They're called railroad vine. We stayed on Mustang Island a few months ago and had the same view. Lovely sketches. I didn't manage to sketch much in between wave busting with my son and walking miles along the beach with my daughter.
The name certainly fits! The flowers were lovely each morning. We ended up packing up quickly and leaving a day early due to unusually high winds and incoming tide -- water was across the "road" and nearing tents 2 1/2 hours __before__ high tide, and winds had already collapsed 2 of our tents by 5:00 with weather-bug saying wind advisories were expected to __begin__ at 9:00 that night! It was a fun adventure and I loved it, except for being sand-blasted.
Thanks for sharing the sketches of your experience at the beach. Makes me feel like I'm back there again which was over 10 years ago. Beautiful beaches!
hi just wondering if you would do a how to on this sketch with progress photos and paint colour explained I would like to practice with watercolour (never used it) and this would be a pleasing technique to learn thanks
To do a "how to" for this sketch, I would have to repeat the whole thing, taking photos of each step, and I don't think I could do that -- every time I do a sketch, individual decisions are being made throughout the process and that always changes. I loosely laid out what I wanted where in ink on Friday morning and drew some detail in the background dunes on Friday, then painted the sky wet-on-wet. When that dried, I think I went ahead with color on the background dunes and stopped. On Saturday morning, I drew in the foreground areas and painted bits in a random manner. Not really disciplined in my work at all! It all sort of comes together organically. I do recommend Shari Blaukopf's Craftsy class that you can download and take at your own pace. The class is called "Sketching Landscapes in Pen, Ink, & Watercolor" and was a huge help to me.
I have some daniel smith sample cards and if I like the result I am looking to buy them I have over twenty colours (small dobs of paint on card) thanks again for help
A great blog to learn about watercolor and building your own choice of palette is Jane Blundell's -- she shares a wealth of information about watercolor! I like her "ultimate mix" though I made a couple of changes when adapting it: http://janeblundellart.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/the-ultimate-mixing-palette-world-of.html
I'm not sure if this will post in the right place, under Grace's comment. I clicked the Reply button under her comment, but Google would only let me reply under Add Comment. Anyway...
Grace, I second Vicky's recommendation for Jane Blundell. She is a wonderful resource. I would also suggest Laure Ferlita's new courses at theimaginaryrealm.com. She has a beginning watercolor class coming up at the end of October, along with three other watercolor journaling courses that, I believe, you can start now. I am signed up for her Watercolor Beginnings class (on sale!). This will be the first I have taken from her, but I enjoy her blog and journaling style, so I think it's going to be a fun class and great for beginners.
Vicky, I love your sketch of the dunes. You have a nice, light touch with all the detail. I tried sketching the dunes when my husband and I visited the East Coast last summer, but they came out too cluttered and fussy. Next time we go, I'll take my queue from you!
Great suggestion, Susan -- I love Laure's work! I hope Grace sees the comment; frustrating when these programs glitch and won't let us do what we mean to do.
It has taken me years to get away from "niggling the details" and lighten up in my approach to complicated scenes! Is it any surprise that one of my favorite works by J. R. R. Tolkien is " Leaf by Niggle"?
I am definitely a work in progress when it comes to lightening up on the details! I love Tolkien but haven't read "Leaf by Niggle." What a great title! I'll have to find that one.
It's a short story found in the chapter "Ttree and Leaf" in The Tolkien Reader". Lovely little tale f an artist with great aspirations who kept struggling to get one bit perfect. Kept getting distracted. Some think it's an allegory of Tolkien's attempts to write the whole myth of The Silmarilion and being distracted by life's daily challenges..
Thanks, Vicky. It's sounds like a wonderful story that will hit very close to home! I don't know if you're familiar with Roz Stendahl at rozwoundup.typepad.com, but if you look under her category of the Internal Critic, you'll find several blog posts about dealing with damaging messages and negative self-talk. Roz is very encouraging and offers a lot of practical advice for changing our thought patterns and overcoming such things as perfectionism that keep us from pursuing our art. I've learned a lot from her.
They're called railroad vine. We stayed on Mustang Island a few months ago and had the same view. Lovely sketches. I didn't manage to sketch much in between wave busting with my son and walking miles along the beach with my daughter.
ReplyDeleteThe name certainly fits! The flowers were lovely each morning.
DeleteWe ended up packing up quickly and leaving a day early due to unusually high winds and incoming tide -- water was across the "road" and nearing tents 2 1/2 hours __before__ high tide, and winds had already collapsed 2 of our tents by 5:00 with weather-bug saying wind advisories were expected to __begin__ at 9:00 that night! It was a fun adventure and I loved it, except for being sand-blasted.
Thanks for sharing the sketches of your experience at the beach. Makes me feel like I'm back there again which was over 10 years ago. Beautiful beaches!
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome -- thanks for commenting! I am loving all these treasure spots we are discovering in Texas.
Deletehi just wondering if you would do a how to on this sketch with progress photos and paint colour explained I would like to practice with watercolour (never used it) and this would be a pleasing technique to learn thanks
ReplyDeleteTo do a "how to" for this sketch, I would have to repeat the whole thing, taking photos of each step, and I don't think I could do that -- every time I do a sketch, individual decisions are being made throughout the process and that always changes.
DeleteI loosely laid out what I wanted where in ink on Friday morning and drew some detail in the background dunes on Friday, then painted the sky wet-on-wet. When that dried, I think I went ahead with color on the background dunes and stopped.
On Saturday morning, I drew in the foreground areas and painted bits in a random manner. Not really disciplined in my work at all! It all sort of comes together organically.
I do recommend Shari Blaukopf's Craftsy class that you can download and take at your own pace. The class is called "Sketching Landscapes in Pen, Ink, & Watercolor" and was a huge help to me.
I have some daniel smith sample cards and if I like the result I am looking to buy them I have over twenty colours (small dobs of paint on card) thanks again for help
ReplyDeleteDaniel Smith paints are the best out there in my opinion! And the color dots a great way to determine which ones work the best for your preferences.
DeleteA great blog to learn about watercolor and building your own choice of palette is Jane Blundell's -- she shares a wealth of information about watercolor! I like her "ultimate mix" though I made a couple of changes when adapting it:
Deletehttp://janeblundellart.blogspot.com.au/2015/03/the-ultimate-mixing-palette-world-of.html
I'm not sure if this will post in the right place, under Grace's comment. I clicked the Reply button under her comment, but Google would only let me reply under Add Comment. Anyway...
ReplyDeleteGrace, I second Vicky's recommendation for Jane Blundell. She is a wonderful resource. I would also suggest Laure Ferlita's new courses at theimaginaryrealm.com. She has a beginning watercolor class coming up at the end of October, along with three other watercolor journaling courses that, I believe, you can start now. I am signed up for her Watercolor Beginnings class (on sale!). This will be the first I have taken from her, but I enjoy her blog and journaling style, so I think it's going to be a fun class and great for beginners.
Vicky, I love your sketch of the dunes. You have a nice, light touch with all the detail. I tried sketching the dunes when my husband and I visited the East Coast last summer, but they came out too cluttered and fussy. Next time we go, I'll take my queue from you!
Great suggestion, Susan -- I love Laure's work! I hope Grace sees the comment; frustrating when these programs glitch and won't let us do what we mean to do.
DeleteIt has taken me years to get away from "niggling the details" and lighten up in my approach to complicated scenes! Is it any surprise that one of my favorite works by J. R. R. Tolkien is " Leaf by Niggle"?
I am definitely a work in progress when it comes to lightening up on the details! I love Tolkien but haven't read "Leaf by Niggle." What a great title! I'll have to find that one.
DeleteIt's a short story found in the chapter "Ttree and Leaf" in The Tolkien Reader". Lovely little tale f an artist with great aspirations who kept struggling to get one bit perfect. Kept getting distracted. Some think it's an allegory of Tolkien's attempts to write the whole myth of The Silmarilion and being distracted by life's daily challenges..
DeleteThanks, Vicky. It's sounds like a wonderful story that will hit very close to home! I don't know if you're familiar with Roz Stendahl at rozwoundup.typepad.com, but if you look under her category of the Internal Critic, you'll find several blog posts about dealing with damaging messages and negative self-talk. Roz is very encouraging and offers a lot of practical advice for changing our thought patterns and overcoming such things as perfectionism that keep us from pursuing our art. I've learned a lot from her.
DeleteI have wandered over to Roz' blog many times! Thanks for the reminder --- I'll check out the internal critic articles.
Delete