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.

Backyard Tree and Class Prep

Backyard Tree Sketch, pen and colored pencil in moleskine, 4/24/09

On Friday I went down to Jerry's Artarama and picked up some supplies for my class this week (I also did some impulse shopping!). When I got home I couldn't resist trying them out. I was using my new Staedtler pigment liners and trying my new pencil sharpener on some colored pencils. It was nice outside so it felt good to do some sketching outdoors. This was a really quick sketch, otherwise I think I would have penciled in the tree before I started drawing.

Today I'm getting all packed and ready to head out for my class at Snow Farm. I will meet some new art friends, confront some of my biggest art fears (figures and watercolor) and not have my computer to distract me. I am looking forward to it. Most of the time I will be busy with the coursework (portraits and figures) but I'm sure I will be able to squeeze in some nature sketching as well. Snow Farm is situated in very scenic town of Williamsburg, which is in the western part of Massachusetts.