Tropical Storm Ernesto's departure left beautiful Carolina blue skies and temperatures in a comfortable mid-80s. C and I decided to leave our rock in the woods and head 'to town' for lunch. There's a large mall not too far a drive from our house with outdoor eateries -- which I LOVE! We settled on 'The Twisted Fork' with a table and seats in the shade, a wonderful landscaped waterway as a view, soft muzak playing, and me sans sketchbook!
I do carry a small 3" x 5" sketchpad at all times, so I pulled that out and sketched the scene before me. The gentle breeze blew, food was good, the quiet time to be with C in such a relaxing environment--perfect!
Once we got home and finished all the chores we left, I decided to enlarge the sketch and try to watercolor it from memory. MERCY .... I didn't include HALF of the notes I WISH I had ... shadows, sun direction, color, etc. And I found, like others who constantly remind us, there just is something more VIBRANT in one's sketches while sketching plein air rather than from photos or quick sketches to be completed elsewhere.
Though I'm not unhappy with my watercolor, I am beginning to SEE those subtle differences between on and off-site sketching.
OH, for more time!
7 comments:
What a peaceful setting! You did exceptionally well with the w/c, especially having made not enough notes on your plein aire sketch.
This sounds divine, Lin. I too, am still learning about really "using" my sketch book for recording details for later paintings. I still this the drawing captures a lot of feeling.
Oh Lin, this is just perfect! I really love it. Good grief, you are getting so good you may have to contact a gallery to sell your art!!
I know what you mean Lin, the sketch has so much more life to itand somehow the painting looks a little bit formal.
I like them, just my 2 cents worth.
...and some people actually just remember the whole scene and can draw and paint it when they get home. I tried doing that for a month...every day seeing something that I would try and memorize and then paint it later that evening. It's hard! But I think you did a nice job with this one and it sounds like you learned a lot about what to look for next time you want to be able to finish a sketch later.
I can't imagine what you left it -- it's
lovely -- the tree and the details in the
chair, walls, etc. -- wonderful sketch and even better watercolor. They just keep
getting better and better.
Hugs,
Lorraine
Whoops; that's supposed to be:
I can't image what you left OUT.
Lorraine
Post a Comment