there will be plenty left once I make it up there again.

Pencil Sketch - Carolyn Pappas

Lately, I've been making very simple sketches outside. Actually, I have been making simple sketches all around. I have gotten into a bad habit of making really detailed, frameable drawings in my sketchbooks. I am trying to get out of that habit because I want to start framing things now, and I don't want to tear apart sketchbooks to do so. Plus, I am finding that the extra sketching practice is paying off in my observational skills. This is a sketch I made of tree branches, leaving the parts covered by leaves white. I wish I knew what kinds of tree this is -- it is very tall and it towers over all the houses on my street, but in the fall there are tiny, annoying leaves all over the place.

Cape Cod Shells - Carolyn Pappas

Last October, my boyfriend and I took a weekend trip to Cape Cod. Unfortunately, it was in the middle of a Nor'easter and it was pouring rain the whole time. The whole trip was kind of weird and I spent most of the time looking at the choppy sea from the passenger seat window. I did really want to collect shells though, so I braved the rain and got some, even though I ended up getting soaking wet. I also took a lot of photos of seagulls, one of which I drew here. This past weekend I was cleaning and looking for stuff that I could donate or trash when I found the seashells. I was meaning to sketch them but never got around to it until now. (I took some liberties with the colors.)

Leaf Spread - Carolyn Pappas

I have a certain moleskine that has been ongoing since 2005 and it is really irking me that I haven't finished it off yet. I never really enjoyed working in it, and I just want to get it finished so that I can move onto other sketchbooks that I like better. So this weekend I decided I am going to fill up the last ten or so pages quickly to get it over with. I went out into the garden yesterday and made these line drawings of some of the different leaves that can be found there. My family spends a lot of time working on our garden, and we even keep our garage heated all winter to keep our mini fig and orange trees alive. I guess being Greek and all, we like our patio to look like the Mediterranean even in Massachusetts.

Tulip Sketches - Carolyn Pappas

I was gifted some tulips a few weeks ago and I am working on a watercolor painting of them. I've made a lot of preliminary sketches and I'm all ready to start the actual painting, but I'm feeling a little intimidated. As a way to procrastinate, I figured I would get outside to practice some more by drawing some tulips that are still outside. Plus, the time frame for tulips isn't too long and they are one of my favorite flowers. The tulips that I was gifted have already died off, but I've planted the bulbs so they can come up again next year.

Spring Bulbs - Carolyn Pappas

To celebrate the last day of tax season yesterday, I sat in the garden and did this sketch in the evening while sipping a cup of tea. It was a little chilly, but it has since dropped 20 degrees and it is supposed to rain (and maybe even snow) this weekend. I'm glad I took the opportunity to get outside a bit. I did the watercolor part afterwards, inside.

Weeds, Leaves, Twigs and such - Carolyn Pappas

I would love to spend a few hours outside drawing now that it is light longer into the evening, but it is still a little too chilly out to spend longer than about a half hour at a time. Or, maybe I just have a very low tolerance for the wind. These days we are in the process of cleaning up outside and getting things ready for the garden. Here are some sketches I made of some small details while sitting out in the yard.

Sketching Weather - Carolyn Pappas

This is a sketch I made of a small grove of pine trees with a telephone pole ruining my view. Lately I've been thinking that I very rarely even see nature without some man made object in view as well. This is another piece I made thinking along the same lines.

I made this sketch at the beginning of March on a day that was a little warmer than usual. I rushed out there to do some sketching, but it ended up being a little too cold and I had to go back inside when my fingers started freezing off. Today it's in the high 60's and I was able to get outside and do some nice sketching. Tomorrow is supposed to reach up to 70 and I am sooo excited about it! I'm not with my scanner now, so I will post my sketches in a few days.

Sketching in Greenfield - Carolyn Pappas

Last Sunday I found myself in Greenfield, MA (which is in the northwestern part of the state near VT and NH) with some extra time to spare. I parked my car at Harper's Package Store (i.e., liquor store), put on some music (The Best of the Chieftains) and did some sketching. Behind the big tree on the left you can see a stonewall (they are all over the place around here) and a mountain in the background. The towns around Hampshire and Franklin counties are called "the northern hill towns" and they are some of the most beautiful parts of the state.

However, I think next time I do this I'm going to have to draw the store itself because it had sooo much going on. It would make a great sketch.

Norway Maple - Carolyn Pappas

It was snowing this morning and I stayed home and did quiet things inside all day. I sat in my kitchen and sipped on coffee and drew this Norway Maple in my back yard. I used a black ball point pen and my Tombow brush pens. For the past few weeks I have been looking at this tree quite a bit and making some rough sketches for a painting I want to make. The tree itself is very beautiful although you can't see very much of it in this drawing. I also drew the same tree here and you can see some more of it. When it gets a little warmer outside I want to sit far enough away from it so I can draw the whole thing.

Park Sketching - Carolyn Pappas

Last Sunday I went to the park in my city and sketched these trees while sitting in my car and sipping on (too sweet) coffee. It was a relaxing time and it was quite warm in my car so I didn't notice that it is November. There were a lot of old ladies walking dogs, but otherwise it was very quiet. I tried to keep my color selection down to a minimum so I didn't become overwhelmed with multiple colored pencils, but I actually like the limited palette now that I look at it. It seems very mellow to me, which was how I was feeling at the time.

The trees are all bare now. I was meaning to get out and draw the foliage, but unfortunately I had a bad fall a few weeks ago which kept me from drawing. I did collect some leaves however, and they are now on my side table waiting to be drawn.

Foliage - Carolyn Pappas

I haven't been feeling well lately and I took a temporary break from artwork, but now things are starting to feel normal again and I'm getting back into it. I am excited about doing some more nature sketching in the next coming weeks! This is a drawing I made one morning about a month ago while looking out my boyfriend's dining room window. I wasn't really being realistic with the colors but it was great fun anyway. The fall foliage is actually quite nice this year here in Massachusetts so I am going to try to draw some of it before it's all gone.