Catching up…

Time has been slipping by so quickly – which is what happens when you are busy!  In Florida, our busy season reflects an increase in population when our winter visitors flood the city and beaches.  So I’ve been busy on several other fronts, which leaves me little time for sketching and posting.  So…maybe I can catch up here!  Here’s an update if you’re interested.

Butterflies, gardens and nature journals

In November I was invited to speak at the 14^th Annual SW Florida Butterfly Conference held at the EdisonFord Estate in Fort Myers, Florida.  I shared some inspiring journal pages from various artists on gardening for butterflies, with observations on caterpillars and nectaring butterflies.  I also included some images of early and contemporary naturalists as well as butterflies interpreted through an artistic lens.  I left feeling that participants were inspired to start their own nature journals, perhaps documenting their own butterfly gardens or just capturing images from their travels.  I was inspired in turn by the warm response and friendly comments, and learned quite a bit about butterflies!

Watercolor Pencil Workshop: Botany Through Art

Through November and December I had the opportunity to teach a workshop on watercolor pencils via nature journaling at the fabulous NaplesBotanical Garden.  We had a wonderful group of participants, each one adding a unique viewpoint to experience.  I love the mix of perspectives: a college science teacher, a pulmonary physician, artists whose specialties are acrylic and watercolors, a professional writer, and more.  Each of us sees the world in a slightly different way, and our journal pages are shaped by our personalities as well as our life experiences.  Each week was a joy.

Something different! 

I was invited to paint a ceramic piece for the annual Empty Bowls Silent Auction held in January.  For every dollar that they raise, the Harry Chapin Food Bank turns it into $6 worth of food for the local food banks in Collier County.  Painting on clay is a very different and challenging experience!  This is the third year I’ve done this, and each time I’m delighted with the variety and creativity of the ceramic pieces offered.

A twisted bald cypress tree at the edge of a cypress dome.

Back to the Fakahatchee

Our sketch group met for one more time in the Fakahatchee in January, choosing the same location as last November.  Last fall Ipainted a view of the Lake Gloria extension, edged by a cypress dome on one side.  This time I chose a lone cypress tree that caught my eye.  All the trees around were straight and tall, but this particular tree had such an interesting twist to it.  The morning sun caught each ridge of the delineated trunk.  What made this tree grow so differently?  Why the twist?  It seemed a striking testament to the will to survive and thrive, each curve and twist reflecting some event in its growth cycle.  Sort of like the scars, gray hairs and wrinkles we accumulate as we move through the events of our lives.  I could relate to this tree!

Environmental Art and the Food Forest

Later in January I was invited I was invited to share my sketch journals and give an introduction to watercolor pencils at a class at Florida Gulf Coast University.  After a slide show and short discussion we adjourned to the Food Forest to sketch.  This is an amazing place, and I cannot possibly tell you all about it here.  Look for more details in a future post.  I was so impressed by the groups of students in the class as well as the students who created and maintain the garden.  Let me say that if you are interested in gardening and what young people are doing with it, you need to read more or better yet, arrange a visit.  You can visit their webpage here, see the listing on the FGCU site here, and finally, check out their Facebook page for the latest news.  I appreciate Professor Mary Voytek for arranging this wonderful opportunity, and for encouraging and inspiring her class of artists and environmental studies students to explore their natural surroundings through art. 

Also in January…

I had an opportunity to share my sketchbooks and talk about nature journaling at the Family 4-H Day event, Lehigh Acres.

I presented a Nature Journal Workshop for the FNPS Coccoloba Chapter at Six Mile Cypress Slough Preserve.  I met a group of friendly and native-plant knowledgeable folks who did a great job with just a few hours of introduction to a new media. I can only visualize how far they’ve taken their new skills and where they will take them!

A gopher tortoise emerging from his burrow.

And in February…

A group of us went to TheNaples Preserve to sketch.  I had a chance to meet and sketch with an online friend, and we ended up taking part in a promotional film clip for the Preserve.  The Preserve is an amazing place, a little patch of scrub and pines right smack in the middle of the city.  If you live in or visit Naples, you should visit this rapidly disappearing habitat. 

And now for March…

I started another Watercolor Pencil Workshop at The Naples Botanical Garden in March, which is ongoing through April.  We have another great group of artists of all ranges and backgrounds, and I’m enjoying this class as well!  There are old friends and new, and the Garden is at it’s flowering peak.  One of our challenges is that there are too many subjects to sketch!

Leaf demonstration in watercolor pencils at the Enabling Garden..

At some point I hope to get back to sketching more regularly.  I get so much joy from teaching and sharing what I’ve learned, though.  I just need a few more hours in each day…

Thanks for stopping in to catch up!

The above sketches are done with:
6 x 9 inch Aquabee Super Deluxe sketch pad
Various watercolor pencils: Faber Castell Aquarelle and Albrecht Durer, Derwent Inktense
Mechanical pencil
Micron Pigma 01 black ink pen

Click on any image to view larger.

Sycamore leaf

Sycamore leaf, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

This leaf is from my recent trip to Copeland, Florida to draw and paint the Bula Baptist Mission Church. There was a small stand of trees nearby, and I picked up some of the fallen leaves to paint later. Most of the fallen leaves were monotonously brown in color, but this particular one still had some green turning to a warm reddish brown (later it faded to an even medium brown color).
 
I used two pigments to create a brown and to liven up and exaggerate the colors I saw: Daniel Smith Sap Green and Cadmium Red. I added the veins later with a dark-brown watercolor pencil. I’m still testing the Strathmore Windpower Watercolor sketchbook, which is the paper I used for this study. The spiral bound 6x9 book is loaded with 15 sheets of 140 lb. cold-press paper and is a good value for the cost (under $10.00).

Sycamore trees are not common in Southwest Florida – they’re almost always planted as part of a landscaped home or institution. They are more common in the wild in north Florida, and are trees that prefer floodplains, although they adapt well to other habitats.

Their distinctive features: out-sized, broad palmate leaves; thin plate-like bark in mottled cream and brown colors, and a large height and spreading leaf crown. I’ve found the leaves to be great subjects for study because of the strong veins and interesting shapes they take when drying.

Interesting facts about sycamores in Florida:

•We have two co-champion trees, one in Orange County and one in Alachua County. Champion trees are documented as the largest representative tree of their species.  If you’re a fan of big trees, you may want to visit:
Native Tree Society (scroll down to BigTree/Tall Tree listings in the left navigation pane).

•We have sycamores growing here that traveled to the moon! Well, the seeds did, anyway. Hundreds of various species of tree seeds traveled on the Apollo 14 mission to the moon on January 31, 1971 as part of a joint NASA/USFS project. The seeds were germinated upon return to earth, and seedlings ended up at the University of Gainesville, The Kennedy Space Center, and Cascades Park in Tallahassee.

You can see more sycamore leaves on my Flickr photostream, especially in the set labeled Color Charts and Mixes, where I was trying out various triad color combinations.

Thanks for visiting!

American sycamore ~ how many ways to draw a leaf?

On the left, a leaf drawn with pen scribbles; on the right, the same leaf drawn with a mechanical pencil.

I like sycamore leaves because they're quite large, and as they dry they create interesting shapes that are a challenge to sketch or paint.  Sometimes I like to experiment with different ways of drawing the same subject, and a sycamore leaf is the perfect subject.  This practice helps my future sketching because it gives me ways to compare ease of media as well as the mood and texture they create.  You can see from the examples that each leaf has a different character, depending on the technique I used.

The leaf at the top left has a free and casual feeling; I used random, rather large scribbles to build up the planes and masses.  The leaf sketched in pencil (top right) has a much softer feeling - this particular pencil allows for fine lines and a gradation of grays.  Notice how the pencil lines follow the curve of the leaf between the veins, and how each line has continuity in direction, totally unlike the scribble texture.

The leaf in the bottom example (left) has an ink outline with stippled dots describing the shadows and masses.  This lends a more formal feeling to the drawing, and is often used for botanical illustrations because the dots reproduce well and can indicate a lot of detail.  This particular drawing doesn’t contain much detail, because of the size of the dots relative to the size of the subject.  Imagine if you were to make a large drawing with many dots, and how descriptive it could be!  Needless to say, this method is time-consuming and not a good choice for sketching in the field, although it can have its purposes. 


The next leaf is also in ink, but with hatching and cross-hatching to show form and value.  This technique can mimic old ink engravings if the lines are very parallel and evenly spaced, or be more free if the lines are more haphazard (like mine).  Each technique is unique, and can be combined to create even more interesting lines. 

Left, an inked outline with stippling in pen; right, the same pen but with cross-hatching.

I hope this exercise has been helpful, or spurred some new thoughts about alternate ways of making lines.  You might want to think about using them with unconventional media as well as the traditional standbys I used.  Next post: more about sycamore leaves!

You can click on the images to view larger.  Thanks for visiting!

Is is fall yet?

Laurel oak leaf, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

With temperatures still in the low to mid-nineties here in south Florida, this is the question on my mind almost every day during the last half of September. I found this laurel oak leaf on the ground the other day, and it reminded me that fall is lurking around the corner.

Just in the last few days, the mornings have been a tiny bit cooler, and the air has been drier. The sky has taken on a tinge of cooler blue as the earth tilts away from the sun. Fall in Florida doesn’t have the drama and glory it does further up the northern hemisphere, but it does have a subtle splendor.

This tattered, beaten-up leaf still glowed with color, inspiring me to try to capture them in watercolor. I painted this in a new watercolor sketchbook by Strathmore, purchased at Michaels with a 40% off coupon! And since it was a low price to start, I felt I couldn’t go too wrong.

It is the Strathmore Windpower Watercolor pad, spiral bound, with 15 sheets of cold press 140 lb. acid-free paper. I bought the small size (6 x 9 inches) for field and small study painting and sketching. I like the clear white color of the paper and the way it takes initial washes. I also like the heavier paper in this book; I used a fairly wet wash on the leaf and had no buckling at all.

What I didn’t like was the way my watercolor lifted when I attempted to add another glaze layer, but I think that is partly my choice of paint color. Still, I’m used to the Pentalic sketchbook that seems to “grab” all of my watercolors. I think I need to experiment more with getting my initial washes right, and fuss less with detail.

I sketched this first in pencil, and then painted with Daniel Smith watercolors: Quinacridone Gold, Sap Green, Raw Sienna, Burnt and Raw Umber, and Cadmium Red. Darker vein accents were a mixture of Raw Umber and Indanthrone Blue; the shadow is a mix of Shadow Violet plus Indanthrone Blue.

It’s been a lot, hot summer for many of us, but I know some of you in the upper parts of the northern hemisphere are enjoying autumn already, with cooler temperatures and even frost!

First day of fall (sycamore leaf)

First day of fall (sycamore leaf), originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

“Sycamores are among the last trees to go into leaf; in the fall, they are the first to shed. They make sweet food in green broadleaves for a while – leaves wide as plates – and then go wild and wave their long white arms.” ~ Annie Dillard

Today is recognized as the second annual crossing of the equator by the sun, known in the northern hemisphere as the autumnal equinox. The word equinox derives from the Latin, meaning “equal night.” Traditionally, the length of days and nights become the same on this day. Of course, this really depends on where you live and how exactly you wish to measure!

If you are in the northern hemisphere and out and about tonight, look for the moon; this year we’re supposed to experience what is called a Super Harvest Moon. I read that there will be a huge orange moon rising as the sun is setting.

To celebrate these events and our first day of fall, I thought I’d create another version of a sycamore leaf. This one is in my Pentalic Nature Sketch 6 x 12 inch book.

First, I brushed the paper with gesso, letting it dry overnight. Next morning I added the ink sketch and some watercolor washes. Then I layered watercolor pencil strokes here and there with a clear water wash, and added a subtle leaf print or two. The textures seemed to be appropriate to the season and to reflect the dry crinkly texture of the leaf.


The quote above is from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard, and is part of a longer exploration of life and nature including trees, time, and sycamores.

Happy equinox!


You can click on the image caption above to view it larger on my Flickr photostream.

Sycamore leaves

Sycamore leaves, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

 

Although sycamores naturally range into north Florida, landscapers have been planting them in our area of Southwest Florida. I enjoy finding their huge leaves on the ground – they make interesting subjects to draw as they dry and twist and wrinkle into challenging shapes.

 

Sycamore trees are one of our largest species in North America – up to 100 feet or more – and can develop massive trunks. Besides the distinctive huge leaves (these are 11 inches across!), sycamore trees also produce a flaky bark of gray, brown, and cream colors.

 

The scientific name Platanus occidentalis refers to the wide, large leaves (Plantanus from the Greek for broad, and location (occidentalis meaning “western,” as in the western hemisphere).

 

The common name meaning of sycamore is a bit more of a mystery. Online sources give two or three versions, but word-origins.com seems to have the most concise: a compound word evolving via Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and French translations meaning fig-mulberry.

 

I’ve painted sycamore leaves in the past, but this time I wanted to explore those amazing shapes with pencil. I used my PentalicNature Sketch pad, and was happy with the way the tooth grabbed the pencil, and allowed for both soft blending of pencil strokes as welll as distinctive lines.

 

I used an ordinary mechanical pencil for this (.7 mm, probably an HB), and I had to be careful of smearing. If I want to preserve my work, I’ll have to spray it with fixative.

 



 

If you’d like to read more about sycamore trees, I found both of these online articles interesting:

• "Speaking the Plane Truth"  by Arthur C. Gibson
• "American Sycamore Trees: History and Appearance of One of the Largest Eastern Hardwood Species"  by Renie Burghardt

 If you’d like to see my sketchbook paintings of sycamore leaves, please visit my Flickr site and start here. These are a series of leaf studies using different primary triads of Daniel Smith watercolors. The differences are subtle, but I learned a lot!

 

To see the top image larger, just click on it to visit my Flickr photostream.

Red maple

Red maple, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Since we're in Florida near the western coastline and the Gulf of Mexico, we don't often have to scrape the ice from our windshields before work! Last week we had three frosty mornings, with temperatures dipping just below the freezing point.

The freezing temperatures presented us with an array of dying leaves, some changing colors in magnificent ways. I'm glad I got to take a photo of this wonderful red maple and finish my sketch; today the tree has dropped nearly all of its leaves.

I wish I could share the colors of the leaves with you - at best this is an approximation. The dying maple leaves are even more glorious than the new foliage, which is sometimes a combination of red, purple, and bronze.

Other trees in the area are sporting browns and yellows; the cypresses are my next favorite, its needles turning from green to a golden rusty brown. In the meantime, our temperatures have warmed up considerably!

You can click on the image above to view it larger on my Flickr photostream.

Live oak leaves

Live oak leaves, originally uploaded by Elizabeth Smith.

Just when you've learned to recognize leaf shapes and get to know a tree, you come across one that likes variety. I'm used to live oak leaves that look (mostly) like the center leaf in my drawing.

Imagine my surprise to find these other shapes in the leaf litter below the tree. I checked the branches above to see if others on this tree were this variable, and yes, they were! Solid evidence for using more than one field guide for identification.

I drew this fairly quickly with my new Sakura Pigma Sepia pens, and laid in a few watercolor washes to reflect the color differences. I have a few of the Sakura black ink pens, but brown or sepia ink just seems a little friendlier for some subjects.

The pens work well in the Aquabee sketchbook I've been using, and the set has a nice variety of weights and tips. The color scans just a wee bit cooler in color (at least on my monitor); on the page they seem a bit warmer in hue.

You can click on the topmost image to view it larger on my Flickr photostream.  Thank you for visiting!

Foreshortening: always a challenge...

One of the biggest challenges in drawing plants (or any subject for that matter) is that of foreshortening. Drawing a leaf seems like a easy task...but not if you draw it from different angles.

After drawing this seagrape leaf from three angles, I have a more intimate acquaintance with its shape, edges, parts, and personality. Tracing the textures of the stem or petiole and attempting to follow the stiffness of the leaf blade builds a memory that stays with me long after the drawing is done.

The top leaf is easy, seagrape leaves are essentially a circular shape. The second from the top is the same leaf drawn from the side, and so the challenge begins!

Foreshortening is what happens when something in the picture plane is moving toward you, and shapes become distorted. See how the leaf changes when the edges thrust forward?

Drawing these three-dimensional shapes onto a two-dimensional piece of paper takes some practice. First, I squint my eyes as an aid to flatten out what I'm seeing. Next, I look for the shapes I readily recognize.

For example, in the drawing with color overlays, you can see the circle shape used for the top leaf. I lightly sketch this shape, then redraw and modify the little dips and curves of the edges. When I drew the side view (second from top), I first found and drew the green triangle shape. After that I could locate the oval shape, then it was just a matter of finding the next lines and more small shapes.

For the bottom view, the closest shapes I could recognize were more ovals. I started with the green front lip shape, modifying it as I drew, and then added the side ovals complete the leaf shape. Although this drawing still looks a bit awkward to me, I think it gives an accurate illustration of just how this leaf looks from this angle.

I find that I don't always use the same procedure when I draw. This time I felt most comfortable drawing the closest shape first, but that's not always the case. Sometimes I like to draw the main veins or stems first. I think it depends on the subject and how my brain is working that day!

Foreshortening doesn't have to be a mystery, try using these tips and see if they take the challenge out of distorted shapes. Turn that left-brain chatter off and get back to basics. A good, solid structural base drawing can free you to explore line, texture and color.