Red Day Lily Challenge--Vickie Henderson

I spotted this day lily growing in a little garden plot near the carport and grabbed an afternoon free of thunderstorms to make this sketch.   A comical, yet enlightening experience.

 

Breezes are beyond wonderful when it comes to comfort and keeping insects away, but they do play havoc with the moisture in your palette, as well as, on the page. And of course, I always forget something. This time it was my spray bottle, making it doubly difficult for me to have anything go right in the water-pigment balance department.

Without realizing I was complicating things even more, I decided to sketch this day lily with watercolor without penciling it in first. The result was the sketch you see below, and my reaction to it was one of disappointment. Then I remembered my long-time watercolor instructor's words as we began to show our work in class. She would say something like:  Tell us what you enjoyed while you were painting and what you like about the result. And if there is something you don't like or would like to do differently next time, you can tell us about that, too.

I looked at the sketch again, not as a whole, but its parts, and my attitude began to soften.  I liked the bud and its leaves.  It looked pretty good for raw brush work and had a spontaneous feel to it.  I did not like the flower petals; they had totally lost their shapes.  With the lily still in front of me, I pulled out my pencil and began to sketch in the petal shapes.  I was back in my comfort zone.  This instantly made the whole sketch feel better to me.  I added more details after going inside.

A wise exercise.  When you're feeling frustrated, ask yourself to be specific:  What do you like; what do you not like?   All of it is valuable information.

To read more about my experience with this sketch visit:  Don't Throw out the Kindergarten Efforts.

Bluebells, Bluets and Practice--Vickie Henderson

The tiny Bluets growing along the wooded hillside in my yard this year are gorgeous.  Irresistible, in fact.  So I gathered up my outdoor sketch kit this past weekend and went outside.  

Practice is just what its meant to be, an experience full of mistakes, blunders and, most of all, learning.  And this experience was no exception.  I would love to create one of those beautiful en plein air landscapes that I often admire.  But until then, I practice.  It's a bit like riding a bicycle.  You don't learn how to balance until you actually try it--over and over again.  And nobody can tell you how.  Then one day, without you knowing it, your brain has integrated all that you've learned and you find yourself doing it.    

That's the fun of new discoveries.  They feel like magic!  

For more about my first 2010 outdoor sketching experience visit my blog post Fumbling En Plein Air  at Vickie's Sketchbook.  You may also enjoy seeing my Red-shouldered Hawk Sketchbook at Vickie Henderson Art.