Daily Sketch: Garden Sprite
It’s raining today, and neither Mimi nor I is happy. We both wanted to be out in the garden after a very long week with only a few minutes here and there out in the greenery.
And after observing her outdoors as the garden is changing, I’d wanted to do a particular watercolor sketch, much like one I’d done earlier this summer, now with different flowers and colors and composition. After a while of cleaning the house and waiting for the rain to let up a bit we sat down for a bit, and I played around with some of the photos I’d taken last week that gave me the idea for the sketch. Sometimes this is a good warmup if I have a sketch in mind, opening up the palette I will use and, depending on the medium I want to use, I can plan out the work itself to a certain extent. I always do this with larger and more complex works, but especially when I’m painting en plein air, the more prepared I am with light that’s constantly changing, a kitty who keeps moving around and even a slight breeze that moves the greenery and flowers, the more quickly I can get a start and the more successful I am in capturing what I see.
But it was not to be. The rain only fell harder and the temperatures dropped, and all the geraniums and phlox and asters drooped, leaning way over to even touch their heads to the ground with the weight of their saturated petals. Even if the rains did let up, the entire atmosphere in the yard was sodden and misty now, not the clear and sunny autumn afternoon we’d been looking forward to. So, Mimi and I went back to the computer and played around a bit more, and chose one of the images I’d put together using the “cutout” filter. I’d wanted her as a solid outline, plus mottled greens as a pattern, and at least the pink of phlox blotted in here and there. In this one, Mimi turned up in the darkest green, which I think is pretty cool since it looks as if she emerges from the landscape itself. The bricks faded away, though.
There will still be opportunities later this year, and we’ll be sure to catch them!
What was I sketching a year ago today?
Five for a Nap
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Love this composition, nice technique…;)
Thanks, Maru, not the same as being out there painting, but still fun.