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I completed the third and final class of introductory botanical illustration last evening. The eight students attempted scratchboard, something I had never tried before. There's no erasing; no correcting errors. My results appears at the head of the post. The instructor and I agreed that I had probably done my best work in the red section of the largest leaf.
I now know that I am sufficiently capable of drawing to tackle other projects, but I'll probably have to wait until I retire to take this up again. I don't think I'll attempt scratchboard, though; it was frustrating and unforgiving.
I promised I would keep you posted on my progress in my introductory Botanical Illustration class. During the second class, we tinted the drawing we made during the first class using colored pencils. One of my fellow students decided not to color her original drawing, explaining that she didn't think the color would enhance the drawing much. I was inclined to think the same way, but decided to color my drawing anyway (1) to explore the coloring process and (2) because my drawing wasn't a "masterpiece" anyway; so what if I screwed it up? I'm neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with the result (above). Kali said that the coloring was pretty subtle, but the colored pencil "leads" were hard - I really had to push to get the color to show.
After we colored our previous week's drawing, we explored drawing on paper tinted with watercolors. We moistened watercolor paper, dabbed on some color, and encouraged the paint to run and bleed. The instructor ironed our paper to dry it, then told us to select a spot on which to draw another leaf. The result appears above. I'm still not comfortable with the stippling technique; I'm going to have to work on it to achieve the results I'd like.
Tonight: scratchboard. Stay tuned.
My father had a real talent for drawing; I was always envious of his abilities. I considered my own talents to be limited. In fact, I once drew an old grist mill as an illustration to accompany an article I had written for my organization's newsletter, and someone (who did not know that I had drawn the the mill illustration) commented, "I wonder whose kid drew that picture?" If that wouldn't put the kibosh on any artistic aspirations I don't know what would.
However, since I've inherited half my father's genes, I've often wondered if I could improve my drawing skills with some coaching and practice. Plus, with retirement looming, Kali questions me constantly about how I'm going to fill my time after I stop working.
So, when a retired high school art teacher offered to teach a three-evening introductory botanical illustration class for my organization, my program planner and I readily agreed to put it on the schedule, and I signed up. Last evening was our first class.
The instructor asked the students to find a relatively simple leaf as a subject. Then, we retreated from the oppressive heat and humidity to an air conditioned conference room and set about with plain, old Staples-brand No. 2 pencils to draw the leaf. The instructor told the students it was perfectly acceptable to trace the leaf, but I decided to try to draw it freehand. Once we had the basic form and venation on paper, we took fine-pointed markers and inked the outline. Then, the instructor asked us to highlight features of the leaf in stippling.
My representation of a sourwood leaf (Oxydendrum arboreum) and my subject head this post. Kali said that she liked my drawing, but didn't think it was a very accurate representation of the subject. I'm not completely satisfied either (I'm a bit disappointed with the stippling, in particular), but I don't think I've tried to draw anything since my grist mill fiasco.
Next week, we add color with watercolors, and the third week we'll attempt a scratchboard project. I'll post my results of each.
