Sketchbook Tuesday - Finally it feels like spring

We have had some gorgeous spring weather lately. It's finally warming up and we've had a chance to get out and do some sketching. Yay! This is a view from the Blue Ridge Parkway, not too far from our house, done in watercolor in my handmade sketchbook.

And thank you for the thoughtful comments on my last post! I suppose that like you all, I too, tend to work on more than one project at a time. If I had the space and time I'd probably have even more projects going simultaneously. But that might be dangerous. For now, I am trying to keep my focus on just a few key interests and see where they take me.

A New Light

A New Light

oil on canvas

6 x 6 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Click here for purchase information

Here is #58 of my 100 painting project. Another view of the marshes on Edisto Island, South Carolina. With the coming of summer my time is beginning to open up a bit. So I am thinking of ways to take the best advantage of the extra hours. What 'projects' do I want to pursue? Where do I want to put my focus? I already have enough ongoing projects to keep me busy for a very long time. But new ideas keep popping into my head as well. I suppose I need a better filtering system. How do you prioritize your various creative projects? Do you work on more than one at once or do you tackle them one at a time?

Sketchbook Tuesday - more flowers and other thoughts

I was without internet for a few days, so I didn't get around to posting again last week. And here it is, another Tuesday, and another watercolor sketch of flowers from my handmade sketch journal.  Thank you to everyone who commented and contributed to the discussion on my last post about how you approach keeping a sketchbook. It seems many are like me, preferring to keep everything in one place, the messy, quick sketches and notes right along with more finished sketches. The idea of keeping a separate sketchbook or books, for various intentions really appeals to me. But in reality I doubt that, at this point in time anyway, that method of organization would make me happy. What I have been doing as a sort of compromise is to create my sketchbooks with my own style of organization. Along with the signatures of Canson Edition paper for my sketches I include a signature in the front and back with plain copy paper. It is there that I put my jumbled notes to myself, record passages from my reading, and even have photocopied calendars pasted in. This helps me keep it all in one place. And like Jennifer Rose commented, I would feel so lost without my sketchbook!


I had jotted down a line from Robert Genn's newsletter last week, "Less commitment widens opportunity." This is something I have been thinking about lately. Letting go of self-imposed "commitments" in order to be open to whatever form inspiration shows up in. I'm a list-maker, and a goal-setter by nature yet I am finding that lately my life either isn't allowing for that or simply that it's time for another approach. Leo Babauta of Zen Habits talks a lot about goals and why they aren't as important as we think. That without goals we can be more open to possibilities we may not have foreseen. So I am changing my thinking from being goal oriented to project based. With a goal, you are looking at the desired end result before you even begin. With a project you are setting up a starting point which allows the work to take you where ever your interest leads. That's how it is with my journals. If I separated out intentions or goals for different journals it would feel too confined to me. Knowing me, there would be way too much overlap, and I am easily confused. And it has become the same with my other art works. If I am focusing on the "goal' I find I lose sight of the experience that is now.

Sketchbook Tuesday - Lilacs!

A recent page from my sketchbook with a quick sketch of my lilac blossoms and a quote that I liked for trying out a new pen. The pen is okay, it's an Elegant Writer pen, but not waterproof so I don't know how useful it will actually be for me. It may get added to Kiddo's stash of marking pens.

I have been thinking lately about the purpose of my sketchbook journals and how that fits with things that I would like to try out. Are my journals about the finished pages or are they about the thinking process, working out ideas? Actually they are both, and there are many pages which you never will see. And there are pages like this that are part experiment, part record of daily life. Sometimes I think that maybe I should have a "messy" journal along with this sketchbook journal. Laura Frankstone had an interesting post on this topic a few weeks back on the Artists' Journal Workshop blog. And I do feel about journals much they way she does. I greatly admire other artists' beautifully designed sketchbook journals but mine do remain more organic, more messy, for the most part. How do you approach your sketchbook journals? Do you separate the journals for more "finished" pages from a "messy" journal? Or let it all happen together?

Marsh Walk

Marsh Walk

oil on canvas

6 x 6 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

Click here for purchase information

Here is #57 of my 100 painting project. It is a another view of the marshes at Botany Bay on Edisto Island, SC. Remember when I did the thumbnail exercise? This is the first painting the sprung from that process. I have noticed that the further away I get from the original reference, the more I work in terms of color, as in color field painting. A move toward abstraction? I don't know. I may just have to find out though.

Sketchbook Tuesday - sketching spring

Last Friday was a typical spring day here in our mountains. The thermometer was trying hard to reach 60 degrees F, it was overcast and quite breezy. A friend had organized a sketch outing for our girls and ourselves so off we went to a nearby park. With the breeze, papers had to be weighted down and even palettes wanted to blow over. When the girls tired of sitting still sketching they ran off and played kick ball. My friend and I shivered under layers of sweaters and jackets but managed to get some sketching in. Above is my attempt. A sketch with a brown colored pencil, filled in with watercolor and finished off with more brown colored pencil.

Marsh Song

Marsh Song

oil on canvas

6 x 8 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

For purchase information click here

Here is #56 of my 100 painting project. It is a view of one of the marshy areas surrounding Botany Bay on Edisto Island, SC. It is such a serene place to visit, unspoiled by development and with a very rich history. Many of my paintings have been inspired by this place, and I suspect there will be more. (Ironically, when looking for a good link to more information about Botany Bay, the best one I could find features a photo that looks to be taken in the same location as my painting above. So now you have to check that out!)

Sketchbook Tuesday - again!

Yeah, I am going to try posting sketches regularly on Tuesdays again. Having a schedule is a good motivator. Something predictable and sure. We'll see how it goes.

So here is a sketch I did last week on one warm and sunny afternoon. I sat on our back deck, turned so that I could see the drive and side yard, and sketched our blooming forsythia while enjoying the sunshine. Most of our yard is wooded, with an understory of Rhododendrons, which provide a nice, rich green backdrop to the bright yellow of the forsythia blossoms. For this sketch I began with Prismacolors, my new favorite, "Espresso", and an old favorite, "Chestnut", to sketch in my scene. Somehow the pencil lines don't intimidate me the way ink lines do. Then I put in the watercolor and finished off by re-stating some of the pencil marks.

Now I have noticed that our recent rains have knocked most of the blossoms off of the forsythia. And it's supposed to get cold again. Winter still has a foot in the door here but spring still comes with determination in its own good time.

Something a little different

Early Spring

mixed media on paper

4.5 x 6 inches

©Ann Thompson Nemcosky

This is a little mixed media experiment that I worked on last weekend. While browsing art blogs last week I came across a post on one of my favorite artists blogs, Vivien Blackburn's, Paintings Prints and Stuff. Her work posted, "A muddy lane in February" immediately caught my attention. I have long been a fan of her art and was intrigued by her explanation of process with this work. So I tried my own version using a reference of an early spring scene I had photographed while on a walk in a local park.

I used a spare piece of Canson Edition paper and began with Neocolor II crayons, sketching in areas of color. This I brushed with water and let dry. Then I went in with colored pencil, adding some of the smaller elements and softening the intensity of the Neocolor washed a bit. After that I added pastel, bringing up some of the lights and then more colored pencil to define some of the details.

This was a fun way to work with much more immediacy than using colored pencil alone. What I like about Vivien's piece is the softness combined with the expressive marks, allowing for a quiet energy in her piece. And this is where I feel my mixed media falls short. Perhaps it's a fear of pushing the media. Of course this is only one of very few attempts I have done with mixed media. It is a method I would like to explore further, but probably not any time soon. For now, I'll remain content enjoying Vivien Blackburn's beautiful art works.

Inspiration and grief

Yes, I am still here. We have had a tough time these past few months with my father-in-law's illness and passing a couple of weeks ago. I did manage a few sketches but have found it difficult to return to a working rhythm due to the sadness overshadowing our days. I know some artists are able to find solace in their art but I couldn't seem to get there. Yet when I think about the kind of person my father-in-law was, I know I should look to his influence for guidance. He wasn't one to sit around. He was always on the go, always busy, out there doing. I feel privileged to have had him in my life.

So here are a couple of sketches from my spring journal, although I haven't been happy with any of them so far. The top sketch is of a jade plant that belonged to my mother-in-law and stayed in her lovely sunroom, cared for after her passing for years. It lives in my house now, in a brand new flowerpot. And a trip to the grocery often results in subjects for inspiration, as with the peppers above. Spring is coming slowly to our southern mountains. I am so looking forward to warmer days with loads of blooming inspiration.