I really like the style in which Liz is instructing us. It’s early in this course, yet I feel like I’m learning so much! I’m sure everyone else agrees. I am ready to move on, but no doubt I’ll go back to the prior units for a refresher as needed. I’m s happy I took this course.

I have not done any drawing or sketching in many years.  The lesson on drawing basics is helping me to remember just how much I have forgotten and how to look at the object.

I wanted to try doing some shading last night while watching a movie. I was too lazy to get up to find an object and get a light, so I did this little bowl that sits on the end table next to my side of the sofa. Usually it has paper clips, some note cards, scissors, and other odds and ends in it, but my cat prefers it empty, so she had tossed everything out of it. The light source was the table lamp above it and I was looking down into the bowl. The highlights were mainly on the rim of the bowl which I didn't even come close to getting right and some on the right top side. It was fun though and after I finished I went looking for something more natural and found a seashell that I'm working on. The actual drawing is lighter, but I had to darken the copy up to scan it. Some of the image from the opposite page is showing through around the bowl making it look a bit messy.        

Having time for some sketching of the last of the fall flowers.  The gentians are some of my favorite in the prairie and are one of the last to bloom before the prairie goes dormant for the winter.  I love to draw and can't wait until I retire to do this full time.  I care more about capturing the essence of the flower and less about the exactness.   More the 'art' and less of the scientific illustration.

Light from  above spreads over the many surfaces of the apple causes multiple highlights and shadows. An apple is an imperfect sphere. Challenging. This apple is a yellow and pinkish red gala.

I gathered some autumn detritus—acorns, maple seeds, black walnuts. Such bounty! I also raided the fridge for a carrot and found an onion. Shadows are tricky! I feel like this will take a lot of practice. 

I did this exercise several times, trying various shading techniques.  I’ve always like stippling but it does some time and patience. Putting on some music helped and was actually relaxing. I found that put putting the objects on a white surface rather than a dark table made it easier to see the reflected light.

I changed the light source for the pear and the apple.  Both had very reflective surfaces that were picking up a lot of light from the room that was lit by room lights.  This was a fun challenge, but next time I'll do it in the daylight.

The texture marks are really fun. I brought some berries inside and enjoyed giving them form and playing with the leaf texture

I’ve clearly got a lot more practicing to do! I wish I had waited on the water color because the 3rd version of this apple was the best, but I wanted to try out the color. I think I’ll stick to pencil for a while though. Anyhow I suppose I should focus on the fact that each attempt at sketching the apple felt a bit better, and I enjoined looking at it from different angles, and seeing how the highlights and shadows shifted.

I practiced stippling because it is intimidating to me and takes lots of patience!

I like using scribbles to show texture and value. I thought the egg was going to be easy, but it was actually the most challenging. Eggs have such a perfect, smooth texture and it was hard to achieve that.

This is a little more practice with lights and darks, it was done at dusk with over cast clouds so no highlights.  I wanted to capture the folding of the leaf and some of the grass around it.  I have never really intentionally gone outside to draw, so this is really new learning for me.  I finished the drawing inside since it got dark pretty quick tonight.

This was a little different from the example Liz gave us because as you can see, my highlight was near the bottom of my apple and the sun was moving, so the highlight kept moving on the apple! By the time I actually finished the sketch, the highlight was at the top!  Ugh!   This sounds exactly like something that would happen to me out in the field. I'm feeling more comfortable putting marks on the page but I'm a little worried because when I get out in the field, there will be so many more variables to deal with and not the least of which will be wind and bird movement.

I practiced a few of the mark making techniques using the same subject to see how different styles might lend themselves to different textures. I can now see what works better in the field too for quick capturing as the processes took longer to do the more detailed they got.

I was surprised with the results of the first exercise (Drawing basics) - for me it was much easier to get decent results when making a continuous line than with the sketchy lines.  I won't even pollute this forum with my sad drawings! :-) But for some reason the ginkgo leaf was always OK... How did everyone else do?

I tried a couple of shapes, I have always found light casting hard but am working on getting it.

I’ll need to practice using watercolors. They’re not very forgiving! I think I’ve got the chiaroscuro concept ok though. Great practice exercises!

I need a lot more guidance in this area... I don't have a lot of nature to look at, and it would help a lot if I had some examples, like the yellow warbler in the first lesson, to work on.

I used cross hatch lines in my sketch, something I wouldn't have used before.  I like the stone walls in our backyard and used some of the skills I'm learning.

glad to have the refresher course in shading and chiaroscuro. i've been painting a lot of fruit and veggies lately, so great for practicing!