Fast Away the Old Year Passes......

....fa la la la la, la la la la
Hail the New Year lads and Lasses,
Fa la la la la, la la la la!!

New Years Eve on the marsh, grey and cold with a snowy wintery mix coming down at times. You might wonder why I conside these sketches since they're not drawn with a pen or pencil. Well, the truth is that I begin these with light pen or pencil drawings and wash the watercolor over that, and I don't spend very long on them, just jotting down my initial impressions. All three of these were completed in a little over an hour. So, in my mind they qualify as sketches. And since they are sketches I might use them in the future for larger more finished studio works. Good- bye 2005!!

Winter Sketching

Today I did some plein air sketching; that is to say I went outside to sketch since the temperature was mild. I got a beautiful Lama Li watercolor sketchbook for Christmas filled with lovely handmade paper, which is a joy to work on.

sepia drawing pen and watercolor.

Rose Hips & Birch Cone

Wild Rose, known as rosa multiflora, though very hardy and proliferous has such a delicate look to it both when it's flowering and when it leaves its hips behind. Long, slender climbing stems weave their way through other plants and in June festoon the underbrush and small saplings with a garland of petite white flowers. In winter the hips decorate the landscape as an endless string of red beads draped over its head and shoulders. The White Birch, produces tiny "cones" on slender twigs all through the winter. At first they are tightly closed and then they open and form a plump cone.

These sketches were done the old fashioned way, with a bottle of ink and pen with a nib that must be dipped in the ink every few strokes. With the advent of markers and rapidographs, very few artists use the old fashioned pen and ink method. But I have to say that there is nothing quite like the result of using the old fashioned "crows' quill ". The pen nib, like a pint brush has "spring" to it and is very responsive to the artists' hand producing a quality of drawing that no other tool can duplicate. Here I used walnut ink and a crows' quill pen.

White Pine Sprig and Cone

Here we have a sprig and cone frome a White Pine. Delicate and fragrant.

Blackmarker and watercolor.

Winter Gleanings

A short walk produced all these wonderful sketching subjects: the pod from a Tulip Tree (Poplar) flower, the small cone from a White Birch,
a large cone from a White Pine as well as a sprig of White Pine, and a spry of rose hips from the wild rosa multiflora.

Graphite, black marker and watercolor

Funny Bunny

A whole page full of Rosie!! A funny bunny with many moods and expressions. These very quick sketches were done with vine charcoal on Ingres paper which has a very unique texture to it.

Winter Solstice

Happy Winter Solstice!! Time to celebrate, after today the days begin to get longer and longer!!! This is a quick morning sketch done looking out the window. This took about 40-45 min. and it's done on eraser paper. This is special paper that's coated with a layer of charcoal and instead of a pencil you draw with an eraser, removing the charcoal. It's like drawing in reverse!

Christmas Globe

This beautiful Christmas globe is a "snow-shaker" and a musicbox. It plays " O, Holy Night" and is filled with irridescent glittler for "snow". It's quite beautiful to watch and listen to.

2H pencil

Wooden Duck

This is Agnes, a beautiful hand carved wooden duck. She has a sister, Winnie. I originally bought them to put in my garden but they are so beautiful that they grace the mantel in our livingroom. This was a fun sketch, trying to capture the inquisitive expression originally given to her by the person who carved her.

Ebony Sketching Pencil

Dog Day Afternoon

Here's Maggie making herself comfy in the sun on this winter afternoon. For a little change of pace these were done in charcoal, then sprayed with clear acrylic to keep them from smudging. I awlays liked charcoal as a sketching medium. I think it's as close as you can get to painting while still drawing. Charcoal is very soft and easy to smudge and blend, in many ways like oil paint. Whole areas can be covered thickly and then the lights pulled out using an eraser. Lines can be very rich and thick or very delicate allowing for a great deal of variety and expression.

Black Boot

These boots are made for walkin' !! Well not really! But it was fun to tackle an all black subject.

Black marker and watercolor.

Paint & Brushes

The tools of the trade for any painter! And a reminder that you can click on the link to my painting blog ART & LIFE and see my recent work including some beautiful snow scenes, and a full moon over the marsh at sunset, breathtaking!!

black marker

Amaryllis III

I've moved the amaryllis to a sunnier south facing window and it's growing like crazy!! I'm eagerly anticipating the first sign of a bud!!

Pinecone

This is a cone from a pitch pine, those scrubby pinetrees that grow near the beach. It comes from Fire Island, NY off a tree that was blown over in the great hurrican of 1938 but survived and continued to grow horizontally and then finally upward again. Life will find a way!!

House Wren Nest

House wrens are perky little birds with delightful songs. I have many of them living in my garden. They make nests both in the birdhouses I put out and in the shrubs and bushes in the garden. This nest shows how wrens have adapted and made use of their human neighbors trash !! Woven into this loosely constructed and somewhat messy nest is a ziplock bag, wrappers from the straws that come with juice boxes and a good deal of pink birthday ribbon. In case you were wondering it is permissable to remove house wrens nests, though most other birds' nests cannot be touched, as they are protected by law.

LAWS
The Migratory Bird Treaty Act makes it illegal to disturb a nest or eggs of any native bird. Non-native and non-protected exotics are the House Sparrow (Passer domesticus), European Starling (Sturnus vulgaris), Domestic Pigeon or Rock Dove (Columba livia), the Monk parakeet (Myiopsitta monachus - the only parrot that doesn't nest in cavities), and the Eurasian collared dove (Streptopelia decaocto). Empty house wren nests can be removed. Don't remove tree swallow, tufted titmouse, or chickadee nests or eggs. House sparrow nests, eggs, young, and adults may be legally removed or destroyed.

Black marker and watercolor.

Beech Tree in Winter

Trees in winter offer an opportunity to better understand the underlying structure of individual tree species. This is a portion of a Beech tree, with some of last summers leaves still hanging on. It sits right outside my diningroom window in the second story of my house. It's a favorite with the local squirrel population, who enjoy eating the beechnuts.

Pointsettas

What would the holidays be without some cheerful red pointsettas?? Just a quick, simple little sketch here to capture their festive look.

Black marker and watercolor

Amaryllis II

Snowy, slushy and mushy today so no birdnest hunting for me today! A good day to stay inside and post an update of the amaryllis' progress. It's nice to see something green and growing.

Vireo Nest

A little research helped my identify this as a vireo's nest. It's about 2 1/2 inches in diameter, cup shaped and situated in the "v" of two thin branches on a beech sapling. It's exquisitely woven and attached to the branches with spider silk or perhaps the silk from a caterpillar's cocoon, a material that vireos commonly make use of.

Black marker, walnut ink, watercolor, white acrylic.

Winter Hydrangeas

Hygrangeas are wonderful plants, green and leafy early on in the season, full of white "snowballs" in August and September and tawny delicate papery flowers all winter long. I collected these from the yard this morning when I was out for a walk with Maggie.

Just in case you were wondering the sketching pen I prefer is a Micron 05, black, acid free, waterproof ink. Today i also used walnut ink and Pelikan transparent watercolor pans and a size 10 round brush.

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

Before Maggie came into our lives we had two dogs who lived to ripe old ages. I sketched them hundreds of times and knew every line and angle that was necessary to capture them in a drawing. We've had Maggie for 2 1/2 years and during that time I've been concentrating on painting "en plein air" a French phrase meaning "in the open air". A fancy way to say I paint outside! As a result I haven't gotten to "know" Maggie with pen and paper yet and I'm not really able capture her "look". In this series of sketches she's sleeping on the floor, I think in the sketch on the right side I'm beginning to get the hang of drawing her.

Black marker and walnut ink.

Give the Dog a Bone

This is Maggie the border collie mix. Animals don't like to be looked at intently, it makes them nervous so it's always easier to sketch them when they occupied or sleeping. Here maggie is enjoying a beef ear!

Black marker and watercolor.

Red Eared Slider

Meet Shelly, a red eared slider. It's not legal to own this type of turtle anymore, but we got Shelly over 10 years ago when they were available in any good pet store. They're called "red eared" because of the red markings along the side of their head and neck. As they grow older the acquire more colorful striping and splotching. You'd think a slow moving turtle would hold still and be easy to sketch. WRONG!! In the summer when Shelly is outside and very active she moves around quite a bit, but now that it's winter she's inside and in semi-hibernation, and she was a better model.

Black pen and watercolor.

What's Up Doc ??

This is Rosie again. She gives me a real sketching workout!! She never stays still for more than a few seconds, I'd say 20 seconds at most! She's so interesting to draw though, because of her breed. Rex rabbits have a wedge shaped head and a general triangular shape to their whole body. I've spent a long time learning to get her ears right, they more than any other element convey her attitude.

Black pen with walnut ink washes.

Amaryllis Bulb

You know its the holiday season in my house when you see an amaryllis bulb growing on the windowsill! If you are patient and watch closely you can practically see these amazing plants growing.

Look for updates on the amaryllis' progress over the next few weeks.

Black waterproof pen and watercolor washes.

December Gleanings

Bittersweet, rosehips and dried beech leaves all gathered from my yard. The leftovers of summer's bounty. Black waterproof pen and watercolor.

Pen, Pencil & Paper

Welcome to Pen, Pencil & Paper: a visual journey through life. Each day I'll be posting quick sketches of ordinary things from home, nature and travels.

This is the Honorable Rosemary Woodsorrell, Rosie for short. She's my pet rabbit, a Rex for those of you who know about such things. She doesn't like to be stared at so I usually only have a few moments to capture her in a sketch. The sketches were done with a black waterproof marker and a walnut ink wash to round out the forms.