Showstoppers
Spring ephemeral wildflowers are putting on a show right now. It won’t last long. These woodland flowers bloom for a week or two in April and early May when the sun reaches the forest floor. Once the trees fully leaf out, the show will be over until next year. Bottom line: see it if you can. Many of these flowers are tiny, delicate beauties; others are stop-you-in-your-tracks gorgeous. I count white and red trillium in the latter category and was thrilled to see both on a wildflower walk yesterday.
Tips and Techniques– Because many spring ephemerals are white – including bloodroot, Dutchman’s breeches, trillium, cut-leaf toothwort, and mayapples – you’ll need to decide how to highlight them on white paper. A simple shaded drawing may be sufficient. But you could also consider using white gouache on toned paper or painting greenery behind the white flowers. I wanted to take my time with the white trillium, so I sketched the flowers in pencil in the field and then painted them at home using negative painting techniques to build up the layers of leaves surrounding the flowers. It takes time for the each layer of paint to dry, so this is not a good technique to do in the field.
A Moment in Spring
The changes come slowly at first: light in the morning, bird song, blossoming trees, ephemeral wildflowers in the woods. The Eastern phoebe wags its tail and sings its name outside my window, waking the world to the new season. Spring is the perfect time of year to note the incremental changes unfolding in the world. Like the phoebe, my sketchbook celebrates this moment in time, calling out the beauty and greening of the day.
Tips and Techniques– You can make this type of page all in one go or over the course of days or weeks. I typically go outside and look around until something strikes me and I put it down on the page. Then I move to the next thing and the next until the page is full. If you have time, you can paint as you go. If not, paint later using a photo reference or a cutting. Add text, or not, depending on what you want to convey and whether a theme emerges that you want to highlight.
Bright Spots of Yellow
This piece began a few weeks ago when I spied a mourning cloak butterfly basking on the ground at the edge of the woods. The adults of this butterfly overwinter hidden in tree cavities or under bark. I painted it on this page not knowing what I might find next. Over the last few days, forsythia has begun to bloom and a flock of golden crowned kinglets visited our yard, signaling the coming of warmer days and more buds, blooms, and returning birds. Bright spots of yellow– such a welcome beginning to spring!
Winslow Art Center is hosting its annual SPRING FLING, four days of free online workshops and demos April 13-16. I am offering Sketching Spring Unfolding on Saturday, April 15 – 2pm PDT/5pm EDT/10pm London Time. Find details and sign up >
Lush, Green and Warm
The northern winter can start to feel long about this time of year, so I like to take a trip someplace warm and green to buoy my spirits and provide inspiration. I’m not talking about Florida or the Caribbean or Mexico, the destination of choice for many in February and March. No, I’m just talking about paying a visit to the nearest greenhouse. I met three artistic friends at the Lyman Conservancy at Smith College in Northampton, Mass. and, while snow blew sideways outside the glass, we enjoyed sketching for a few hours surrounded by tropical splendor. It’s enough to get me through another week.
Tips and Techniques– I really learned my lesson this week: tackle what you can handle in the time and space you have. I spent about 45 minutes trying to do a complex negative painting of pitcher plants while standing up in a tight corner of the humid greenhouse. It was a disaster. I kept thinking I might salvage it, but finally cut my losses and began again. I drew this second page in about 15 minutes and gathered enough information to finish painting it at home. Abandoning a painting that isn’t working is hard to do. But sometimes a fresh start is the best way forward.
Woke
Odd noises on the back porch woke my husband and I from slumber the other night but, too tired to investigate, we decided not to get up. The next morning, our visitor was all too clear—a swath of destruction lay scattered across the yard and a six-inch paw print marked the back steps. I figured black bears would wait until the snow melted and weather warmed before venturing out. But alas, we are all very much awake.
Tips and Techniques– Don’t be afraid to be bold in your sketchbook. Zooming in on a subject can add a sense of drama. Had I made a tiny sketch of a bear, it would have been less effective and less fun. If you typically do tiny (safe) sketches, try going bigger and bolder in the future.
Out of the Cold
Out of the snow and the mud and still-frozen ground, the skunk cabbage emerges each year. I go in search of its hooded flowers in bottomland woods, where it pushes up from the margins of vernal pools and muddy streamside banks. Sketching it each March is almost like a rite of passage, marking the transition from winter to spring. Despite the snow and cold, the great thaw has begun. We have turned a corner.
Tips and Techniques– I had intended to do two sketches of skunk cabbage, one with a brush pen and the other with a fine liner. But after the first page was done, I was too cold to continue. This morning is far colder. So, I went through prior year sketches for comparison, which you can view by scrolling through the gallery above. I prefer the pages with greater subtlety and detail. But I’ll have to wait for a warmer day to sketch outside again.
Sketching the Colors of Spring begins this Thursday, March 23. Watch spring unfold with a heightened awareness of color during this watercolor series focusing on in-depth color exploration, experimentation, and practice. I’m also thrilled to share that I will be returning to Italy this fall with Winslow Art Center for Sketching Nature in the Umbrian Autumn, September 30 through October 7. Come along!
Digging Around
I was digging around my desk the other day for a pen or pencil that might give me a looser line than I can get with the fine-nib pens I typically use. I unearthed a brush pen, stuck it in my sketch bag, and pulled it out today when sketching again at the Pember Museum of Natural History. I’ve spent a lot of time with the museum’s bird nests and eggs, but in all my years there, I’ve never drawn from its mammal collection. I also have never looked closely at moles, shrews, or hedgehogs before. Somewhere between ugly and cute, their probing snouts and large forefeet are perfectly adapted to rooting around for earthly treats like worms and insects. And the brush pen? It’s graphic, imprecise, unforgiving, and sort of fun. I won’t give up my Micron pens, but it was good dig into the toolbox and try something new.
Tips and Techniques– A brush pen produces a very graphic line, which tends to flatten the form you are drawing. To counter this, I left the white of the paper and graded the paint from light to dark, which helped the rounded forms become more dimensional. You can do this whether painting moles or mushrooms or potatoes. Push the values to make your work more dynamic.
Nest Obsessed
I’m not sure what it is that draws me so strongly to bird nests. But over and over, I am fascinated by their beauty, structure, and variety. And the fact that birds make them with their beaks is nothing short of remarkable. I can’t imagine making something so fine – other than on paper.
Tips and Techniques– I was able to borrow an educator’s loan kit of nests from the Pember Museum of Natural History to make this page. It contained such a treasure trove that I called two artist friends to join me for a nest sketch party. Ask your local nature center or museum if they have a nest collection that you might work with. You may need to draw on location, but it’s worth working from the real thing, rather than a photo. But beware: you just may become nest obsessed, too.
Drawn from the Sea
Isn’t it amazing that a simple chemical compound, calcium carbonate, can create so much? It forms the hard outer shells of mollusks, who spin it into a myriad of forms and colors. As mollusks develop, they absorb salt and chemicals from sea water and secrete proteins and calcium carbonate, which hardens on the outside of their bodies, creating a hard shell. Mollusks continue to grow their shells as they age, adding layers year by year. When they die, they leave behind their beautiful creations, small gifts from a vast and mysterious ocean.
Tips and Techniques– There is a precision to seashells that can make them challenging to draw. If you don’t have a lot of time or if you are sketching at the beach, accept some wonkiness. I drew these directly in pen while standing up looking at a museum case and my goal was to get as many on the page as I could in the time I had. I love painting all the patterns on shells, but again, I decided against perfection in favor of getting the gist of each one. There is something nice about painting shells and thinking about warm beaches in winter. If you’ve got a few tucked away, pull them out and give it a go.
Anticipation
Huge flocks of red-winged blackbirds returned this week on winds from the south. They flew over farm fields in a current of birds, wave after wave crossing the sky. These early migrants are always such a welcome sign, even though we have miles to go before spring arrives. In anticipation of that loveliest season, I painted this American robin’s nest to prepare for my upcoming workshop series, Painting the Colors of Spring. The first session focuses on Earth colors—a nice way of acknowledging “mud season,” while also paying tribute to the bird who brings Earth colors to life like no other harbinger of spring.
Tips and Techniques– I struggled and failed at four paintings in the last week. I tell you this not because I recommend it. Rather, as a reminder that it’s part of the painting process. When you are unsatisfied with your results, avoid the common misery that comes with concluding that you’re a terrible painter. Instead, try to figure out what went wrong—was the drawing off? Did you rush the painting? Was it your color choices? Poor planning or design? Do you need to work on skills to help you tackle the subject you chose? Consider making notes right on the painting that highlight what you need to work on. Then pick up your pencil and get going.
Drawn In 