Gate of the year

One of my New Year's goals was to take on a project of  #100daysofsketchingnaturethroughmywindow. I haven't made much progress so far, because it's been so cold. We've kept most of the curtains drawn, most of the time.

So yesterday I watched New York nature artist Kateri Ewing's demo of her daily watercolor sketching practice in a Hobonichi journal.  She lets a few watercolor pigments interact across the page, then looks for forms, similar to seeking shapes in cloud formations. She uses graphite to bring out her vision.

I let a few colors run together on a January page in my Leuchtturm 1917 bullet journal. I used a Pentel GraphGear 500 mechanical pencil to outline various shapes, moving toward a vignette. The paper is not meant for watercolor, but doesn’t bleed through to the other side, just wrinkles a bit.

The suggestion of a hand in the upper right corner reminded me of Minnie Louise Hoskins’ poem about the man standing at the gate of the year. I used it to begin a new sketchbook in January, a couple years ago. Last week, I heard it quoted in a Youtube documentary about the history of the British royal Christmas speeches. King George VI read it over the radio December 25, 1939.

I said to the man who stood at the Gate of the Year,
‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.’
And he replied, ‘Go out into the darkness, and put your hand into the Hand of God.
That shall be better than light, and safer than a known way.’. . . .

(Sorry this photo isn’t more clear. It was difficult to keep the graphite from reflecting as white, in a few places where it was more densely laid down.)

Monterey Park

Here, I tested a pack of Faber-Castell portrait pens. Later, I sketched the tennis courts in Monterey Park, using watercolor. The colors ended up harmonizing.

This park is a good perspective exercise, with:

• the court rectangle appearing as a parallelogram
• the closer row of bushes being warmer in hue than the far (bluer) trees
• the closer row of bushes seen in more detail than the distant trees

Dancing Hares in August

Evening light, through clouds. The park is quiet, the second evening after school starts. Maybe the hares are glad to have it back.

From the southeast.

Dancing Hares

Sophie Ryder's Dancing Hares, across a field of dry August grass. The summer fountain crowds are already waning. One of these days I'm going to take a viewfinder along and get the proportions better.
From southeast.

Throwback Thursday

Dancing Hares

Sometimes it's fun to look back through your sketching history for signs of change or progress. This sketch was done early summer of 2014, probably near sunset, on a prepared page (painting the Yarka watercolor background at home first, not knowing what the subject would be).  I used a water-soluble Tombow marker-pen, probably adding shading with a water brush. Strathmore 500 series sketchbook.

Page notations: 2 German Shepherds, 6 ducklings; "color gets the credit--value does the work."

This is probably my first attempt to draw Sophie Ryder's sculpture. I think ths is the only time I moved the pond, to balance the path in the view of the Hares.

Dancing Hares in falling dusk

Cloudy evening. View of park, paper, and palette dimmed as I sketched. From southeast.

Rabbits on Easter Day

The rabbits are smaller than this in proportion to the hill, but was focused on their proportion to people here.  A little girl was hunting eggs; two young men were flying kites; adults were taking pictures of themselves with the rabbits.
 (From the northwest.)

Hares in February snow

The hares in this February sketch look heavy, thick--either with extra layers of clothing for cold weather, or with weight gained over the holidays. (From north west)

March Hares

In March, they welcome spring, dancing. (From south east)

Lapin's Camino pilgrimage sketchbook

(camino de santiago from picnic on Vimeo.)

Lapin is a well-known French illustrator, artist, and urban sketcher who lives in Barcelona. His memoir of walking the Camino is an interesting record for the Lenten season.

Dancing hares in a warm December.

Rain in morning. From southeast.

Dancing Hares,  Early November

From southeast.

Dancing Hares, July 2015

From southeast.

Dancing Hares, across the snow

Playing with Pentel pocket brush pen,

Ballantrae Park in Autumn

(Here I was wishing to try a Stillman & Birn sketchbook. Mattias Adolfsson Sketchbook Skool assignment: meta drawing.)

Cold Front, November

Sophie Ryder's Dancing Hares. Playing with gouache.