Sketching

Old Man Tree – January 31, 2023

| Patricia

“He that plants trees loves others besides himself.” ~ Thomas Fuller

Another tree sketch created in the same session as the Spotty Tree sketch, spurred by finding an old oil painting from 1972 I had gifted to my dad, retrieving it while cleaning out his apartment after his passing in 2006..

Old Man Tree began as a normally configured tree but I noticed some facial-like features in part of the image and it quickly transformed into a tree character with craggy twig-fingered ‘hands’ at the end of his ‘arm’ branches and twisted aging trunk ‘body’.

He may become a character in an adventure book that I’m writing.

Artwork copyright Patricia White 2023.

Spotty Tree – January 31, 2023

| Patricia

“Trees are poems that the earth writes upon the sky.”  ~ Kahlil Gibran 

My interest in sketching trees was ‘twigged’ when I recently unearthed an old oil painting of a tree from a storage closet in my studio, and went on a tree drawing spree. This is Spotty Tree, drawn January 31, 2023.

This is the vintage painting that spurred this theme. Painted in 1972. Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2023.

Mom’s Sugar Spoon

| Patricia

This is a simple line drawing to document a beautiful antique silver spoon my mom used as a sugar spoon at special family gatherings. Its intricate raised design features grape vines and curvilinear elements that, even tho it has value as a family memento, makes this a very special piece that stands on its own.

I hope to render the spoon in various media as I go forward. Likely using watercolour (with or without ink outlines) and/or graphite and coloured pencil. This is part of an ongoing personal project to document some of our family collectables.

Artwork copyright Patricia White 2023.

Coloured Pencil Landscape Sketch January 25, 2023

| Patricia

“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.”
~ Marcel Proust, French Novelist

DAILY PAINTING is an effort to keep my art-making skills active, develop new techniques and generally just keep discovering new ways to document the world I see and imagine. This quick sketch drawn with coloured pencils and white charcoal, is an imagined vista. I scored the paper with a small ball-headed stylus before putting pencil to paper so those areas would remain white when the pencil was drawn across the indentations. Think I’ll use a larger stylus the next time to make those lines more prominent.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2023.

Scribble Character sketch

| Patricia

Drew this Scribble Character Sketch in the Apple Notes app on my iPad Pro and enhanced the drawing in Procreate.

I have chronic arthritic pain in my hands and right shoulder, so find it helpful to use my Apple Pencil to navigate around on my tablet. Sometimes I forget and tap the screen to wake the tablet and it immediately opens a Notes document with the drawing tools panel open. I could change this in settings but think this is a good way to remind myself to do a little random doodle or concept on the fly.

This guy, I dubbed Mal Evalent, took shape by building on a pencil sketch frame, adding ink scribbles to form the structure and features. Finally finishing with a transparent marker layer of subtle colour.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2023.

Melancholy girl Notes Sketch January 19, 2023

| Patricia
Melancholy Girl Sketch

“Melancholy is the happiness of being sad.” ~ Victor Hugo

Accidentally tapped my sleeping iPad and the Apple Notes app opened with the set of drawing tools active, so I took it as a sign to stop what I was doing (coding I think) and play for a bit. Doodled for a while till a recognizable form poked its nose out of the chaos of pencil strokes. I dubbed her ‘Melancholy Girl’ as she gazes pensively from behind a flowing mane of hair.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2023.

THE big Book of Tiny Art: My First Try

| Patricia

A modern, inspirational guide to the to the art of the miniature by Karen Libecap

I’ve been reading a TON of art books these past months. This week it is THE BIG BOOK OF TINY ART by Karen Libecap.

CREATIVE EXPERIMENTS:

My 1st attempt at drawing MINIATURE ART.
Of course, it’s an APPLE, my subject of choice for the past few weeks, but this one is only 1” wide.

I generally work large so this was a unique challenge that forced me to pay attention to the smallest detail.

MATERIALS: Strathmore Mixed Media 300 Series sketchbook (https://is.gd/pJoFtf) using Derwent Coloursoft Pencils (https://is.gd/BKHilv). 

Artwork Copyright Patricia White, 2022.

Daily Sketchbook

| Patricia

This site is dedicated to maintaining a daily habit of making art. It may contain pages from my sketchbooks, examples from past work, conceptual ideas and inspirational influences, I have several small sketchbooks and journals in my ‘bedoffice’, with a variety of drawing and painting materials stacked alongside, so I can get an idea down quickly when it is fresh in my mind. One really CAN make art on just about anything. This quick ‘fantasy landscape’ sketch was drawn with a set of 72 half stick Faber Castell soft pastels and may serve to inspire a larger work down the line. Has a bit of a woodblock feel to it I think. This cool little 7” x 9” book was originally purchased as a small photo album. It has thick black paper separated by glassine-like cover sheets, perfect for protecting soft pastel sketches. The photo paper however is UNFORGIVING, having a shallow tooth that fills quickly with each stroke, disallowing more layered colour. Still, I will be sad when this little book, with it’s bright woven fabric cover, is full but want to get a HIGHER QUALITY BLACK PAPER to continue EXPERIMENTING with light on dark work.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2021.

Chalk Forest

| Patricia

When the cares of the world weigh heavy, I debrief my psyche by making art. This is a little 6” x 9” soft pastel sketch drawn in a small photo album on not-so-friendly shallow-toothed absorbent black paper that can only take two layers of pastel before its pores are full. This is CHALK FOREST a study for a series of larger abstract-expressionistic landscape pieces.

Artwork Copyright Patricia White 2021.