Nancy Van Blaricom

Thursday, June 21, 2012

The Art of a Sketchbook

The Art of a Sketchbook

Although technically I think this is a more a journal than a sketchbook I'm sharing it with you so that you can see another way you can sketch. Watercolor sketching. I cut down 140 lb. cold press watercolor paper to a size of about 7" x 7 1/2 ", the half inch was to allow for the binding, then cut down some matt board the same size for front and back covers, then had Kinko's bind it into my own journal / sketchbook.

I had three of them made. 2 this size and one 11" x 14". In the photo above, in this journal I took a copy of a picture of me when I was little and glued it to the front. Just an easy way for me to identify which book was which.

Because the paper is heavy there is no bleed through and I can watercolor

and write on both the front and back of each page.

I'm not really picky as to what I choose to put in my books. It can be anything that may be

going on at the time. Sometimes months go by before I pick it up to enter something in it.

I sometimes will take it boating or camping with us.

Its just a nice thing to have if I get in the creative mood without having to bring too many supplies.

Until next time, keep on sketching ...

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Summer Hiatus

Summer Hiatus

In the beginning ...

You can tell in this photo that I'm in the middle of a painting ... well in the middle isn't correct, I've got the block in done. Darn, now that I have my painting blocked in I see I broke my own rule of 'thumb nails' first. Hmm, realizing that I'm tempted to just leave it and move on to something else, but, I always feel I need to finish what I start, so I will.

I've been thinking lately that I spend way too much time on the internet. Checking out other artists work, checking my e-mails, reading blogs etc. Anything but create, and because of that I've decided that I'm going to take a summer hiatus from the internet.

I want to develop my own personal style and checking out all the blogs I notice that so many of the artists work is beginning to look the same to me. I'm not sure if that is because they have all studied from the same awesome artist or, my familiarity with the work, ... well, I don't' know why. But, I want to develop my own style and need to get more painting behind me & not be influenced by one artists style for the time being. That, for me, means staying off the internet ...

Since I've been sharing my sketchbooks with youI want to:

Do more sketching, and
I'm loving my experience with oils and I definately want to do more oils, especially plein air painting.
Focus on my work and not the internet.

So, for the summer I'm going to take an internet hiatus. Although, I may check in occasionally just to let you know I'm alive...

I have a few more Art of the Sketchbook posts scheduled for Fridays and then they will also take an internet break.

Until then keep on being creative ...

Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Art of the Sketchbook

The Art of the Sketchbook

The three sketches below are all dated 2001 from the same 12" x 9" hardbound sketchbook.

I used sepia color watercolor in this sketchbook attempting to sketch a person. I wrote, "3 value silhouette ... Value change gives illusion of depth" I didn't over try like I can usually manage to do. It was a woman with long hair, she uses her hand to cover part of her face and I just caught part of her shoulder.

Gesture using a solid mid value tone.

Here I was trying to sketch some eyes. Kinda spooky looking and the glasses are goofy with the furthest glass rim larger than the front one. I'm thinking the sketchbook is a great place to practice eyes as well as sketching people .... don't you?

Friday, June 08, 2012

The Art of a Sketchbook

Sketching tools ...

This week I thought I'd share with you some of the tools I use for sketching in my sketchbooks:

The cute little bear was first drawn in pencil then watercolored, then outlined in pen. This particular sketchbook allows watercolor in it without getting all wrinkled. Aquabee Super Deluxe Sketchbook

This was from the same sketchbook. Its an indian Raven Mask on a stand and I sketched it using my Lamy Safari Pen and Noodlers Ink. It makes wonderful thin lines with this fine tip.

The above pencil drawing was a preliminary drawing for a watercolor I was going to paint but never got around to it - yet. I mostly use a retractable lead pencil, only because I never have to worry about sharpening it, but upon occasion I'll use any pencil I have laying around.

On this sketch I did on 9/11 I used my Bic Pilot pen P-500 Extra Fine. When moistened it leaves a nice smear that can be used for shading.

Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Art of a Sketchbook

Landscapes - Seascapes

I like the looks of landscape and seascape sketches done with my Lamy pen. Nice fine lines that rely on cross hatching or some sort of shading to indicate a darker value.

Some trees in a near-by sky line. I'm seldom happy with my cross hatching. Probably just need more practice before it stops looking like scribbles.

I think in this one I did do some scribbling to indicate some sand and or shore. Although you may not be able to tell the near-by water waves, I think it turned out just like it looked that day.

I like the looks my Pilot pen give with a little moisture to the ink to add shading.

I was enjoying what was happening with my pen this day and continued using it for a few pages.

Until next Friday .... keep on sketching.

Thursday, May 24, 2012

The Art of a Sketchbook

The Big Cover-up

One thing I learned years ago is that if you are experimenting with different mediums in a sketchbook a cheap sketchbook at that, you will more than likely have some bleed through on the back of the page. Then in order to use that soiled page you might need to cover it up with something.

The above page was a contour drawing of some potted flowers done with a ball point pen, but, as you can see there is some brown paper in the spine area ... there was a big splotch of bleed through there so I covered it up with a strip of brown paper.

This was a fun way to cover up a huge big splotch ... I printed off a photo and glued it in my sketchbook then used watercolor to extend the photo.

There was some ugly mess at the bottom of this page and I cut a blank piece of paper and glued it down.

This wasn't a cover up really, but, it was a small sketch I had done on the back of a something I had printed and I wanted to keep it so I just glued it in the sketchbook.

One of my very favorite cover-ups is to print out some of the nice e-mails I receive about my work. When I might not be feeling very good about some project I'm working on it helps to read some genuinely nice words about my work.

Until next time, keep on sketching.

Monday, May 21, 2012

Pacific Northwest painting ....

Low Tide Off 101

Low Tide Off 101, 7" x 14", Oil on Canvas, 2012, Nancy Van Blaricom

~ Click on the photo to enlarge ~

This says Pacific Northwest to me and one of my favorite scenes off Highway 101 heading into Olympia. You have a great view of the sky, the distant hills and a farm off in the distance.

I've read where an artist always has one place in their painting that they like more than any other. In this painting I love the sky. The sky shows some areas of getting lighter on the left. Maybe there won't be rain after all.

On another note, I can never get my photos to show the true likeness of my work, with or without iPhoto or Photoshop. I think I'm going to have to buy a photo tent. Do the rest of you have this issue? In this photo, in real life it isn't this bright, *sigh.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

The Art of a Sketchbook

Personify People

As a rule I do not draw people. And I could never do a commission of a person because there is too much pressure to render the true likeness. But since my sketchbooks are personal and no one ever sees them, until recently that is, I occasionally will make a feeble attempts.

The first sketch is a contour drawing I did from a photo of my grandfather when he was young. Love those contour drawings ... or have I told you that already? First I did the standing version and was very happy with, not that it was even close to what the photo looked like, but, that it looked like a human at all was amazing to me. Then I started sketching some heads to see if I could do any better. I wasn't able to and yet I was very happy with these also because they still looked like a male person.

I was happy with the above contour drawing also. It was a full page in my sketchbook and in both this and the one above I used my Lamy Fountain Pen.

When I'm in the mood to sketch a person no one taking a nap is exempt. This one was not a contour sketch, although the arm / sleeve gives the appearance of a contour sketch. Maybe I started it as one but decided it was going badly and decided not to. I used a ball point pen on some scratch paper and then glued it into my sketchbook ... More on that in a future post.

Hubby stayed still long enough during one of his naps to be able to contour sketch his shoes and legs.

There are times I know I should be accomplishing something but maybe lack the ambition to do anything, in the hot afternoon heat of summer, other than to sit on the deck and prop my feet up and sketch them.

Until next week ... Keep on sketching !

Thursday, May 10, 2012

The Art of a Sketchbook

Spring is in the air

I didn't realize how many flowers I've sketched through-out the years until I started looking through my sketchbook for something to share with you all.

Sketchbook, Flowers in Basket and Rhody, © Nancy Van Blaricom

Both of the above sketches are from the same sketchbook. I started this sketchbook looking pretty clean and neat. A little more "proper" if you will ... it didn't end up like that though. This sketchbook wasn't suppose to be used with watercolor, the pages wrinkled but I found if I didn't over saturate the paper it was acceptable. This one was dated: March 20th, 1996.

Sketchbook, Graphite drawing & Contour Daffy's, © Nancy Van Blaricom

These two sketches came out of one of my spiral sketchbooks. The first one was a vase of flowers I had seen in a magazine. I didn't note that, but I remember the scene and how pretty the vase was. The next was a contour drawing of a daffodil.

Sketchbook, Red Tulips & Still Life Watercolor © Nancy Van Blaricom

Flowers must have been on my mind a lot more than I realized. I don't see a date on these, but it was from one of my earlier sketchbooks. I think I was trying out different 'loose' styles with watercolor.

Sketchbook, Splashy Mums & Hydranga © Nancy Van Blaricom

The sketches with watercolor are not always neat and tidy as you can see here. These look much better on my monitor than in my sketchbook. Date on the Hydranga is 7/25/00

Sketchbook, Iris Splashy 1 & Iris Splashy 2 © Nancy Van Blaricom

There are times when I pick a subject like an iris from the yard and attempt to sketch it on different days. Both of these were painted / sketched in a very loose manor. Very whimsical and fun looking I think. Dated 4/06/01 on the left & 4/07/01 on the right.

There are plenty more flower in my sketchbooks but this is enough for now.

Until next time ... Keep on sketching.

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Finished: Almost Home

Almost Home

I finished this painting mid April and before we are in the full swing of summer I thought I'd better show you how my first large painting turned out. You may remember that I posted some preliminary work for this larger painting here.

Sometimes when I post work on my blog I think it looks good and then other times I think they look better in person. I like this one better in person.

This painting took longer than I expected it would, but, I took my time so that I didn't rush it and lose what I loved about the scene ... the sun peeking through the trees falling across the road an into the trees. It took my breath away.

The frame should be ready later this week ...
What color frame would you have chosen?

Monday, May 07, 2012

Summers Comin'

Since Blogger updated I can't figure out why feed burner is not sending out my blog posts to my subscribers. Is anyone else having this problem? Do you know how to fix it?

One of my all time favorite places to be is British Columbia.

I love the water, the boats, the wild life, the people ... the great places to explore on and near the water, its all yummy to me. With their renowned and spectacular scenery this scene is typical of what we often see when we are boating in B.C. Yes, you are right, I could easily be on British Colombia's Tourist Board.

The photo reference for this painting was taken a few years ago on the inside passaage of Vancouver Island at Green Point Rapids.

I thoroughly enjoyed painting this one. At first I wasn't sure how I was going paint the steep mountain in the background and then it became obvious, it was mostly smokey blues and grays because of the distance and the steepness. The water that day was pretty calm with the sun sparkling on the water. But, my main focus was the boat with its poles down to help keep it from rolling side to side too much.

Yes, I really loved painting this one.

Thursday, May 03, 2012

The Art of a Sketchbook

The art in my sketchbooks are assorted. I fill them with a variety of information. This week I'll share some pages in my sketchbooks that I used for testing colors, products and different mediums that I may want to use at another time.

This was a really fun test. I had purchased some Matt Medium and had heard a lot of things you could do with this impressive product. Here I had laid a piece of face tissue on my sketchbook, brushed it with the medium and let it dry. Once dry I watercolor a pear and added color to the back ground. The tissue had dried with some raised areas and I then added some gold highlights to those ridges. I never used this product again in this manner, but, I really liked the results it produced.

I'm not into stamps but had this one and some gold ink, (the ink doesn't show up here as gold) I tested it on the edge of my sketchbook. I have seen some wonderful watercolors that used watercolor on the stamp and incorporated it in a still life as a background of wallpaper ... I don't remember ever using it either.

Here I was sampling some pastels I had bought. I'm not a pastel artist but thought they deserved a try. I had used some pastel paper for these color swatches then cut out the square shape and glued them into the sketchbook.

This page of my sketchbook I tested three Funny Brushes I had purchased. A small, medium and a larger brush. It had some thin (medium & larger) rubber strings in the end of the three short straw type brushes, It was advertised to use with watercolor & help make grass or bushes in your paintings. I wasn't impressed and never used them.

Here are some watercolor samples. I've been thick headed about "warm" colors and "cool" colors. Reading in my sketchbook I think I was putting some colors down then trying to see if I could tell what was "warm" & "cool" next to a similar color (?).

I loved this sample when I first put it in my sketchbook ... It was the perfect gray and the perfect black. As a rule I never have gone back to my sketchbooks to see what pigments I mixed to make this or that color but before I had made this color combo a habit I went back to this sketchbook many times. Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine blue.

Until next Friday ... keep on sketching.

Friday, April 27, 2012

The Art of a Sketchbook

Happy Birthday Casey ...

Welcome to The Art of a Sketchbook.
Because I am writing this on Monday, April 23rd and today is my cats 15th birthday I thought I'd share with you some of my many sketches of Casey.

I'm not sure if its because I am so fond of him or because he's so handsome or more than likely because he's always right here by my side when I'm looking for a subject, but I have sketched him many, many times throughout the years. In the sketches above I used a regular #2 pencil. Although I don't' always date my sketches, I did on these, January 5th, 2001.

From the same sketchbook ... not made for watercolor, I attempted to splash some color on a pencil sketch I did of Casey. The pages wrinkle a lot, but I don't mind, after all its just a sketchbook. I think I had previously sketched a cartoony looking cat in ink on this page but just went over it like it wasn't there.

Above I used a whole page in one of my spiral bound sketchbooks to do a few contour drawings of Casey in ink.

Here's the big boy sleeping on my lap as I sketched him using a common #2 pencil. January 12th, 2006

On another page of the same book as above it looks like I first sketched the paws then outlined in ink and added a touch of watercolor. Outlining the two paws together like this helped make them more of a statement.

Same sketchbook as the last two photo's, I guess this was a study of Casey's ears. I think cats ears are so interesting don't you? I used my fine tip Lamy fountain pen for this one. I love sketching with it because of being able to get such fine lines, and no, I don't worry about mistakes. I never erase when I sketch ... its a rule !

And last but certainly not least is Casey laying on a cushion that was placed on an ice chest. This sketchbook is unlike most of my sketchbooks. Its made of recycled paper that looks like brown paper sack. In this book I usually use charcoal to draw then add some color with pastel chalk, once in a while I will use my Lamy fountain pen to outline, but not as a rule.

Thats it for the sketches this week ... I hope you enjoyed seeing them.

Before closing off this blog post on sketching I wanted to share with you an interesting article I read in the (free) weekly on-line subscription of Outdoor Painter newsletter. The article is about Katharine Norris, written by Steve Doherty. Sign up for the free newsletter while you are there visiting this article.

Heres to sketching.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Who could ask for anything more...

The reference for this little painting is from a photo I took a few years ago. The boat is sitting peacefully at anchor and the sky was getting lighter. I'm guessing the owners have property near by and moored the boat here so that they can easily row out and use it when they want to go sailing.

I love painting this kind of scene. Water, boats and land ... who could ask for anything more.

Pages

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Friday, June 08, 2012

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Thursday, May 24, 2012

Monday, May 21, 2012

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Tuesday, May 08, 2012

Monday, May 07, 2012

Thursday, May 03, 2012

Friday, April 27, 2012

Tuesday, April 24, 2012