Weekly pastel

Blue Ridge Summer
pastel on sanded pastel paper
6.5 x 4.5 inches
©2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
Click here to buy

My intention is to post these pastels on Mondays, so I am a day early here. Oh well. It's all because I know the start of my week will be very busy and I probably won't have much computer time.

Still working on my color project though. Doing this pastel was a nice break however. It is a view from the Blue Ridge Parkway, not far from here, in the height of summer, haze and all.

Color Sense

Marsh Spring
6.5 x 4.5 inches
colored pencil on paper
©2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Here is a colored pencil drawing that I did a while ago, from our trip to Edisto Island, SC, last March. I was taken with the color of the marshes, how they not only change with the seasons but also change depending on the light and time of day. Bits of water reflecting the sky punctuating the multi-hued grasses provide a play of color and texture.

My first week of my garage "painting workshop" has been okay. Not astounding, but it has been revealing to me on several levels. What I am most struck with is the realization that what I 'know' about color and what I actually do with color are two different things. Just like drawing requires a constant practice of seeing shape, value, and texture, successfully working with color also depends a lot on constant practice. In order to use color on my terms rather than relying totally on what my reference is telling me I know I need much more practice cultivating my awareness of color.

For those of you who do work more with interpretative color, how do you keep your color senses sharp? I would be interested in hearing. I'm sure there are as many methods as there are artists.

Anyway, I'm not sharing any painting results just yet. Maybe after I've been at it a little while longer.

Color project for June

Elizabethan Gardens, Manteo NC
colored pencil in Moleskine sketchbook
©2008 Ann Thompson Nemcosky

For the month of June I have been given the gift of time. Something that is a rare commodity and always in great demand in my day-to-day activities. It comes in the form of a few hours three mornings a week while my dear hubby will be taking kiddo to her tennis lessons. Come July he's back in the classroom and I'll be on duty again from there on out. The rest of my days will chiefly be occupied with homeschool lessons (yes, we school year round - believe me, it's loads easier) and all the other stuff moms need to do. But for the next four weeks, those morning hours will be mine.

And that's what gave me an idea to do a special project, something I have wanted to do yet didn't have the time to accomplish - paint. I haven't really attempted to put paint to canvas in over nine years. Besides, I have many ideas in the works for new projects in colored pencil. I wavered over the sense of this project, to indulge myself with painting, when I could very easily fill that space of time with so many worthwhile activities. My kitchen cabinets are screaming to be scrubbed and our attic is a nightmare of clutter. Or I could continue with my colored pencil drawing projects, getting oh so much accomplished. Then I saw this post about color from Katherine Tyrell on her blog, Making a Mark.

Well, that did it. I have committed myself to a month of working in paint. I spent the day setting up a temporary "studio" in our garage, the only available space in our little mountain cottage suitable for making a mess. Since the weather is warm, working there will not be a problem, and I added a couple of clip-on lights to brighten it up. I already had a good supply of paints and brushes and a quick trip to the art supply store filled any holes I had in supplies.

Katherine Tyrell's extensive outline for her color project is very inspiring and something I will be following very closely as I dive into my paints. And my goals for this project? I would like to see if I can come away from my own personal painting workshop with a better sense of how to use color more interpretatively than representationally. When I do return to my colored pencil drawing I would like to be comfortable with a more expressive rather than a literal use of color.

I do still plan to continue with drawing in all my various sketchbooks. Whether I will share any of my paintings here remains to be seen. It all depends on how things go. Stay tuned. . .

Pastel Monday

Summer Field
6.5 x 4.5 inches
pastel on sanded pastel paper
©2008 by Ann Thompson Nemcosky
Click here to buy

This image is a scene just down the road from our house, captured on a morning walk. It feels good to be getting back into the routine of things after our Outer Banks vacation. Summer has arrived here in our mountains and my summertime projects are waiting. Our little vegetable garden is planted with tomatoes and basil and I spent Saturday afternoon reclaiming my small herb garden. But there is still a neglected flower bed to tend to as well as much housekeeping to be done. The birds wake us in the morning with their dawn chorus coming through now opened windows. The insects are chirping and the bull frog calls from the creek across the road. Every thing is noisily busy these days and I need to get to work.

Taking a break

Perhaps it seemed I had dropped off the face of the earth. Well, I actually almost did just that. But we have now returned home to our mountains from a vacation at the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Which is really only a spit of land hovering out there along the coast line.

Every time we travel to the coast I marvel at the amount of sky visible and a horizon that goes on and on. Here we can only catch a glimpse of sky with a horizon interrupted by the zig zag of mountains and an abundance of trees. At the coast, the openness of the sky is a welcome relief.
I did do a few sketches and drawings while away. Here are two from my new watercolor Moleskine. The top image of shells was done with Graphitints while the bottom image is a collage with a tourist map and watercolor. As I was doing these I was thinking of all the wonderful watercolors I see folks from the Everyday Matters group produce in their Moleskines, trying to channel some of their creative energy. Maybe I was too far away. These were fun just the same, so with a nod to all those inspiring EDMers I thought I'd share these here.

What you see

quote by Annie Dillard from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
graphite and walnut brown Faber Castell Polychromo in Windsor Newton small sketch journal

This has to be one of my favorite quotes from Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. "Cultivating a healthy poverty" she says. Sometimes I find it all too much. Too much clutter, too much visual stimulation. Often I am just looking for that elusive simplicity.

This also speaks to paying attention. I am guilty of not noticing what is right under my nose. The process of drawing, I have found, is largely a matter of paying attention. Learning to see as much as learning how to make the mark. I am enjoying finding things from nature to study and draw in this little sketchbook. Usually at some point while working on the drawing I am surprised that what I thought I was seeing isn't really what is before me. Drawing these natural objects is forcing me to take a closer look.

A little bit of color

from my lilac bush. Last year my lilac bush had no blooms. A springtime ice storm took away any chance for blossoms. This year it had an abundance of blossoms. I cut some for a vase inside but of course they immediately began to wilt. Just love that fragrance though. And I did try to capture this sprig in my sketch before they completely wilted.

Since my posts of late have been mostly monochromatic, this sketch done with Polychromos colored pencils seemed timely. This, and one for watercolor, are in my first Moleskine sketchbooks. Having heard that Moleskine sketchbooks were a nice surface for colored pencil sketches I was eager to try it out. I must say I am enamored with this new sketchbook and plan on doing many more colored pencil sketches in it. I seem to be getting quite a collection of sketchbooks here.

I had my cake

and ate it, too.

Everyday Matters challenge # 169, draw a piece of cake.
Walnut brown Polychromos in my small hand.book journal.

Happy Mother's Day!

Random things

Here is Everyday Matters challenge #170, draw a zipper. Sorry about the poor quality scan but my hand.book journal always leaves a shadow in the fold when I scan from it. This is the zipper on the back of my purse, drawn with Faber Castell Polychromos walnut brown.

A little while ago Melanie from See.Draw.Share tagged me. If you haven't checked out her blog lately you should. She has been doing some wonderfully creative drawing and painting. I thought this would be a good time to respond by sharing seven random things about myself. I know it hasn't been that long since I was tagged before, so I will try to keep these brief.

1. Relating to the drawing above, I can never find the perfect handbag. So I keep buying more in the hope that someday I will find one that serves my need for just the right number of pockets, enough room to tuck in a small journal or paperback, a long enough strap to cross over my shoulder and not weigh a ton. I know there must be one out there somewhere, I just haven't found it yet.

2. But I don't like to shop for clothes. When I find something I like I buy the same item in two or three colors. I'm a pretty boring dresser. I have the same style of jeans in blue, black and brown and two pairs of the same comfortable shoes, one black and one brown pair.

3. I have a very eclectic taste in music. Mozart and Chopin, Dolly Parton and Nanci Griffith, Phil Collins, Meatloaf, Janis Joplin and Big Band/Swing music are all found in my music collection.

4. Currently my favorite writer is Sarah-Kate Lynch. Blessed Are The Cheesemakers is a brilliant novel, you should read it.

5. I hate air travel. Won't do it.

6. I love to travel by train. Years ago hubby and I toured the US by train, taking almost a month and stopping in various places such as Santa Fe, the Grand Canyon, Seattle and Glacier National Park. It was an awesome trip.

7. I like flavored coffees. You know the ones that come in the little tins. Cafe Vienna, Swiss Mocha and French Vanilla. Full of calories but a special treat for an afternoon pick-me-up.

So there it is. Instead of passing along the tag to others I am going to direct you to the links of blogs in my side bar. I try to keep that ever growing list current with the blogs I enjoy visiting. I have found a community of artists online, in all stages of their artistic journey, full of inspiration, wisdom and a willingness to pass along that support to others. Without which I know I wouldn't be as motivated as I am to keep progressing along on my own artistic journey.

Being there

quote by Annie Dillard from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
walnut brown Faber Castell Polychromo in Windsor Newton small sketch journal

I apologize for my absence from posting. This last week and weekend were very hectic here with family visiting, dance rehearsals and performances. Fun, but I am so relieved that is all over now. All went very well. Kiddo was in five individual dance numbers, including modern, jazz, tap and ballet. I don't know how she keeps it all straight and does so well. These aren't just some kid-type recital shows either. They are full scale productions with dancers of all ages, including professionals, in a theater complete with the full complement of sets and lighting. Can you tell I'm proud of her?

But now it's back to the comfort of our day-to-day routine. Through all the recent flurry of activity any semblance of our normal routine was abandoned. Today I am trying to regain my sense of balance. I realized how I depend on the normalcy of our routine to maintain that balance in my life and activities. And even though it's sometimes fun and exciting to have a change of pace for a while I am always happy when things settle back into their usual rhythm. I'm a pretty boring person really.