September 19, 2011

    This simple line drawing is of a cluster of mushrooms. Although they are all the same type, their different ages gives them different forms and textures. I started way too late on a day that was way too busy. I may decide to do more on this or I may abandon it... if I abandon it I'll probably try the subject again since I do love being up very close on small things. 
 

September 10, 2011

    I filled in the left side of the creek scene a bit, although not completely. Perhaps I should have done that and erased some of the worked area on the left so there was some white left there too... I simply worked right up to the edge on the right and then allowed the plain paper to weave in and out on the left (partly due to the spiral pad spine), but which I liked better since it echoes the creek shape. 
   I also added a tiny muskrat way at the bottom. I cannot say why I put him right in front of the vertical log when I should have put him off to the left one body width... hind sight. 
    While I was touching up, I also tried having the dragon fly and the mushroom's tongue cast some shadow on the mushroom in the "dangerous mushroom" drawing, but I don't think it added as much as I had thought it might. I also added the bit of forest floor I mentioned thinking it needed. 

September 8, 2011

     Well, why not? Following the request of my son and sister, I've "fixed" the problem with yesterday's drawing by giving the mushroom a tongue so it is capturing the dragon fly. I toyed with the idea of adding the stem of a larger mushroom of the same variety in the space to the right, for the drama of the implication:  "...and they come larger, too".
     I decided against it for now based on, hmmm, laziness maybe. I should fill in a bit more forest floor duff there in that case...

September 7, 2011

    Argh... well, a screw up - but I spent my sketch time on it, so posted it will be! I started off with a dragonfly I liked fine, done from a photo from the nearby park, then decided to have it sitting on a mushroom from a photo from another park - not entirely unlikely although mushrooms aren't quite the sunshine plant dragonflies usually choose. 
    The problem came in when I failed to Think about how dragonflies land on things. It seems pretty obvious now, but while it had it's feet on opposite sides of the original twig, it wouldn't do that on a thick round object like a mushroom! It wouldn't land on the side without facing the surface, either. Darn. I started to put a smaller mushroom in front, which would have stunk, before I decided to quit for tonight and reconsider whether I can fix it, should abandon it, or whatever... My son says to turn the small mushroom erasure mark into a mouth and have the mushroom about to gulp the dragonfly. Considering the hostility I feel toward the drawing at the moment it's tempting!