Morning in the park


Morning in the park, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

Ink and watercolor wash. Lots of sunshine. Happy kid paying next to me :)

Self-Portrait After Run: March 30, 2009

As I continue experimenting with drawing myself after the run it's interesting to see when I have energy to add color or when I can make a special face (coming soon) and hold it long enough to raw or when I can just do a quick thumbnail and be done with it ;)

Last page of book #29


Last page of book #29, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

I had a few more pages but I was drawing there with a bunch of kids from the park - showing them my "magic" pencil and making fun of different animals ;)

I am suddenly finishing up my next sketchbook as I started using graphite and hairspray to fix it and MAN IT SMELLS! SO i need to finish it quickly and store it somewhere far from me ;)

Tree Cutting


Tree cutting - 2, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

It was a wonderful, very bright day with lots of noise and, as I found out later, wet grass - which I did not notice while sitting and sketching ;)

Tree cutting - 1

Strange, windy weather


Strange, windy weather, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

Park was virtually deserted that day which meant almost no sketching for me - I had to be a a full time play mate ;)

This was done with the Indigo watercolor pencil and a bit of pen over to strengthen some lines.

Flowers on the playground


Flowers on the playground, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

While little one is chasing squirrels, I had a chance to draw some wonderful flowers. Too bad squirrels are so fast - he came back before I had a chance to add color...

Park - kids on a swing

Spring weather


Spring weather, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

A wonderful day - full of spring smells and colors! I worked like a beaver all day long and had only a few minutes while waiting next to the library to draw this :)

I am trying to get my sketching set-up smaller and more portable and trying every week something new,. This week it's a tiny case from some fancy pen (who knows where it is now :) i placed a few watercolor pencils and great waxy color pencils from Lyra (uuuuum - drawing with butter!) and used this mini set-up here. It's nice - I give it 9 points for quick access, small space taken in the bag and addition of color. It's better than regular pencil which I love but cannot stand smudges.

Park: belly scratcher


Park: belly scratcher, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

Nice warm day in March. This guy was sitting on the bench, tank pulled up and scratching his belly while chatting on the phone. His son was playing with the ball close to him and was much harder to capture ;)

Stabilo brush pen with some water over it. I was also playing with some Pentel brush pens while little guy made train out of all his shoes ;)

Playing on the floor

Monstera Fruit


Monstera Fruit, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

I was invited to participate in a new exciting venture: Sketching in Nature blog organized by Kate Johnson. And here is my first post:

http://naturesketchers.blogspot.com/2009/04/prequel-monstera-fruit.html

Wisteria - from below - in bloom

Wisteria is one of my favorite plants! Really fun but hard to draw and paint ;) I think you might see quite a few of them in my blog not that gentle purple flowers started to appear all around the area ;)

Wisteria - from below Wisteria - found on the floor

Self portrait after run: March 13, 2009

About a year ago I got into a habit of drawing myself right after I come back from my run (about 3 times a week). I really mean right after - I stretch and draw - no shower allowed before drawing ;) It means that portraits are done QUICKLY and that I do not really care too much about results since all I have energy and patience for is to look and record, look again, record again, fill the page more-or-less and jump in the shower ;)

It was one of the things I did to establish a daily sketching habit. A lot of things I did then did not help - but this one stuck with me. Now I learned a lot about establishing habits - but that's a separate topic ;)

I almost never show these portraits as they sometimes are scary and lots of times look like me only to my eye.

I decided to show this one to see how much interest it will get and if I should show more ;) - let me know ;)

Waiting: porta potties


Waiting: porta potties, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

I was waiting - sitting on a curb next to the building site. Looking ar life's necessities. I had a blue ballpoint and a piece of scrap paper with me and had a good time ;)

Book #29 - beginning with tea :)

Lamy Safari pen with waterproof black ink from Calli. Watercolor over it - while sipping my tea and after :)

It was an end of a long day, I did not have a new sketchbook and or time to bind a nice one - so I took a stack of watercolor paper, stopped by Kinko's and got it cut in half and wire-bound - which took much less out of my pocket than a moleskine I wanted to do next :)
I did a couple of self-portraits and then placed this little story of my evening done on separate pieces of paper. And that's the beginning of my sketchbook #29 (today it's already on the shelf and I am working in book #30 - coming pretty soon :)

revisiting park with white pencil

Woman's proportions are off - legs too short and I ma not sure anyone can see what kins of exercise she was trying to do. But I like composition on this page and the fact that I finally remembered to bring white pencil :)

Another park


Another park, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

More park sketches. I am playing with two pens: one is pilot precise begreen V5, another is STAEDTLER mars graphic dual marker. Both are not waterproof but, especially with thick, absorbent craft paper of this sketchbook cannot be "washed" away and sometimes are completely waterproof. I applied some water to these pages but it was quite some time after I did the drawing and I don't think it's visible :)

Park

My treasures


My treasures, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

I get a lot of presents throughout the day: stones, leaves, pine cones, all kinds of things. This day I decided to draw them :)
Click on the image to see little notes if you are into the naturalism world :)

Park again


Park again, originally uploaded by apple-pine.

tried to combine several things on a same page - looks a little odd but still tells you pretty much what was in front of me in the park ;)