Greenhouse Caladiums

Posted on February 3, 2017 by Dana Burrell

There’s nothing better on a cold winter morning in the northern hemisphere than a trip to a greenhouse to soak up the warmth and bask in the green.

The Murdough Greenhouse at Dartmouth College hosted our plein air group yesterday morning. Every time I visit I’m struck by how fortunate we are to have this space and the vast selection of blooming specimens.

I chose to paint this Caladium specifically because of its coloration. As you can see… pink and green… complementary colors. Could I paint it without creating big blotches brown?

My patience was tested as I had to wait for each consecutive layer to dry, but that’s exactly why it’s so great to paint with like-minded friends. We caught up on events and admired each other’s works.

I love Thursdays!

Rainy Day Sketching

Posted on January 13, 2017 by Dana Burrell

It was too cold and too rainy yesterday to sketch outside. I suppose we all could have sketched in our cars but that defeats the whole purpose of getting together!

Lucky for us, one of our fellow artists has an old Victorian home overflowing with interesting objects set up in eye-catching vignettes. No matter where you look, there’s something to sketch… even some Christmas decorations.

I didn’t have time to add color to the larger spread and now I’m not sure I want to. I do have a reference photo but……..

Sometimes it’s better to leave well enough alone. Besides, that was yesterday. Surely I can find something to paint Today!

January Portraits

Posted on January 6, 2017 by Dana Burrell

The year is young but my January seems to have a theme already. Portraits.

I’ve drawn people 4 of the first 5 days and I’ve really enjoyed capturing folks in a variety of sketchbooks using various media.

Platinum Carbon Black ink on prepainted background.

Child’s 4-color pencil on mixed media paper.

Ink and watercolor pencil on thin sketchbook paper.

Watersoluble ink and watercolor.

The more I practice, the more comfortable I am sketching random people but now’s the time to focus on drawing my friends and family more often. Most are strangely absent even though they mean so much to me. I think this is the year to rectify that.

2016 Retrospective

Posted on December 31, 2016 by Dana Burrell

As the year closes, I spent yesterday paging through my six sketchbooks encompassing 2016. I was inspired by two of my favorite sketch bloggers, Suhita Shirodkar of Sketch Away and Tina Koyama of Fueled by Clouds & Coffee, for their posts featuring the year’s top highlights.

Instead of doing a top 10 retrospective I’ve chosen a previously unpublished sketch from each month. These sketches are examples of my day in, day out journal work. It’s also some of the work I’m most proud of, not because of its quality but because it shows my persistence as I stretch to improve.

January: Portrait practice. I go where I know there’ll be a steady stream of ~~victims~~ models.

February: View out my back door. Used complementary colors and didn’t get mud!

March: Right place, right time with sketchbook at hand.

April: Working on the folds of those paper napkins.

May: Kept a separate journal for my IFJM work – International Fake Journal Month, but wrote my wrap up in this journal.

June: Summer outdoor concert series has begun. Great people sketching opportunities.

July: Sketched all morning and was on my way home when I saw the pond full of waterlilies. I could have continued but the moment called to me… I stopped.

August: They were putting a new copper roof on the library. Documentation time.

September: Too many people in line to do more than put a few lines down on paper. Finished from the greenhouse web cam… lucky there’s no such thing as smell-o-vision.

October: Not only InkTober but our annual camping with jack-o-lantern carving.

November: Daily documentation. Cubs World Series and autumn clean up.

December: Portrait practice from TV as I toy with a kid’s four-color pencil.

On to 2017… Happy New Year my friends!

Addendum: Check out Roz Stendahl of Roz Wound Up for another great year-end wrap up.

Autumn Leaves Fold Out

Posted on December 26, 2016 by Dana Burrell

As I continued to work through my latest sketchbook I came upon another one of the fold out pages. I had pasted a few extra fold out pages into my sketchbook never realizing the extent of the design challenge I’d have.

This time I had no idea what to do. Days went by, then weeks. Finally I sat down and drew out a few of my ideas. This is the design I decided to use drawn to scale in a squared Moleskine notebook.

The very act of drawing the thumbnail design fueled my desire to finally deal with the spread.

I drew a few maple leaves, painted the background and cut out a circle instead of cutting around the spiky bits of the leaves as I had originally planned. It’s good to reconsider a questionable plan instead of slavishly following a design that could easily fail.

Time to paint those leaves… look! I added a leaf in the cut-out!

When the left page is folded out the lyrics to one of my favorite jazz standards, “Autumn Leaves”, are revealed.

If I hadn’t taken a few minutes to draw out some of my ideas I would still be looking at these pages wondering what to do.

Thumbnail sketches to the rescue!

Autumn Experimentation

Posted on December 19, 2016 by Dana Burrell

Before we get to the new year which, surprisingly is less than two weeks away, I want to share a few of my sketchbook experiments from the fall.

Back when I started this journal in September I added a few fold out pages here and there. This is my first from September 8th. (I usually date my pages but I missed this one.)

I went to a local farm with a few artist friends and as they spread out to paint the rolling landscape I chose to capture the barn. The silo would fit perfectly on the left fold up once the page was expanded.

I positioned myself so the truck would be hidden when the page was closed.

I added some fancy lettering and continued the grass across the base to complete the page.

Page size and shape presents different challenges to my sense of composition. I have a few other fold out experiments to share so stay tuned!

The Centering Act of Drawing

Posted on November 11, 2016 by Dana Burrell

For me, nothing helps more when faced with a loss than the simple and centering act of drawing.

I spent yesterday morning sitting on a curb, in the sun, trying to capture the receding buildings along a Vermont side street. It was immensely healing.

Followed by a quick lunch with friends… yes, my spirits are revived.

Exotica

Posted on September 23, 2016 by Dana Burrell

Last week was the Tunbridge World’s Fair, tucked into a hollow in Vermont’s Green Mountains. There’s always plenty of cows, goats and swine at this country fair. It has THE BEST prize-winning cakes, jams and pickles, huge pumpkins and incredibly clever scarecrows.

I’ve documented all this in my sketchbook over the years but this time something special caught my eye. A bird. Not just any bird… a vibrant, colorfully feathered creature. Not a fancy chicken or even a Guinea hen… a pheasant maybe?

I could have taken a photo and walked on… but what’s the fun in that? Instead I drew this glorious thing with feathers, annotating my sketch with all the pertinent info. I had already decided that adding paint here would be a disaster… I’d do it at home.

My comprehensive notes allowed me to complete the spread without even looking at the two reference photos I quickly took before moving on.

He’s beautiful, he’s exotic. But what IS he?

Google to the rescue. It seems he’s a cross of two Asian pheasants, a Golden and Lady Amherst’s hybrid.

And a well positioned lens view through the cage.

Next summer be sure to make time in your busy schedule to visit one of your local fairs. You never know what you’ll find.

Fair Game

Posted on September 9, 2016 by Dana Burrell

It’s state fair season here in the US and I’m planning on making the most of it. If all goes as planned I will have pages to show from three different fairs

I’m comfortable with my supplies and set up so my biggest issue is my sketchbook. I thought I had plenty of room in my journal last Friday when I went to New Hampshire’s Hopkinton State Fair but in reality I could have used a few more. As it was, I finished 9 full spreads.

The pygmy goats at the petting zoo are perfect models for my warm-up pages.

I have a thing for Runner Ducks!

Such sweet faces.

As I was drawing this Australorp hen, the judge came up and told me that I “knew my chickens” as she hung up the Best in Show sign. Cool!

Toggenburgs, they’re dairy goats!

Look at the length of those horns!

I learned that yes, Llamas spit, but mostly at each other!

No pages left… I guess it’s time to go!

I have another fair to attend next week but this time I’ll have my new sketchbook. Lots of blank pages to fill!

The Goats of Carding, Vermont

Posted on September 2, 2016 by Dana Burrell

Over the last few years I’ve had the pleasure of reading all three of the Carding Novels by a local author, and my friend, Sonja Hakala.

The Road Unsalted, Thieves of Fire and her most recent, The Dazzling Uncertainty of Life have been a pleasure to read. I love that I can recognize some of the locations and was thrilled when Sonja asked me to contribute one of my sketches to help illustrate one of the short stories that make up the Carding Chronicles featured on her blog.

Thank you Sonja, it’s been an honor!

I did this goat sketch in 2013 and thought I’d easily be able to link to other sketches done the same day, that was before I realized they pre-date this blog by a few months! By the way, ESE stands for Eastern States Exposition, also known as The Big E!

Text obscured for privacy.

As you can see, I love the fair. There’s so much to see and draw that I have to make sure I have plenty of pages left in my journal before I leave home.