Winding up winter drawing

I finally did the finishing touches on "Sheds & Pine Tree". I put away the source photo and worked the drawing over with the Derwent tinted charcoal pencils to increase the contrast. Sometimes I have to listen to the drawing and ignore the original to get the picture at its best.

Next I did another charcoal drawing of a March

snowfall. The photo was taken a

couple years ago. This March has so far been snow free. But that can change any day.

I have been busy with non-drawing activities. I am matting small marbled paper prints for the galleries and making small reproductions of selected drawings to be matted and put up for sale also. I need to get some cash flow to pay for my expenses! I have been keeping track of what I have spent on supplies and gallery space for the past two years and some income would be appreciated!

More drawings done this winter

This Han clay statue is at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. This expressive horse and its unexpressive rider has impact so I decided to to it in a larger scale than I normally do. It is 16" x 21" on tan charcoal paper done in conte crayons and hard pastels. I am fond of Chinese pottery horses and like to draw them from time to time.

The Kiss of Victory (12" x 9") is also at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The winged victory is kissing the dying hero, a fine example of 19th century marble sculpture. The color choices are arbitrary: blue, brown, orange, pink and yellow Derwent drawing pencils on brown paper.

These sheds were interesting for their weathered textures and the contrast with the living pine tree. To help emphasize the textures this drawing is done on white charcoal paper with Derwent tinted charcoal. I attached the drawing to the wall and have decided to give the scene for contrast.

New works on winter themes

This drawing is a direct result of our drive to Rockford, IL. The trees and their setting was from early afternoon and the twilight colors from photographs taken much later that day. I did the drawing on white bristol with oil color pencils. I haven't done much work with my oil color pencils and made a commitment this year to use more variety of media (not just oil pastels and wax-based colored pencils).

In keeping with this commitment I did this large charcoal drawing of a pasture oak tree. I drew this directly on the white paper without a grid (also trying to break that habit!), just making some marks on the paper for the tree placement.

The apple tree drawing was done on tan paper with carbon pencils and white "charcoal" pencil. The original photo was taken about twenty years ago with a 127 twin lens reflex camera. Back in those days we rolled, developed and printed our own black & white photos at home. I much prefer digital! A few winters back I set up a light box and copied the black & white negatives with the digital camera and stored them on the harddrive for future use. I have lots of color slides that need to be copied some day.