Recent Art and New Projects

Iris 'Afternoon Delight' watercolor, 21"h x 13.5"w.

 

Now that fall is winding down, with the approach of winter I tend to spend more time in my studio. There are still have a few garden chores to do--spring flowering bulbs to be replanted--which will have to wait for some warmer days to complete. But, more time in the studio gave me the opportunity to finish the iris 'Afternoon Delight' that I'd started earlier in the summer.

And, I have new pieces on the way. I found another heirloom pumpkin among the local fall displays that was just lovely! Its intricate shape, colors and the bloom on it cried out for this one to be rendered in colored pencils. I'm using a piece of left-over hot-pressed Saunders Waterford paper, perhaps not the best for this kind of drawing, but, why not?

I learned that this variety of pumpkin is called Musquee de Provence, and with two memorable trips to Provence in mind, I decided to "pose" my pumpkin with some dried lavender sprigs and a sheaf of wheat I had hanging around. Here's a photo of my set-up.

 

Musquee de Provence pumpkin photo.

The sun coming in through the window gives a dramatic lighting effect which I like. I started my drawing with a dark sepia pencil, and did some shading for a grisaille underdrawing, then started adding touches of color.

 

Musquee de Provence - Stage 1

Continuing to add more color, wheat sheaves, deepening the hues and shadows.

Musquee de Provence, colored pencil - Stage 2

Musquee de Provence, colored pencil - Stage 3

At this point I was looking for some advice on how to get the effect of the bloom on the surface of the pumpkin. It was a great subject to bring up at our regularly scheduled Zoom meeting with my colored pencil peeps--the Chickahominy Colored Pencil Artists. Judy had some excellent suggestions which I'll be trying out over the next week or so to bring this puppy to a conclusion.

 

Pages from Botanical Journal, Year 2

 

The first week of October was the one-year anniversary for the Botanical Journal I started last year, and I continue to have fun filling my sketchbook with the objects I find around my garden as well as those I collect on my wanderings on the home turf. The pages above had three sketches from last year, and now two more--the flowering stem of one of my new houseplants, Echevarria 'Lady Aquarius,' and a prickly seed pod I found right by the door of our polling place. I have no idea what plant that prickly seed pod develops from, but it's scary-looking!

 

Page from Botanical Journal, Year 2

Last weekend I went out with the Virginia Native Plant Society (VNPS) to see some of the "big trees" in our neck of the woods. We met at Skyland, inside Shenandoah National Park and there saw several state champion trees: a fan-leaved hawthorn tree, a Colorado Blue Spruce and a Japanese Yew (non-native, these two were planted there). From Skyland, we drove down to a place on the Shenandoah River called Foster's Landing where there were: one enormous persimmon tree, and several Bladdernut trees, one of which is the State Champion. Bladdernuts are not exctly majestic, they're rather smallish trees that grow in wet sites such as riverbanks. The bladdernuts in the sketch above were collected from that site.

Our last stop was in Luray, to see the centenary Chinquapin oak there--now there' s one beautiful, majestic tree! It's estimated to be over 300 years old. I plan to stop again in the spring to sketch it, perhaps do a plein aire painting of it. I'm gong to need a big sheet of paper!

Luray's famous Chinquapin oak

My friend Kristin and I under the massive oak.

Dawn and Dusk Flowers Again

                               Clematis 'Etoile Violette' close up.                                                                                 

It's that magical time of the year when my 'Dawn and Dusk combination of  clematis 'Etoile Violette' and climbing rose 'New Dawn' flower. Despite last spring's disaster when the rose was blown down off the porch pillar during a storm and had to be drastically pruned, it's still blooming very well. The clematis usually leads the way by a few days, with the rose following--the rose hasn't reached peak bloom yet, and yet, what a marvelous sight!

In the evening shadows, the clematis looks so different, almost as if it changed color. I rarely look at it from the porch, because that's the corner where my lime tree spends its summers, but it was worth the effort to squeeze in there to take this shot. I love the way the dwarf Colorado blue spruce looks against the flowers!

My other roses in the bed by the driveway are also putting on a nice display, though the one I planted last year, 'Mauvelous' didn't make it through the winter. With the deer constantly browsing this bed, I question the wisdom of replacing it with another rose. Perhaps it would be better to find some other plant that wouldn't be so appealing to deer. But I still dream of fragrant roses, so it's hard to decide at this point.

Shrub roses 'Petal Pushers' and red 'Simplicity' rose.

My garden is a source of inspiration for my art, so while the garden blooms, I sketch what strikes my fancy or piques my curiosity in my botanical journals. Here's a few pages of this spring's sketches.

The Asian lilies are starting to bloom too, but they aren't quite as spectacular as they will be next week-- I'll post about those next, stay tuned.