I wrote some notes upon my return to the house, they are posted below if you’d like to read them about my day outside in nature. Both paintings were done with a dry palette of watercolors and one waterbrush. The sketch below I first drew with a permanent ink pen, brown color, then put washes of color on it while standing there in my snow shoes. This sketchbook is a mere 4.5″x5″!
"Winter Water and Shadows"
my notes
I hope you enjoyed a glimpse of my walk, I encourage everyone to get outside despite what the weather might be like to have a closer look around you.
It was bright and sunny today but winter still hangs on, the snow is over a foot deep and I wish I had my snow-shoes on! The snow is heavy, wet and deep; as I trudge through it I thought of the word ’slogging’! Under the heavy snow is a deep, wet slaw of melted snow; I’m glad for my rubber boots.
"The Branches Reach Towards the Moon"
Ginger prances on ahead of me, begging me to hurry. Finally along the edge of the pasture I paused to catch my breath and attempt to capture a likeness of the moon with the trees reaching up towards it. At the end of this post you’ll see my small sketchbook and watercolors, and how I hold them on a clip board. Almost all my field sketches are done while standing and holding my book.
"The Field in Late February"
Well as you can read in my honest notes, Ginger surprised me and did something different; I feed her really I do! I guess you can’t stop instinct. I’m happy with how this little watercolor came out, I’m always trying to capture that color of the bushes in winter, they’re gorgeous. I was standing in deep snow and at the same time had to shrug my coat off my shoulders and take my hat off as the sun made me that warm. Maybe spring is coming?
"Paw Prints"
There are so many things to see if you take your time and look around you. The snow was quite hard on top, if you’re a lightweight animal. I noticed little tracks as I walked, then saw these little prints and had to sketch them. I brought no camera on purpose today, I wanted to really have to describe all I saw with my brush and pen. For tracks you can use your pencil or pen to measure the real size onto your sketchbook. I call this Comparative Measurements and it can be extremely accurate when you practice using it. These tracks were a bit hard to see because they were so shallow and the snow had dusted over them a bit. I drew the tracks at real size and then measured the distance between the sets, finding they were one pen length. This tells me it’s a small animal, at first I thought raccoon but when I looked on my pocket animal tracks guide I think it may be a skunk! Hey hibernation must be over! Look at this link to see a picture of my pocket track guide which, by the way, I don’t carry with me in the field.
"Snow Burrow"
Then as my eyes followed some more tracks, made by a fox I think, they led me to a small hole dug into the snow. I guessed that a fox, who used his great sense of hearing to listen for small mammals under the snow, had been by and dug down to ‘no surprise’ a burrow or tunnel of a vole. I like to think about the event that may have taken place, probably while the moon was shining on the snow at night. I wonder if he got his dinner?
"Paul's Chair"
As I said the sun was shining brightly as I returned from my day’s walk, trudging along the deep snowy lane. I looked off the lane into the woods and saw there a black metal folding chair. This chair is not there by mistake, my son Paul placed it there years ago and would disappear at times and he’d go here to sit in the woods. I think everyone should have a chair in the woods somewhere, where we can go escape or think. I felt a bit sad seeing it there by itself, perhaps it’s owner would never sit in it again as he’s off to college now. I just hope (as his mother) that he’ll always “find a chair somewhere” and sit in the woods.
Clip board with closed sketchbook
Here’s a picture of my clear clipboard with my handmade 4 1/2″ x 5″ sketchbook and watercolor palette attached. This is how it looks when I pull it from my bag, I use the rubber bands to hold the book shut and the palette. The palette is held on with blue ’sticky tack’ or ‘blue tack’. The sketchbook is clipped on with metal clips with the front cover.
Clip board with open sketchbook
This is how it looks when open, I use the white rubberband (actually it’s a hairband thing) to hold the piece of paper towel or to help hold the book open, or you can use a metal bankers clip. You can see I’m using my waterbrush today with the watercolors, I find it easier when hiking and especially in cold weather. Though it won’t work when it’s ‘really’ cold, it turns to ice on my paper!
I hope you enjoyed coming on my walk, please leave me a comment! I’ll have classes this summer in England where you can come along and sketch while we explore the gorgeous countryside. Please sign up your email address in the “subscribe to posts” box in the right column.
Today I went for a walk with my dog Ginger out through the pasture to the field beyond. As it says in my notes the morning was very cloudy and misty, I think because the temperature has warmed enough that the snow is melting. Click on any picture to see larger.
Page 1-notes from my walk
Believe me it’s still cold! There was ice crunching beneath my boots but it was all water underneath; the ground is absolutely saturated with snow and water. You can see on my first page, I was playing around with the watercolors to capture that beautiful reddish color in the field. It’s actually all the tips of the bushes, together they look like a mass of this color.
Page 2-Watercolor sketch of the field
Here’s a very small sketch I did while standing in the snowy field.
Page 3-Ink sketch on the Lane
Sometimes I like to take a shape and trace it on the page to play around with, sketching inside or outside it. I had already put this square in the sketchbook and found it when I flipped the page, so I decided to do a tiny ink sketch of my view ahead. This is out by Aspen Hall, a special place on my land, all those trees ahead on the left are “Aspen Hall”. When working with permanent ink pen I sketch by making little marks of where I want things placed, you will always see little mismarks on my ink sketches because I believe in being loose and kind of scribbly. It’d be different if this was a planned drawing done while sitting at my drawing table in the studio.
I bundled up because it was extremely cold today and headed outside for some fresh air. I used a clip board to hold my small sketchbook and a small box of oil pastels. I needed to keep it really simple and easy to pick up pastels as I was wearing enormous mittens and with the freezing temperatures I had to work very quickly. The sun was setting and thus hitting the far trees across the field. I laid down a very thin layer of the lightest blue then used a heavy application of white and rubbed it hard to smear or blend it together. Click on the picture to view it a bit larger.
Here’s a very small sketch (4″x5″) that I did outside in the freezing cold. The sun had set and twilight time was coming, when the snowy landscape takes on a bluish cold tone. I tried to use my waterbrush but the water was freezing on the paper too fast and in the bristles! So I used my permanent ink pen and that was scraping the ice off the paper, I had to laugh a bit, I’ve never tried to watercolor when it was this cold. I colored it inside after thawing my fingers out.
Below I included the small page of notes that I wrote about the sketch.
I have a few sketches to share that came before New Years Eve day, I’ve been getting behind on my updates here! So just a few sketches, the above one is a wasp that paid a visit to my bathroom windowsill. I wasn’t even sure what it was at first because it was so small. But I’m pretty sure it’s a wasp, I helped him find his way outside! What was really neat is that I held a magnifying glass up to study him, I was able to see so much more!
Thistle and Chickens in Winter
Then just the other day I realized it had been forever since I went outside and did some sketching in my field sketchbook. So, though it was in the Teens I ventured out with small sketchbook and simple ink pens in hand. I also brought my camera and had fun taking black and white photos till my fingers absolutely froze. I drew these sketches wearing big fat mittens, it was really hard!
December 29, 2009 journal
These are notes from the back of my journal from that day. It’s a small sketchbook that I made myself and in the back are pages made from cheap computer paper just for note taking freely.
Ink sketches of weeds in the snow
“Dead weeds…seeds awaiting Spring..so is it really ever dead? Awaiting a warmer time in a warmer clime.”
New Years Eve watercolor sketch
I hope my writing is readable, I wrote it after dropping my sketchbook into the snow and the paper was damp! It really may look simple but looking back at this little sketch reminds me exactly of the day and standing there to paint it.
New Years Eve 2009 journal
Though I’ve scanned my pages above I’ll type them out so you can read them better. This is what I wrote in the back section of my sketchbook where I just write my thoughts.
“December 31, 2009-New Years Eve, I walked across the yard, the ice crunching under my boots, and reaching the side of the yard with bushes, weeds + trees. I stopped as a Mourning dove flew from a distant tree. I stood still and just waited, listened + watched. Then I noticed a group of house sparrows in the treeline, clustered together like a friendly band of cheerful friends. I remained still. Then I saw a sparrow closer this time, oh it’s a Chipping Sparrow! With a red cap! He’s looking for seeds on the weed heads, I remained still. Two Blue Jays silently flew from one tree to the next and then a tiny Chickadee…followed by another…then a woodpecker (Downy) made it’s appearance followed by the whirring sound of doves wings. Overhead now I hear a flock of Canadian Geese coming..one, two, three….23! Just standing silent at the yards edge in Winter, so much life if you stop and watch and listen. Now they seem to all have moved on…time for me to move on.”
The cardinals I did looking at the little feeder that is stuck to my studio window. I wasn’t concerned with a fantastic drawing, just practicing the gesture sketches of it. I added a touch of color with a waterbrush and watercolor.
Then I decided to take my sketchbook, watercolors and a simple waterbrush with me when I went out to feed the chickens. It was really cold and windy, so it was hard to draw, but I donned the flip top mittens and went to it! Ok..it was worse trying to paint, but I did some simple color studies. It’s very hard to sketch chickens as they move so much!
Then I headed outside the barn and set my pad on top of a tripod that I attached a piece of wood to, it was very windy! The mount isn’t a very strong one, it loosened up sometimes, but it allowed me to set everything down in front of me. I’m always experimenting with ideas.
Above you can see the some chickens that were roosting in the rafters. I painted them with Chinese ink…from a dry cake I keep in a tin; it used to be liquid I just let it dry and can use it like dry watercolors. Below that is the little landscape study with some notes. The hawk sketches I added today actually. I saw a hawk through the window and tried to do a sketch using my binoculars. I’m pretty sure it’s a red tailed hawk.
My landscape was pretty far away from me, but I was after the colors of the field. You can see the picture below. Oh yes…and then there’s Ginger, always waiting for me to walk on somewhere else! haha….
That’s it for now…stay tuned for more updates about my trip to England, sign up your email in the box in the right column. Bye!
Last night as I walked out to the barn, I paused to admire the stars, it being a clear night with a small crescent moon. My dog Ginger was bouncing around me waiting for me to continue to the barn for feeding time, I had to watch awhile. I watched them twinkling and thought again about how people all over the world are connected when they look up at the stars and moon. I noticed too how the light cast from the barn made the trees glow against the dark sky, the lighting from below was haunting. It was just then I saw a bright shooting star fly over the trees…with bright sparkling colors behind it; it didn’t have a long tail, but a very brilliant short one.
This is the painting taped to the table (it’s 5″x7″), I used a liquid friskit with the pen tip to quickly sketch the trees on. They are a little clumsy but I meant to do it as a quick sketch, and have some liveliness to it. The stars came out a bit too big so later I had to paint them in a bit.
After the liquid friskit is dry and only then, is it ok to do liberal washes over it. The friskit keeps the paper white, I should have taken a photo to show you how bright and ‘garish’ it looked when I rubbed it off. My son Paul loved the look, kind of modern but a bit too stark for me. I brushed over the trees liberally with browns and then used a damp brush to lift color around the tree tops…a softening effect to suggest the finer branches and glow.
This is my tiny kit with the Altoids tin of watercolors, I mixed my paints on the metal pencil case. The last thing I did was put a little color in behind the shooting star, I took note of this right when I saw it and that’s what I found fascinating about it.
So that’s it, a little sketch of a shooting star…and oh yes…I DID WISH UPON IT!! (but I’m not telling!
This is a tiny little watercolor painting I did on New Year’s Eve morning, while drinking my coffee and looking out the back studio window. It measures a mere 2.5 x 3.5″. You can see below a photo I took while working, but I put the tin down to take the photo. I painted it while standing and holding this little set-up in my left hand. It’s a pencil case that I stick my “Altoids” watercolor kit in using blue tack or sticky tack, and the same for the tiny watercup. I also use the tack to hold two brushes at the ready on the side; I use the metal area under the paint kit to mix colors. This set up works well for small paintings and studies.
The sunrise was just too beautiful to ignore. While I was making my morning coffee, I kept looking out the studio window at it. Knowing how fast a sunrise will change, I ran and grabbed my camera (literally!) to catch some photos. All the fantastic colors can bloom to unbelievable brilliance, then it can fade as the sun comes out so bright you can’t look, or it will slip behind clouds.
After taking some photos, I then grabbed my watercolor pencils and worked very quickly to sketch out some colors. I used watercolor pencils, watersoluble graphite and inktense watersoluble ink pencils with my waterbrush to blend and wet them. These are all Derwent brand pencils I used. I played around with drawing on the paper wet and dry when I did the trees. At first I drew them on dry…then ran the brush over bringing out the darkness of the color, but it also washes it out or softens it. Then I tried drawing the trees on wet paper and they were dark and intense from the start. This is good for trees in the forground. You can use both methods to your liking. (Below) I liked this one better, though it’s more simple, the colors are so pleasant. When I do a sunrise sketch, the colors shift very fast so I work on the large color impressions and cloud patterns, then try to work from memory. This leads to a lively painting but don’t be surprised if you look at the photos you took at the time and they look very different!
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