Nature Journaling and Field Sketching

It was not so easy to see where and how to apply the chiaroscuro technique.  The blending the shadows was difficult, although the cast shadow and the highlight were the easiest to find and to apply.  I'm feeling more comfortable putting marks down on the page and these lessons have given me confidence in drawing new objects like onions, succulents and chili peppers that I have not drawn before.  I want to work on chiaroscuro and shading in the upcoming lessons as well as applying those techniques to watercolor paintings and paintings with color in general.

Here is my attempt. I found my greatest challenge to be the very shiny bright spot reflected off the left side of the moon shell. I feel it would have been easier if I had used color, which would have made it possible to leaves a white spot at that location. Though the harsh shadow on the right looks...really harsh, it was indeed that stark.

I think I'm finally getting the hang of the whole contour/shading thing!😊

I was confused by the difference between contouring and shading, and all my drawings kept ending up heavy and dark because I was trying to convey too much I think. I watched a couple of cool YouTube videos by Alphonso Dunn and really liked the starkness of his drawings. I tried to apply some of what I learned here in a pencil drawing. I think it works especially because the flower itself is a simple subject. Doesn't work so well on oak leaves (results not shown lol).

  I used blending a lot on the deer skull. I am certainly paying attention to detail more.

It was good to learn a variety of marks to use for shading, and it is getting easier to put pencil to paper. I would like to try more stippling  - its a challenging skill.

Happy Halloween to all.

I tried everything. Still working on everything!

I tried all the shading methods. Still working on the highlights and shadows.

I got very involved with the light and shadow on the leaves of the persimmon and struggled with, say, the shadows being similar values to the persimmon next to them. Same with the pepper, as though a similar amount of light was being reflected from the pepper and from the paper but in different ways. Also, I realized I had 3 nearby windows and so 3 light sources! Well, I’m always up for a challenge. One thing I learned from this was to think in terms of shapes of light and dark as well as values. And I think I’m seeing much, much more already.

the following to images are my attempts at improving my observations and including shading, darks and lights even a little Chiaro scauro! I'm loving the experimentation. Mosquitoes are so bad here I can't yet sit outside and look, listen and record my experiences! Coastal NC in the Fall! I'm using photos in Living bird magazine to attempt the sketches. i have brought objects indoors to work on these skills.

First attempt at using stippling.  I think it works pretty well for the smooth texture of the mushrooms.  I hadn't used this method before and it is not as time consuming as I thought it would be.

Thoroughly enjoyed this exercise as it was satisfying to see recognizable objects appear on the page, even with "fluid" proportions (especially on the bathroom sink)! Started to incorporate stippling in the banana and found I need reminders that there are mark making techniques beyond various hatchings. Both the Squint technique and Chiaroscuro are quite helpful for illustrating dimensionality. Finally, in looking back at all my exercises since day 1 of this class, I notice my drawings expand to fill a large part of the page. What I'd like to work on – how to draw proportion more accurately; seeing if I can make my drawings smaller; reminding myself before taking pen to paper that there are multiple mark making techniques. For the record, I am having FUN and feeling like my brain, eyes and hand are (re)learning to communicate with one another when it comes to observing and translating those observations to paper.

If I had not written garlic next to sketch not sure it would be clear what it was.I have a long way to go, I could squint and see highlights, and shadows, but had a hard time translating that to pencil on paper.

Other than spelling (shagge- oops!) I enjoyed doing this drawing.  I tried again in ink and found it more difficult to make shading that I was happy with.

Using the new drawing skills were pretty easily applied. I do see myself using blending more than any other technique but I would like to use more of the others to create some variation.

I have always dreaded drawing, and yet I am finding the practice to be exciting, fun.  I am looking forward to sitting down each day and focusing on some natural object, then trying to bring it to the page as accurately as I can. After completing a sketch, I am tired.  It takes a big dose of mental energy.  I have learned that if I repeat the exercise, the second sketch is easier, quicker and usually, a better result.

The Onion

I tried out the different kinds of hatching and blending marks on two sea shells and a dried oak leaf with an immature acorn attached. With the shells, it was easier to see the lightest lights and darkest darks. The oak leaf was harder, as the muted green and ochre colors of the leaf were similar in value, so I looked for the shadows and darkest parts of the leaf to try to bring out value contrasts. That was a challenge, but after several tries, I’m fairly satisfied with the result. I used hatching, cross hatching, stippling, and blending on different parts of the leaf. The journal I’m using is made of heavy, textured watercolor paper, so my pencil marks for different kinds of hatching and shading tend to blend together. I will try some other pencil drawings with a smoother paper, like the one recommended in the course materials list, to see if the different kinds of hatching show up better.

This is a start, but it is going to take a lot more practice to use these techniques more intuitively.  I spent a lot of energy trying to get my drawing to look like the object--I need to go back and actually pay attention to light and shadow.   The squint is a great piece of advice.  One challenge I encountered was rendering marks and textures on the surface of the objects and also trying to render depth and shadow.  I love seeing how other people approached this assignment below.  The ones I prefer  are more free and whimsical.  I would like to agonize less.

I thought it was easy to find certain points (highlights and core shadows), however I am having a hard time with my casting shadow. I'm not sure if it's due to the lighting since I couldn't find the reflected light. Doing the squint test was helpful to see the value scale, but I definitely need to practice more.