Pencil Drawing Inside Out

 

Washing dishes by hand is meditation beyond my kitchen window when peering upon the grand showcase of nature and wildlife. The window inspiration was captured with a pencil drawing inviting the viewer into my world along the east coast of Nova Scotia.

Several windows at the Seaforth beach house have streaming views of enormous skies complimenting the moody Atlantic ocean.  Gaetz lake is at the end of the driveway bringing all the wildlife to drink and feast on the fresh kill of animals and fish. Never a dull moment outside my windows and one good reason why none of the windows have drapes.

ORIGINAL Pencil drawing in a sketchbook with HB & 6B lead pencil.

I enjoy the action of drawing with the simple lead pencil in a sketchbook. Nothing fancy here folks, just a pencil and paper to express sharp lines, smudges, fill, scratches, crosshatches, and texturizing with various strokes maneuvering under the power of imagination.

Read more about my pencil sketches created under the spell of agony and boredom. 

I decided to re-do this sketchbook version and copy it onto cream drawing paper that has a slight texture that grabs the various pencil weights.

• The drawing from the sketchbook is copied with transfer paper to the cream drawing paper. 
• start with light values of H (hard) weight pencils.
•  drawing from the top-down to keep from smudges.
•  keep in check that the lighter values stay put for the background.
•  use the darker B weights for the foreground pushing forward in the picture plane.

Composition & Design:

• I want the viewer to feel the space from the window to the far hills and sense the landscape with textured strokes of a pencil. 
• There are 4 bird species indicated through the drawing like little gems to be discovered moving around the drawing. 
• The geranium was the focus with its rough scratchy stems and blooms ready to burst into flowers.

After I develop the top area, background, and mid-ground area, it is time to get out the darker B pencils for the details of the geranium plant sitting in an old glass salt-shaker hovering over the wildlife scene out my kitchen window. 

Often I take broken branches and stick them into glass vases both large and small because I LOVE watching the roots expand and grow in the glow of the window light while the glass container gets all green slime with nutrients that feed the roots.

Coming close to finishing, I am going around the drawing with both H & B weights of pencil attempting a balancing act with values. I like the eye-candy tidbits inviting the viewer to take a trip around my paper real estate. 

I decided to erase out a white bird image in the mid-ground area and to the right side. This white bird is to assist in perspective views but also it is a shape to stop the eye from leaving the drawing on the right side. The white bird brings the eye back into the composition without the focus shifting from the geranium plant. I had also used a white charcoal pencil to add a cooler white to make the flying bird POP ever so slightly on the cream-colored paper. 

The photos do no justice to the drawing but in real view, the subtleties are more defined in values.

Kaarina and I keep in each other's lives by the internet. She lives in 3 countries and is impossible to connect conveniently over tea and muffins. I recently sent her an email letter with images of the latest sketches and she expressed the joy of this drawing, 'Growing Roots in Seaforth', and wanted to purchase it. She has been a long-time supporter of my personal and creative life so this was an opportunity to share an art gift of my kitchen window knowing she will be transported ethereally beside me.

Go ahead, pick up that simple pencil and DRAW!