sketchbook :: food for the feast

We had a wonderfully relaxing Thanksgiving holiday which was spent cooking, eating, sketching, and catching up with a dear friend. I managed a couple of watercolor sketches in my 9 x 12 Kilimanjaro watercolor sketchbook. The clementines above and the sweet potatoes below were both done with watercolor only, no preliminary sketching, just straight in with paint.

That is my preferred way to sketch in watercolor, although sometimes I find myself committed to a composition that could have been better planned.

However, there were no do-overs. The clementines were needed for zest in the cranberry sauce and the sweet potatoes ended up mashed under that blanket of marshmallows. And when we put away our art supplies to finally eat dinner everything was so very tasty.

And now it's suddenly time to begin preparing for the next holiday! In between I am resolved to keep up with my studio practice as I have so many ideas percolating at the moment. I know it's nearly impossible to do everything, but I can certainly try!

Edisto Series

All The Quiet Places

mixed water media on paper

10.5 x 14 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

My Edisto series is now completed and available for purchase in my Etsy shop. You can see the entire collection in my shop by clicking here.

Ending Where It Began

mixed water media on paper

10 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I loved this exercise of sticking with the theme of the beauty of Edisto all the while keeping my color palette and method of painting and mark making consistent.

That Alone Will Do

mixed water media on paper

10 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

There is so much beauty to be found on this island, a beauty that requires our strict attention in order to protect and preserve this coastal environment.

To Lose One's Self

mixed water media on paper

10.5 x 14 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

And it is a home and a second home to many who find comfort in being by the sea in a small, strong community, away from the commercial trappings found in most coastal areas.

Beckon

mixed water media on paper

6.5 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I also enjoyed the challenge of abstracting this theme just a bit. 

Haven

mixed water media on paper

6.5 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

I used my feeling for the place as a starting point and allowed the paintings to develop through the common thread of beach, water, palms, and the light.

Return

mixed water media on paper

6.5 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

This is a method that I plan to explore more deeply in future works.

Rhythm

mixed water media on paper

6.5 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

available

For whatever we lose (like a you or a me),

It's always our self we find in the sea.

~e.e. cummings~

Edisto series continued

Edisto II

mixed water media on paper

10 x 14 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Here are two more paintings in my Edisto series, created with the same process as the first. After sketching in the composition with a watercolor pencil I lay in watercolor washes. Then I build up areas with more saturated watercolor, after which I apply watercolor gesso in selected areas. Then more washes and marks with Inktense pencils. I liked the simplicity of the composition in the painting above, and left a good deal of white paper exposed. This painting shows one of the many little cottages at Edisto beach.

Edisto III

mixed water media on paper

10 x 10 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

I am enjoying being able to use very saturated color and then push it back with the gesso. This process adds a dimension to the layering of pigment that watercolor alone cannot. And then restating areas with marks made with those wonderfully vibrant Inktense pencils is just fun! The painting above is inspired by the walk out to the beach at Botany Bay. I have read where the Botany Bay nature preserve sustained a good deal of damage from Hurricane Matthew and that it will be quite a long time before it will be open again.