Sunday sketching

I've been doing a lot of illustration work lately, but not just sketching from life for personal happiness. Sunday was a gorgeous day, and the wildflowers are at their peak. Henry and I went early and walked up a small wash where we wouldn't hurt anything but also where we'd be a little off the path since it was a weekend. I wanted to settle in and sketch before chigger season, which bit me (literally) last year. I found a few bunches of bluebells that I didn't know grew in there.

I have a certain scale that makes the most sense to me visually as an artist. I don't usually sketch close ups of the landscape or huge panoramas. My brain (and probably my heart) do best with mid-sized landscape that's perfect for a person to walk into. But I love the wildflowers so much that I try to paint at least a few almost ever year, to greatly varying results. I wanted to mark the bluebells, and after butchering some trillium last year in a deep purplish ink, I reached for the Derwent Inktense pencils, which I have fortunately supplemented with a pink for the buds. I used paint on top but laid out the bluebells with a blue pencil. It's not amazing but it was fun to do, and I was happy with the colorful riot in my sketchbook as a celebration of spring. This is always my favorite season in the forest.

That evening I had kept my paints handy for illustration work but didn't have my sketchbook in reach. Going to get it would have disturbed Henry, who was looking cute in his favorite chair, so I did a small freestanding watercolor with no lines first, just drawing with the brush and a light grey to start with. He moved partway through (of course), but it was fun to get back to evening Henry sketching, and I'm going to try to remember to do it more.