Rocks

Rocks are my latest challenge. I'm taking a watercolor class and the first assignment was rocks. Oh dear, how could something so simple be so hard? Well, my instructor liked what I did and gave me a big clue as to why it worked-the 40% rule. Using a gray scale from one to ten, there should be at least a four jump difference between the light and dark areas. Remember, I need basic instruction in this subject. Anyway, I'm so proud.

Then I decided to do another pile of rocks. This time I used Intense pencils. All this practice helps me to not be so afraid. Now, however, I need to jump into water!

Inktense pencils

Sketchcrawl was this past weekend, but I decided not to make the 50 mile round trip to meet with the group in Davis. So, I went into the backyard and chose the pumpkin leaves for my study with Inktense pencils. the challenge is on to get a better understanding of how to use these colors.

 The story behind these leaves is that a friend bought a package of giant pumpkin seeds. He kept half and gave the other half to my husband. We'll see who wins.

Iris at the cemetery

Sacramento has a lovely old City Cemetery. Famous people such as John Sutter (think of the discovery of gold), Stanfords (railroads) and Virgil Earp (Wyatt Earp's brother) are buried there. They have a heritage rose section which is maintained by volunteers. Yet, it was the Iris that caught my eye today. I took an "artists day" and spent time wandering, taking picture and painting. There was no deadline and there were so many lovely flowers and plants. This was a very calming experience.

Believe that the top Iris is named Root Beer. I drew with a Pitt Pen and used Inktense watercolor pencils.