Drawing Prompt Week 6

Prompt: GARDEN

This week I want everyone to get outside and enjoy the last few sunny days of Autumn and draw in your journal something you love in your garden, flower, plant, tree, aniaml or even a gnome . Yes, this should be drawn from life, not a photo. If you do not have a backyard draw the potplants on your balcony or take a walk to the local park and draw there. Or even the cactus on your desk! The drawing should be in colour. preferably pencil but ink is fine too, and in your journal or visual diary. So this week, sit outside for an hour or so and enjoy the fresh air, sunshine and art!

California redwood trees - drawn from the deck of my sister's home in Marin. California. Graphitint pencils on A4 cold press watercolor paper diary

Monterey Cypress - from the hotel room deck of Asliomar resort, Monterey. Adel pens and water

Grevillea -  Bellingen, NSW, creek walk. Watercolour pencils and water

Today's sketch

In first term, when life was still normal, I asked MEG how to care for my Gaura plants that were getting a bit out of hand. She advised me to cut them back hard and see what happened - well, they grew back and are blooming wonderfully again. So I thought I would play around in my sketchbook with these colourful 'butterfly bushes'.

Using Inktense pencils I sketched in rough shapes of the Gaura plant and gently washed.

Once dry, I added stronger colour washes with the Inktense Pan colours.

When that was dry, I intensified the flowers with the Inktense Fuschia pencil and gently washed.

Then I blew it.

Using Adle and Statedler fineliner pens I tried to add detail. I didn't like that detail so I washed out the Adel pen and it became an unholy mess. I fiddled about a bit with a Staedtler green fineliner, the Adle black pen and a Shiraz colour Inktense pencil. This was the result.

Yuk, really. All I can say is what a mess.

Just goes to show you that not every work is a masterpiece or even successful! But the point was to be outside sketching and that is what your journal/visual diary is for, trying things out on the spot, experimenting and even failing. So get outside and make a bit of a mess!