SBA Course, Assignment One

This is a graphite drawing I did of a Douglas Fir cone, Pseudotsuga menzeisii, for the course I am taking from the Society of Botanical Artists. I chose this particular tree because it is native to the Pacific Northwest where I live, and besides who can resist the beautiful fringes that dangle from the cone?  I felt like I was doing the portrait of an old friend, since I have seen and lived near Douglas Fir trees most of my life.  One of my early childhood memories is of three firs that I could see in the distance from my house. I imagined that they were three sisters having a long intimate conversation. Maybe the way the wind in the branches makes a whispering sound suggested it to me.

I just finished my first assignment which had three parts.  Part One was to produce a line drawing in pencil or ink.  I decided I would play it safe and do it in pencil.  The pencil lines were to be lightly drawn, as if for a preliminary drawing for a water color.  We were supposed to chose a subject with a simple clean line, and include the supporting stem of the flower or leaf. I bought an Asiatic lily from the supermarket, and proceeded to carefully recreate it on paper.  I didn't realize that one of its petals was missing until another bud opened up and--yikes!  All of our drawings are supposed to be botanically correct, so this would have had a major affect on my evaluation.  Fortunately, I had been accurate enough in my drawing, that I was able to simply fill in another petal where it should have been!  Whew!

The second part was to make a small study of a single flower with leaf and stem, using stippling to give tonal variation and form. I chose a flower from a Yuletide Camellia, which had been in bloom outside my kitchen window all winter. (It is still in bloom!) I've never done stippling before, but surprisingly, rather than being tedious, making zillions of little dots turned out to be rather relaxing once I got into it.  I used a Pigma Micron 005, and Pitt Artist XS and S pens.

Part Three of the assignment was to do a complete study with "continuous tone" with graphite.  I did the Douglas Fir branchlet and cone at the top of the post.  Also we were to make a tonal chart with a spectrum of pencil grades, to help evaluate whether we used a full range of tone in our drawing.  I used Derwent Graphic pencils for this entire exercise.  Making the chart increased my awareness of the characteristics of the various grades of pencils.  I made the chart before I did the drawing, so found myself using more pencil grades in the Douglas Fir drawing than I ever have before.

My next assignment will be in monochrome as well and is due in mid-April--but more about that later! I have been feeling that I needed direction and discipline in my artistic endeavors, and this course has been very helpful to me already.  I actually feel more motivated to be looser in my sketches (one of my many goals), since I have a way to get my perfectionist urges out now! But just remember that "loose" is a relative term!