Laurelines

My last landscape*

I had hoped to post a drawing made today, but I've been, very uncharacteristically, in bed all day. Struggling to vanquish some bug or another. I'm feeling somewhat better now. I drew this corner of the planetarium, and some outdoor lights (I seem to be attracted to these) yesterday. The deep blue skies I'd been so inspired by earlier in the month have given way to hazy, pale blue. Soon, on many days, there will be only haze and no color at all. Summer in the south.

So my *last landscape for this month of sketches.  June wil be 'In the Garden' month---I'll be working a lot on my own garden, so will have lots of images from that project. I'll draw flowers, too, and parts of others' gardens---anything relating to gardening that strikes my sketching fancy  will be fair game.

Please scroll down for complete image, or check Exteriors/landscapes album at left.

Broad Street/back garden

That lovely cool May we had for so long has bid us adieu, with a vengeance.  I sat in the shade of a tool shed yesterday and drew this defunct coffee store. My knees protruded and are now a bright tomato red. The sun burns more than it used to, have you noticed?

After digging and planting today for more than six hours, all I could think to draw were outdoor things close at hand.

Remembering...

generations of the young and the brave, to whom so much is owed, on whose service so many depended. My father, a fighter pilot in World War II, at age 20.

Green cabin, red umbrella

The Paul Green cabin, that is. Paul Green was a North Carolina playwright who wrote 'The Lost Colony.' Shakespeare he wasn't, but who among us is?  His studio was an old log cabin that my daughters used to play in before they moved it out of our neighborhood and to the North Carolina Botanical Garden.  I drew it this morning.

Yesterday, I drew this umbrella scene, but I didn't have time to finish it on site. Oh sure, another simple sketch. Look at all those angles! What's wrong with me??  Does the phrase 'glutton for punishment' mean anything to you?

Finally,  because Katherine asked me to post a photo of my sketchbook so she could see its size,  here it is and here I am,  coloring away in a frenzy of sketch-finishing.  The pages are 6 1/2 x 9 and I almost always do a double spread. Oh, and it's coptic bound.

Blue bins, all in a row

So many bins, so little time. There were lots more of these lined up, but I figured with four, you'd get the picture.

Rococco sketcher in a neoclassical world

It was hard, but I managed, though surrounded by columns, domes and Palladian windows, to find some curlicues on campus today. 

Oh, happy day

Indian pinks (spigelia marilandica) and trees and bench at the arboretum.  A rare day, a beautiful day.

Sky, barn, trees

But it was the sky that got me.

Pink house, morning

Yesterday's house was done with a set of 18 Inktense colored pencils. Today's  was done with a set of 120 Faber-Castell colored pencils. Both are water soluble, though I did not use water in either case. (What's that all about?)  Anyway, it is so much easier to overwork when you have so many colors. A word to the wise. Am I wise?

Yellow house, late afternoon

Now a day care center, this old yellow mill house is one of four colored houses I'd like to draw this month. (This is, after all, landscapes AND exteriors month!) The others are in Jordan almond colors: pink, mint green, lavender. A problem may be finding a place to sit and draw, since all are on busy, narrow streets with no sidewalks.  Wish me luck.