continuing...

its been a week of just about anything but being creative but today I found a pocket of time to begin the next lesson

not many decent landscape pictures to choose from in my photos but I found one taken in the Lake District in the UK in 2017

converted to black & white

clock-wise from the top: shape, texture, value and edges

I really enjoyed edges, it was fun experimenting with the charcoal and I also enjoyed the texture drawing - the value one is the least successful, mostly because I was kinda sorta mostly following what was in the image but I think I will have another try at it, this time changing them in an attempt to improve the composition

apparently artistic license is a thing!

once I finish the next four in this series I have another image, one from the Yukon, I'll have a go with and when I've done that I want to try again with an image from here in Salmon Arm

practice, practice, practice

a new tack

feeling like I wasn't getting anywhere in my quest for a looser, more abstract approach to drawing the landscape, frustration was building

I knew what I wanted, just not how to go about achieving it

a chance request by another student in an online class forum yielded an answer that caught my attention

she was wanting to improve her landscape drawing skills and asking for suggestions for online drawing classes

there were several recommendations and as I have been wanting to do the same I checked into them all

one stood out:

Anita Lehmann

she has a number of classes that look interesting but "Translating the Landscape" caught my attention and though I had sworn off any more courses until Fall at the soonest, after watching the course trailer and looking through her website and instagram account,  I found myself signing up and jumping right in

and so very glad I did

her approach is methodical, interesting, focused and grounded in developing good skills and paying attention to all the important things: line, shape, texture, value, colour and so on

you begin with working through those elements with something other than the landscape - I used pears and pomegranates

the pears were much easier

(there's a reason pears get drawn so much!)

I'm so pleased with the results - they're not amazing or even good but they're better than anything I've ever done and as I look at them, remembering the process, how the marks were made, what I was thinking about, I can't help but feel a bit pleased

the light and shadows are not always where they should be but the lines show promise

it's more about making something that looks like a pear but not a perfect rendition

I used soft pastels in a drawing for the first time  - messy but the blending effects are amazing

this was done with a bright kelly green, vivid yellow and a smokey grey

I was glad to see they worked out so well as they were the only yellow and green I have!

below are all eight pinned to a board where I can see them as I get ready for the next lesson, where we

 take all of these elements to the landscape

it's surprising what clear explanations can do - not a "copy what I'm doing" rather, an approach for keeping loose and staying away from too much detail

today I spent some time searching photos of the landscape, editing them and then printing a colour version along with a black and a white one

can't wait for tomorrow!

interpretations

interpretation (noun): a stylistic representation of a creative work

we all know nature does the best creative work... breaking the rules or following them, nature's hand is sure and deft, the results cause us to sometimes catch our breath in awe and others to sit quietly in repose

not really trying to accomplish either with my work, more just a desire to try and fashion something that comes close visually whilst at the same time helps me gain an understanding of what has drawn me to notice a particular moment in place and time

what is it about a stark winter landscape that I love so much?

I believe I'm coming closer to understanding that now - it's something to do with the quietness of it

it's just rather all encompassing I think... quiet colours, quiet sounds, quiet shapes - a time of stillness in sound and growth

the world rests and I rest in it

the sliver of open water, a flash of turquoise softly surrounded by a gleaming white

texture on texture

not aiming for a direct translation - too much attachment to getting too many details right when learning on a landscape I love

instead, winter somewhere

a mountain, a few trees, snow and ice

a flash of water

click on the bottom image to get a better view of my attempts at granulating snow and ice where the water flows

this was my second attempt and it comes pretty close I think

I've learned a lot over the past week about tinted charcoal pencils and paint pans - it's not the easiest media to work with though my struggles were not helped by using hot pressed watercolour paper

nor were they helped by only having water brushes with me - not a fan of them either but thankfully I have  proper travel brushes so they will be going with me from now on

that's the thing though,  I try and keep trying, until I figure it out

there's more to learn but this has me feeling some hope that I can, and I will

progressing

I do love trying new things in my work and have several sketchbooks full of small samples to prove it

lately I've been pin-tucking fabric to create the look of cracked ice and the other day I finished the first sample of taking that idea further

the fabric pieces were sewn to paper, machine-stitched, and then much of the paper removed with water

white gesso was applied to both the front and back

I've placed it on a piece of watercolour painted blue to see if it had the effect of an icy river

pretty happy with it though I already have a plan for a different version

one thing truly does lead to another and I'm keen to make the next version

not for a bit though as I've travelled through the mountains to the wide prairie of Alberta

a landscape of lines...

lines of fencing

lines of trees

a line of clouds on the horizon

field lines

cut lines

ditch lines

I brought limited supplies, just  a few things to try small ideas

keep my hands busy in quiet moments

today I started this

a splash of water with tinted charcoal

a scrap of brown for wood

another of blue-grey line patterned Japanese tissue paper

and now some stitched wooden pilings - my intention is to stitch them all the way across and think about what comes next...

same song, different tune