Weedy Overgrowth

Here are some recent sketches of weeds/brush that I've been doing in the mornings. I love sketching at this particular spot because it has a jungle like atmosphere with all the vines. I recently bought a new Lamy Safari fountain pen (EF nib) and filled it with the Lexington Gray ink that everybody loves. And I love it too!!! You can see more sketches that I've posted on my blog here and here.

©2013 Carolyn A Pappas, Weeds (6-26-13). Gray Ink in 6.5 x 9 inch sketchbook.


©2013 Carolyn A Pappas, Weeds (6-28-13). Gray Ink in 6.5 x 9 inch sketchbook.

January Morning Sketches

I've begun a habit recently of keeping a sketchbook in my car and doing a small 10-15 minute pen sketch before I go in for work in the mornings. I find that it helps to clear my head, and I enjoy looking at my sketches as they accumulate day after day.

Nature Sketching Project: pen and ink calendar

In an effort to complete more nature sketching, I decided to do a lot of little sketches instead of trying to sit outside for a few hours and do something really expansive (this is not possible for me anymore with a 1 year old). I turned my sketches into a hand drawn calendar for the upcoming year (flickr set: 2013 Pen Sketched Calendar).

Here are some samples, and you can see the rest on flickr:


Sedum. Pen and ink on 140 lb hotpress paper, apx 5 x 4 inches.


Chives and Dill. Pen and ink on 140 lb hotpress paper, apx 5 x 4 inches.

I spent about 10 minutes on each sketch and the subjects are various nature objects and vignettes from around my home in September and October. I now have the whole collection in my cubicle at work, which really brightens it up and brings a little bit of nature indoors. I have licensed it through Creative Commons with no restrictions, so you can print it off for yourself if you'd like.

Parking Lot Vines

The only nature sketching I've been privileged to do lately is sketching some overgrown brush and vines at the edge of a parking lot. I've sketched it a number of times already and these are my two favorite sketches. At first, I thought it would be a very mundane subject, but I've come to see now that there is more life there than meets the eye. Just the other day I saw a female cardinal hopping around.  
©2012 Carolyn A Pappas, 8-17-12 Nature Sketch. Pen and ink in 6 x 7.5 inch sketchbook.  
©2012 Carolyn A Pappas, 9-5-12 Nature Sketch. Pen and ink in 6 x 7.5 inch sketchbook.

Visit to Vermont

A few weeks ago, I went on a small trip to Vermont for the weekend. I only managed to make one sketch though, as I was busy taking care of my baby the whole time. I did this sketch overlooking the lake while sitting on the balcony high above the ground.

I did manage to take some photos though, including some closeups of a family of ducks. I was amazed that they let me get so close to them. Even though I did not get a chance to do the sketching I would have liked, I left feeling very inspired by the landscape.

©2012 Carolyn A Pappas, 8-4-12, Lake Eden, VT. Pen in large handbook sketchbook.
 

Painting Outdoors

©2012 Carolyn A Pappas, Outdoor Watercolor Sketch. Watercolor in small watercolor moleskine.


I have a small confession to make. This is the first time that I have painted watercolor outdoors. In the past I have always done sketching in ink or pencil and then painted indoors later, or have looked out the window to paint. 


This little sketch doesn't seem like much, but it was really exhilarating for me. It was about seven o'clock in the evening and I sat on the back porch to paint this. There were dark clouds and the sun was filtering through, reflecting yellow light onto the water. 


The wind was blowing my stuff all over the place! I can't believe I waited this long to try painting outdoors and I can't wait until I get another chance.

Sketching at Poet's Seat Tower

©2012 Carolyn A Pappas, 4/29/2012 outdoor sketching (Poet's Seat Panorama). Colored Pencil in large handbook sketchbook.

I did some sketching at Poet's Seat Tower (see this link to my blog for a photo and more info) yesterday using colored pencils. This is the highest point above the city of Greenfield so it offers a spectacular view (but lots of wind).

This is another experiment with sketching in color. I had a limited variety of colored pencils with me, which I selected because they were "natureish" colors. They were a good mix, although I will add a darker green for next time.

Birdwatching at the Orchard

©2012 Carolyn A Pappas, Greenfield as seen from Colrain. Pen in large handbook journal.

My husband took me to a nearby apple orchard to do some nature sketching the other day. The orchard sits upon a high hill which has a 180° view of the mountains surrounding Greenfield, MA. It's too bad that I didn't have my colored pencils or watercolors with me because they would have been great for this scene. All I had in my purse were some pens, which are my favorite sketching tool, but it felt a bit awkward for drawing all these trees.

When we were sitting in the car sketching, we noticed three or four bluebirds on the nearby apple trees. I was amazed because bluebirds are very rare. Then, the bluebirds started acting crazy and they all scattered when a giant hawk swooped down right near us. The hawk was being attacked by two crows, which chased the it all the way down into the valley. The hawk must have been threatening the crow's nest or something along those lines. This happened too quick for me to make a sketch or even take a photo, but it was exciting to watch.

My husband snapped a photo of me in the car sketching, looking very serious with my coffee!

Feeding the Green River

©2012 Carolyn A Pappas, Feeding the Green River. Pen and watercolor wash, 13.5 x 10 cm.

This is not a nature sketch, but I thought you would all like to see it anyway, so I'm posting it here. I would have loved to sketch this on location if possible, but it was situated right on the edge of a steep dirt road next to a winding river. I did this from a photo I snapped after Hurricane Irene, when the river and streams were especially high.

I sent this small piece along to Norway, for the Twitter Art Exhibit which is raising money for charity. It is worth checking out.

Birds on the Lake

©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Birds on the Lake (9-12-11). Pen in large handbook sketchbook.

I was lucky enough to see some water birds when we were taking our last boat ride on the lake for the year. There is a family of three swans (two adults and one juvenile) that I've been noticing swimming around the lake. After doing some reading, I think these are mute swans because they have a knob on their forehead. At the bottom of the page, I sketched some ducks, which look like little blurs because they were moving so fast.

I also spotted a heron on the water's edge (lower right). This particular heron likes to walk along our shoreline and fish from our dock. Before we took the boat out of the water, I spotted it climbing onto the boat to fish! Even though he moves very slowly, I was still only able to make stick figure like sketches of it (see below).


©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, Heron on the Move (9-13-11). Pen in large handbook sketchbook.

Early Morning Sketching

©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, 7-17-11 Nature Sketching (Wooded Area). Ink and watercolor in large watercolor moleskine.

We are in the middle of a heatwave here in New England. This makes life very uncomfortable, especially since a lot of homes don't have central air conditioning. I have been holed up indoors with the window a/c running or even going to the mall or the library to take advantage of their a/c. I am not particularly interested in going outside at all and nature sketching feels like an extreme sport, but I did manage to get outdoors early in the morning last weekend. At 6:30 am it was getting hot already, and the dew had even dried from the grass!

I normally don't sketch so early in the morning, but I must say that I liked it. There were no cars on the highway to make extra noise in the distance and all I could hear were the birds and the flies buzzing around. The birds were so loud I thought I was in an aviary, but unfortunately I didn't spot any. I set up my little stool near a section of woods where a sort of path has been cleared. The light created a nice dappling effect. I didn't set out to draw a scene exactly like what I was viewing, but I wanted to pick up on some of the details and try to capture the shapes and textures. Some things I noticed were the pine and maple saplings, lots of old leaves from last fall, broken twigs and small pieces of rotten wood. Little bits of blue sky were peeking out from behind the trees in the distance. Thankfully the mosquitoes weren't bothersome even though it was almost completely windless.

At the Edge of the Woods

©2011 Carolyn A. Pappas, 6-5-2011 Sketchbook Page (At the Edge of the Woods). Pen and marker in large handbook sketchbook.

I made this sketch at the edge of a patch of woods, so the leaves I sketched were a combination of lawn type weeds and typical underbrush that you would see in the woods. Even though it has been really hot here, the leaves still look "springlike" because they are all varying shades of green instead of the uniform green of summer. The ferns have all sprouted up and the dragonflies were out in full force.

You can also see some downed branches from the recent storms last week. The tornadoes did not come near my area, but we did still have severe thunderstorms. It is pretty remarkable for tornadoes to come through Massachusetts at all, and these were particularly destructive, carving a thirty-nine mile path across the southern part of the state from Westfield to Brimfield.

Trees in the Snow - Carolyn A. Pappas

Perhaps one day I will get the proper gear and fortitude to do real outdoor nature sketching in the winter. Until then, I'm still looking out the window. Earlier today I took the opportunity to quickly paint some the trees and brush outside. It snowed about five inches or so, and has now switched over to the dreaded "winter mix."

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.

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.

Clematis

Today is one of the first days in a LONG time that it hasn't been raining here in Massachusetts and New England in general. The amount of rain we've been getting is abnormal for this time of year, to put it lightly. Everyone has been complaining about it! I really hope that it brightens up so I can spend some time outside again, especially this weekend.

This is a pen and ink and watercolor wash sketch of some clematis that I did some time ago in my 7 x 10 watercolor sketchbook. I wasn't sure what kind of flower this was at first, but then I googled it and found out right away!

Unidentified Vine

Vine Study, ink with watercolor wash, 4/25/09

I came home from my class on Friday night feeling exhausted but really inspired. While I was there I got a lot of time to practice figures and portraits, as well as get out and do nature sketching on my down time. I have a lot of little sketches from my trip that I will soon get scanned in and ready to post.

In the meantime, here is a little thing that I did in my watercolor sketchbook before I left. It is a vine that is wrapped around this arbor in the backyard. I'm not sure what sort of vine it is though. Apparently, it will have white flowers later on -- I will have to do another drawing once they come out. It took me some time to draw the leaves in ink first, but I think it was a lot of fun. I wasn't really concerned with keeping my greens accurate. I thought it would be more fun to make them as bright and bold as I could.

Meet the Correspondents: Carolyn Ann Pappas

Hello everybody! My name is Carolyn Pappas and I am thrilled and honored that Kate invited me to be a part of this blog. I am a New Englander and these days I generally spend most of my time in Massachusetts and Connecticut. In the photo above you can see some of my work as well as a photo of me when I was busy inking one day this past winter.

I've been into art ever since I was a kid but I was never really serious about it. In 2005, I started blogging which really encouraged me to practice and improve my skills. About a year ago, I really started to strive for daily sketching and it has been a great success so far. I work primarily in graphite, ink, colored pencil and some watercolor thrown into the mix sporadically. I love sketching out in nature and I am just starting to get back into it after a really harsh winter here. Besides nature sketching and botanical/floral type subjects, I also love to draw portraits and still lifes.

I find that keeping a sketchbook is a great way to visually document what is going on in my life as well as a relaxing pastime. If you'd like to take a look at some more of my work, you can check out my blog here and you can also see a lot more on my flickr photostream. Take a look if you'd like and I can't wait to see everybody else's great artwork that will show up on this blog!