Monday, February 11, 2008

"Cold Morning Sunrise"

This morning, what can I say? It's really cold outside and I'm not looking forward to going out to feed the chickens! Last night it dipped to -18 or -20 wind chill, now the sun is coming up to a cold but very clear morning.
I did a quick little impression of the sunrise, again by my coffee pot at the window. I used the Inktense color pencils so I could practice with them. If you click the pictures, you'll be able to read the actual thoughts I had.

In the second picture I'm showing you how I held two pencils at a time to recreate how I sketched in the land area. I stroked side to side then did some zigzag marks up and down for quick tree impressions. When you wet it, it's hard to control what happens, that's why I'm practicing! The Inktense colors are very saturated, it takes a tiny bit to make a mark.













I also show the waterbrush (in the last picture) that I often talk about using in the field. I don't watercolor with it, I prefer to carry a cup of water and use my own brushes for that. But for wetting watercolor pencils it's great!

2 comments:

Bonny said...

That's a great demo on making simple trees, Mary!!! I think Kate will like that, too.

Maybe if you did the same thing with the two pencils, but move them slightly diagonally and make the zig-zags shorter and some taller, it might look like grass. Think I'll try that and see.

Brrrr!!!! Stay warm!

Mary McAndrew said...

Thanks Bonny, it just came to me and I tried it out, yeah it worked pretty well. I was trying to be general with the trees as they're in the distance, and it helped. When you add the water all heck breaks loose! haha...it changes all.
Mary
ps.hot soup for lunch today!