Work in Progress Update, Eatonton, Georgia, Residence, Update 1

My apologies to all who expected this update earlier today. Unavoidable responsibilities kept me from writing this until this afternoon.

In middle Georgia, southeast of Atlanta, there is a beautiful little town called Eatonton. My wife and I passed through there a few years ago on our way south from the mountains of North Carolina. We were taking the scenic route south for a while, avoiding Interstate 75, and looking for good photo ops. There are countless small towns off the beaten path everywhere that still provide great opportunities to relax, slow down and enjoy life the way it used to be – before everything became so hectic and rush – rush. Eatonton is one of those towns. Although we only stopped for a short while, we were able to see some beautiful old architecture and just stroll side streets.

On one of those side streets we came across a beautiful Georgian Colonial home that was so picturesque. Trees, both large and small, framed the home and trees behind it made a wonderful backdrop. Boxwood hedges flanked the brick walk up to the front portico and spread out on either side. I took a few photos for future reference.

After looking through many images of homes I decided this one would make a nice pen and ink and watercolor. So I set about doing what I need to do to get this one ready for ink and watercolor.

After doing a number of home portraits the old fashioned way – using a grid system to enlarge an image of the house onto tracing paper, then transferring the drawing to the final paper, or enlarging a photo of the house and carefully measuring all kinds of dimensions and transferring them first to tracing paper and then to the final paper – all of which took a great deal of time - I decided to make a light box to directly trace the image of the house onto my final paper. But, rather than have another piece of equipment laying around, I cut out the center of my drawing table and build a light box into it. It took me a day to do it and it worked great. If anyone is interested in how I did it, email me and I’ll be happy to describe the project.

After tracing the house onto Arches 140 lb watercolor paper I freehand drew the rest of the landscaping on the paper. Since I will be adding watercolor to this drawing I then stretched the paper by soaking it in water and stapled it to a piece of plywood. No distortion resulted from the stretching. Attached are photos of the Home and of the pencil drawing.

Update 2 will begin the inking of the drawing.

Work in Progress Update, Fernandina Residence, Update 3

Here is the completed drawing. I managed to complete this one in two weeks time – or about 26 hours hands on time.

The porch, including the railings, windows, doors and the wicker chair are done. The roof has been filled in, as well as the foundation, steps and the chain link fence on the side of the House. The lawn, low wall, sidewalk and curb has also been drawn in -and, the landscaping, of course.

I had a great deal of enjoyment with the palms, especially the tallest one near the House. I wasn’t sure at first how I was going to do the palm so I did a practice one on a separate piece of paper – after doing some research on pen and in drawings of palm trees. The practice palm took me a few hours but it was worth it. First I penciled in the tree with all the leaves. I didn’t want to ad lib it because I couldn’t erase anything later. Things have to be planned out in more detail with pen and ink. Once I was comfortable with the practice drawing, I penciled in the palm on the drawing, then inked it. I did the same on the smaller palm beneath it.

Although there is plenty of work on the palm, I didn’t go heavily on shading and dark shadows which might have drawn the eye away from the House. I purposely left detail work out of the landscaping to keep the House the center of interest.

This is the first of two pen and ink architectural drawings I plan to do here. The next one (I’ve already chosen the House) will be pen and ink with added watercolor. Next week I’ll introduce you to that one.

Three Awesome Architectural Pen and Ink Artists

Recently I discussed studying the styles and techniques of artists I admire, and utilizing their techniques to help develop my own special style. I am currently working on a new piece of work – this one a pen and ink drawing. I’m trying to increase my repertoire of Home Portraits and Historical Buildings art by adding pen and ink drawings to the watercolor and colored pencil paintings. By having more options for clients to choose from I hope to increase the chances of getting more commissions.

It’s been a long time since I did pen and ink work and, as with anything I work at, I first do some research on the subject. In this case it was to look up pen and ink work that I really liked, to study their styles and to use that as a basis for producing my own work. In my online search I came across three pen and ink artists that impressed me with their architectural drawings. I’m sure there are a great many more but these three provide plenty of inspiration. They are Ron Colgrove, Cliff Minor and Melissa Tubbs.

Ron Cologrove’s work impressed me the most and his pen and ink drawings were the ones I looked at the most when I was preparing mine. Although all the artists have tight styles when it comes to architectural renderings, Ron’s was a bit looser. He uses a crow quill pen with a size 102 tip, equivalent to the 3X0 Rapidograph tip made by Koh-I-Noor. Ron wrote two very fine articles describing his technique and references can be found for them on his website colgrovefineart.com. The crow quill point is flexible and allows for a variation in line thickness which I like. His rendering of the Butler House in Buffalo, NY was done in a very tight style. However, two other renderings of his I love are Kelly’s Place and Water Mill Reflections, and those were done in a looser, more painterly style rather than a technical style. Both of these drawings are pen and ink and watercolor. Even with the watercolor added, much of the tonal work seems to be done with pen and ink.

Cliff Minor (cliffminor.com) is an architectural renderer from Boone, NC, who still uses traditional methods to prepare architectural images – pen and ink and watercolor. Other architectural illustrators are beginning to use computer generated drawings. Although beautiful, I personally don’t call them art. I’m still a traditionalist also, preferring to use my hands and a brush or pen or pencil to create. Placing a computer between my hand and the paper seems so impersonal. Cliff’s style is also tight when it comes to buildings but he has, perhaps, the loosest style with trees and shrubs and landscaping. I like his handling of the surroundings because they are supporting elements and require less detail work. They are more “painterly”, as in the free flowing watercolor style. In his “watercolor added” drawings he seems to depend more on the watercolor to give tonal variety and shading. Very artistic. Unfortunately I was unable to find out what instruments of the trade Cliff uses in his line drawings.

The tightest style of the three goes to Melissa Tubbs (melissabtubbs.blogspot.com). Her handling of pen and ink yields nearly photographic work. There is a high degree of detail in both her architectural and landscape elements. Her blog includes the words “ink architecture”. I’m amazed at the level of detail in her drawings. I keep samples of her work around just to show me what is possible. Her drawings are all black and white, no watercolor added. If I was to specialize in pen and ink, she would be at the top of the list of styles to emulate. Melissa also does pencil drawings, and portraits, both human and pets. I was also unable to find out what instruments she uses to produce her drawings.

If you’re interested in improving your pen and ink work or just want to see some awsome drawings, check out these three artists.

Work in Progress, Fernandina Residence, Update 2

The progress on this pen and ink drawing is going a bit slower than I expected, mostly because I’m feeling my way through it, not sure how much detail to add as I go. My original thought was to add detail in layers and I think that’s the way to do this but I’ve added more detail initially here and there. I think that’s because this medium is fairly new to me and I haven’t done pen and ink in a long time. I’m also not sure how much detail to include, especially to the surrounding landscape. I want Pen and ink architectural drawings to be a lower cost alternative to the watercolor and colored pencil drawings, which have a great more detail. So, in this drawing, which is more of a first run, I’m getting a feel for the medium, what I can do with it and more importantly, what I want to do with it – how detailed I want to be. I am very detail oriented, so holding back on detail is not in my genes.

            Here, in this update, is the House three quarters inked. I’m using a Rapidograph 3X0, .25mm tip. I’ve used a ruler for all the straight lines on the House, the roof lines, the siding and doors and windows. Much of the shading has been freehand, although I’ve used a ruler here and there. Darker values have been achieved mostly with cross hatching. I’m using a magnifying lens to do all of the close work, the detail under the eaves, the railings, etc.

            The trees and shrubs provides a respite from the tedious House work. I’ve not added too much detail to the trees yet, preferring to indicate them for now and decide on amount of detail later. The treework is drawn in with tight squiggles.

            The House and much of the landscaping should be drawn in by next update.

Work in Progress, Fernandina Beach Residence, Update 1

            Fernandina Beach on Amelia Island is a beautiful little town on the Atlantic Ocean just north of Jacksonville, Florida. It has more than four hundred years of recorded history and no fewer than eight flags have flown there. It famously boasts that “the French visited, the Spanish tamed, the English named and the American tamed”

            It’s a wonderful and quaint little town with shops and restaurants, swimming, boating, wildlife and a great historic district with a treasure trove of beautiful historic homes. My wife and I stayed a bed and breakfast for our anniversary last year and walked the streets, taking a bunch of pictures of the surrounding homes. I picked out one of them for a project. This one will be a pen and ink rendering. As I said last week, I haven’t done any pen and ink in quite a few years but felt I should have some in my architectural collection. Pen and ink, as well as pen and ink with watercolor make great home portraits for homeowners as well as real estate agents who want to advertise a special home for sale and want it to stand out in a listing.

            I liked this home because of the porch, the windows and the detail under the roof. The palms also helped with the composition. This rendering will be purely pen and ink. The next home, which I haven’t picked out yet, will be pen and ink with watercolor. The rendering will be done on Canson Bristol paper, smooth side. The size is 12” by 16”. I’ll be using a rapidograph technical pen by Koh – I – Noor.

            The photo of the pencil sketch had to enhanced quite a bit, emphasizing contrast so the pencil lines can be seen. The pencil drawing is quite light and done with a 2B lead, so it may be a little hard to see. The lines have to be light so they can be erased as I progress. The other photo is of the home.

            There is a lot of detail that will go into the rendering but I’m hoping it will go quickly. We’ll see. Check back next week.

Do my paintings look professional?

I’m never quite sure if my paintings are professional looking, and they never seem to look as though they belong in the same class as those of some other artists whose work I admire. I want my paintings to look as professional as theirs. And it’s not just one artist, but several that I admire – and their styles also differ from one another. What makes them look professional is a quality that I can’t define in words and, although some of my paintings are quite good, I can’t define in words why I feel my paintings don’t look professional. What does “professional” mean, anyway?

I am always searching for technique books and articles by these artists. When I can find them I buy the books or print out the articles. I study their layout, brush strokes, pencil lines. Sometimes they do have a method by which they follow that allows their paintings to look the way they do and if I think that method or technique will help me, I incorporate it. But even then, when my painting is just as clear and sharp, or the washes just as uniform, they still look different. I don’t know if it’s purely psychological or not. I can never know because I have an emotional connection, a special relationship to my painting that can never be broken.

Most of the time however, it’s just their style that I fall in love with, not any special technique. And their style, in the end, is a manifestation of years of painting and eye – hand coordination – and develops according to their own genetics and experience path.

 At the same time I know that I am supposed to have my own style of painting – and I guess I do because invariable when I paint I don’t copy another artist’s brush strokes but lay in my own as I feel it. I know that if I try to copy brush strokes my painting is not going to feel right. It’s not going to flow from my brain through my hand onto the paper. It’s OK to study the style of an artist and, in the beginning of a career, try to copy it, but somewhere along the line I settle into my own style based on my own eye - hand coordination, experience, genetics and comfort. No two artist styles are exactly the same. I want mine to look like theirs but also be mine at the same time. It’s confusing. And I’ve noticed that the style of one painting can be different from another even by the same artist. So what am I copying?

            Maybe it’s difficult to completely and impartially react to my own painting as I would to an artist I admire because I am personally and emotionally involved in my own. I have invested a great deal of myself in the painting and can’t see it through the eyes of someone who hasn’t painted it – or invested emotion in it. So, it’s impossible for me to judge its professionalism. Again, I’m not even sure what I mean by “professionalism”.

            I think the only way I can feel my work is becoming professional or is professional is to have others, both professional painters and collectors, show me they value my work. I haven’t reached that point yet. I’m sure it’s going to take many more years. But, even then, I think I will look at my work in the same way, unable to completely, impartially react to it as if someone else painted it. I wonder if all artists, no matter who they are, see their work the same way.

            So, I think all I can do is keep studying the styles and techniques of artists I admire, try to incorporate techniques that will improve my art and let my own special and unique style develop.

Work in Progress, Seven Sisters Inn, Update 9

            Finished with the painting. I left it alone for a few days, then came back to a few times and made some small adjustments here and there - a bit more to the grass, a little more blue to the shadow of the live oak in the foreground. It is possible to go back and make some change but you have to decide when the changes aren’t substantial any more and are they really making a difference. It’s also possible to wreck the painting by overworking it. So, I’m calling this one finished.

            My next work will be a change of pace in some respects. Since I’m specializing in Home Portraits, Architectural and Historical Buildings, my next rendering will be a Home. But, since I’m trying to show a variety of techniques, I will be working with pen and ink and pen and ink with watercolor for the next two renderings. This will be a change for me since I haven’t worked with pen and ink for many years, but I’m anxious to get started. So, watch for next week’s post.