Sketching the Garden

Here's a link to purchase this type of container.

New Contributor Introduction - Sandy

This is my first contribution to the Sketching in Nature group and I'd like to introduce myself. The main medium I've worked in for many years is gouache. For a full size painting (a full sheet of watercolor paper) I spend anywhere from six to ten weeks. For some of my botanical studies, done strictly from life, I work off and on during the plant's life cycle and if I happen to miss a phase I put the painting away until that phase comes around the next year. Needless to say, after doing that for many years I began to look around for an alternative way to record the things around me that didn't require such a committment of time. That's when I was lucky enough to run across Kate's watercolor pencil workshop in early 2008. I will never give up gouache because I'm an addict when it comes to detail, but I've also developed a love of watercolor pencil and pen and ink. I had to give up art entirely for well over a year because of near blindness, and as my vision began to return and I reconnected to the internet, what was one of the first things I ran into? -- Kate's Journaling class! What an inspiration she and my classmates have been. Starting January 1st, 2010, I began a journal dedicated to nature subjects and these three images are selections from it. I've enjoyed browsing through all your posts here and I'm looking forward to seeing more.

Feeder birds

It's always so much fun to see what birds visit our feeders--in this case a new one at my shed!  I've seen cardinals, sparrows, finches, and these guys...favorite winter birds!  Here, on toned paper, a titmouse, chickadee. and nuthatch...

You have to move fast to capture the overall shape, then you can add details later...including notes and borders!

deadheading roses

deadheading roses
Originally uploaded by vickylw

The David Austin rose shrub I almost got rid of two years ago due to lack of flowers has come back stronger than ever. Fully loaded with blooms in May (or so I was told -- I was in Texas at the time), and now a whole new crop of roses coming on. Plus a couple of spent blooms like this one. I think it took me seriously when I cut it back to just above the soil.

Pages from my new garden journal!

Not much time for art making this month, but time enough to document my newly redesigned gardens in my new garden journal. Here are some pages: