Taking it slow

Posted on | March 24, 2008 | 2 Comments

Thanks to all of you who sent healing wishes. My balance appears to be better after three days of solumedrol; however, I am feeling rather weak and worn out. I’m staying in the house today and tomorrow to, hopefully, regain some energy. I’m doing a lot of sleeping after suffering the insomnia from the solumedrol. I’m also taking it really slowly. I don’t have much choice right now, but that’s fine. I am hopeful that it will be short-lived.

I have done very little drawing this past week. However, it is our last week of Cathy Johnson’s Watercolor Pencil Workshop. It’s been a great class. The practice of drawing regularly, the specific feedback from Cathy and the class, and the book itself have been incredibly rewarding. I will certainly take another class with Cathy! She has really helped me to improve my observation and to understand the materials.

This final lesson is about mixed media – taking the watercolor pencils and using them with other drawing media to complete your composition. I had a few pieces that just did not look “finished” to me and I did not know how to finish them until I looked at this final chapter and lesson! To the right is a bird of paradise drawing I did from a photo in a magazine. I went back and added some stippling with my Pigma Micron, along with some additional penwork. I am much happier with it!

And, to the left, you will see a drawing I did of a banyan tree. I did not include any background, because I really wanted to focus on the tree itself. It’s not a realistic drawing. My goal was to capture the light and darkness in the bark and the unique shape of it. I added a bit of Pigma Micron to set it off.

I’m really enjoying the mixed media approach the best. As I’ve been looking through my work from this class, I see that where I have added some pen work, I have been much happier with the final results. I am fairly certain that this will be the method of choice for using these tools, though I have some plans to continue to challenge myself!

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