Tuesday, November 3, 2015

InkTober Sketch of rock wall, how to...


This is another InkTober sketch. I love it and thought I would share how it came about. 
My first thought was to just sketch elements of a fall day with ink. This is different from sketching with pencil that you can erase, this is more immediate. Like life you make choices and live with them.


 I started with the wall, pumpkin and leaf, then wanted a wrought iron gate. Don't you love an iron gate? 




 I colored it in with my prisma-color pencils. I used metallic silver for the rocks, then black squiggled on top to give the impression of shadows. To do a quick color wash of grass I used two shades of green held together on their sides and quickly gave the sense of lawn. A bit of blue shaded in to reflect the sky. The pumpkin and leave have many shades one on top of the other to make more complex blends. 
It needed a tree, love a tree...

 The tree was again roughly sketched in directly with light brown pencil, then more shadows with dark brown, and then black. My goal is to not over work it, just allow color and line to work together on the page. 
Next the patch was added, and a line behind for depth, which looks like a lake to me. 
Things seem to just show up! The gate needed a little finial, so I colored in a moon, the gate done with navy blue and black pencils. A few shadows from the gate rungs, and at the base of the wall and pumpkin add depth too.

 but the wall is all wrong overlapping the gate now! uh oh! Done in pen! Oh, no worries! the same black and blue pencils to the rescue
now it's an open gate, open to explore what's beyond.
I have learned with each drawing. I love the shimmer on the water from darkening the color in sections. Now I know how to leave uncolored areas as highlight.
I love this little sketch, but my very favorite part is the moon finial.




16 comments:

Michele McLaughlin said...

I really enjoy when you go through your process with us! Thank you! Very inspiring!

Glen QuiltSwissy said...

I like the wall, thanks for sharing the process.

Mary in Boulder said...

The shading adds so much. That's interesting to me since I rarely consider that element in creating art.

sonja said...

yes,i also enjoyed your process steps and your save !
Pumpkins are endlessly fun to draw and paint and the moon finial is great!!

Deb said...

I just love the drawing, I can see myself sitting down to tell a story, the moon final added just the right touch to the gate.

JanineMarie said...

So neat to see how this changed as you drew it--how it went from a flat sketch to having lots of depth.

Ann said...

Thanks for sharing this process. What a lovely day you had.

Kaja said...

I love your drawings so its very interesting to see in more detail how you work. I like all of the gate, not just the finial.

Deb said...

So here is some of what went through my head when I saw you lovely sketch.Rebecca pushes open the garden gate, smiling at the creaky sound it makes along with the crunching sounds of brown leaves beneath her feet, autumn is her favortie time of the year, when the garden goes to sleep and the fetid aroma of decaying leaves and wet soil fills her nostrils, she inhales deeply and looks up at the old oak somehow looking as tired as she feels, Rebecca thinks to herself, that old oak tree has seen many visitors pass through the iron gate her grandfather forged when he was just a young newlywed eager to please his new wife with an iron gate she always dreamed about.

When Rebecca was a small child she would swing on the garden gate while her grandmother picked tomatoes, pulled weeds and cut flowers for the dining room table. When she was old enough she would be right there along side her grandmother pulling and picking too and as the years went by Rebecca would watch as her own child would swing on the garden gate and then one day Rebecca was the grandmother pulling weeds and picking flowers for the same dining room table, but not today.

Today Rebecca walked slowly through the decaying garden, picking up a few colorful leaves she slipped them into the pocket of her sweater, lifted the last round pumpkin and placed it on the garden wall, reached for the latch on the garden gate smiling at the memory of her grandfather finally adding the crescent moon final she always dreamed of.

Dasha said...

Lovely work LeeAnna. Envious of your ability to just let fly with those pencils. I am absolutely hopeless with sketching.

PaulaB quilts said...

Opening the gate, what a freeing solution!

Cathy said...

It's so pretty! I wish I could draw. Yours are just gorgeous.

Sheri said...

Thanks for the fun drawing instructions!

Joanne said...

Hi LeeAnna!
Great drawing!
The ligth/shadow effect around the gate give it so much life!
And the pumkin colour reflecting in the old stone wall is a great touch!

Joanne said...

Hi LeeAnna!
Great drawing!
The ligth/shadow effect around the gate give it so much life!
And the pumkin colour reflecting in the old stone wall is a great touch!

dq said...

You are such an artist.