Parks & Gardens, Winter, Sirkka Jalava

More winter pictures. I so wait, that the snow should be smelting and all flowers and greens bursting out. 

To day there is no sun, only a steady winter light, no brights no shadows. It has been -9 C degrees in the night.  So I did a winter painting for you from the back yard:  there is a snowy way down to the beach at the now again frozen sea. Here the deers use to be, the squirrels and hares .

Parks & Gardens, From my yard by Melisa McCurley

My "garden" is more of an overgrown swamp right now. I sank into the ground with each step as I walked out back to snip a piece of jasmine. The front yard is a little better and I could reach the loropetalums bush from the doorway. I didn't want to bother looking for a vase so I just stuck the loropetalum branch in my water bottle from lunch. As much as I love flowers, I don't care much for gardening so whatever thrives here does so of it's own accord. I plant things and then tend to forget about them instead of watering and weeding.

Parks & Gardens,White Willows, Sirkka Jalava

On my promenade I usually walk passing by this garden, there are big old white willows as a fence . This day the sun was shining and made the lights and shadows play very beautifully.  I had a camera with me and then painted the trees at home with watercolors.

Parks & Gardens, Snow, Sirkka Jalava

Now I have read your posts of your gardens, with flowers, flowers, light and warmth. So my sketch is from a different world with snow and cold, but also we have got more of light. To day, this morning, it is sunny and brigt and this made me to sketch the light and shaddows on the snow! Beautiful, I think!

Watercolor

PARKS & GARDENS, JEZ EDEN

A TOUCH OF HONESTY

A5 Cyanotype process image
 - Jez

Two weeks ago Dev and I went on a one-day Cyanotype workshop with Sian Hughes, Cyanotype Artist, at the Atkinson Art Gallery in Southport.  We created quite a number of different pieces in varying sizes, and this image includes remnants of dead stems and an honesty seed.
 
Sian explains the process much better than I could, and this is what she says about it on her website:

This camera-less photographic process was developed in 1842 by the scientist John Herschel. Paper coated with a light sensitive solution turns green. When this is exposed to sunlight or ultra violet light it changes to a rich indigo.  Objects placed on the paper, blocking the light, leave precise white photographic images

It has taken until now to decide to sort out my images from the workshop, and I shall be posting more examples on my blog some time this week if you are interested.

Poinciana tree, Parks and Gardens, by Elaine (jaguarish)

I recently did a quick walk around the neighborhood with my daughter and sketched a few things.  Amusingly while sitting discreetly on our picnic blanket, we had a telephone repair crew ask us if we were sitting on the local connection box, and we had to lift our blanket to prove that we weren't.

I thought this sketch fit the Parks and Gardens theme...

Parks & Gardens, The apple tree, Sirkka Jalava

The storm has calmed down to day, monday. But it is snowing slowly. I took my morning promenade in ca -3 degrees C weather when the snow was falling down. It was very nice. Now I can sit down and blog with you. I did this sketch before I went out, stood in my study and sketched through the window. It was too cold for me to go out and draw.  I sketched quickly the apple tree and behind it you see the greenhouse of glass which now is not green at all and behind it there is a little storage for the garden tools. And behind them there are trees, mostly birches and spruces, but also pines, ashes, goat willows a s o.

So as you can see, I live near by the nature. And my garden is half a forest half a garden and the garden part of it I will have a little wild and natural too.
Sketched it with ink pen on Fabriano sketch per Artisti 90 g/m2 -paper, size 21x29,7 cm and with a little watercolor.

Parks and Gardens GloriaV



I drew this yesterday. It is an outside scene, but lives in my dreams. I did a post on this on my blog and then realized I can use the picture here too since it pertains to the outside world so to speak. There is a small garden of flowers about the diner.

 

My imaginary mind says this little diner named Gloria's Comida (food) serves the peoples well. Lots of flowers and a shade tree with tables around so peoples can eat outside if they so desire. Small and quaint place. Ipad/P53

 

Gloria's Comida #1

glv-#1 PPPP 2014



Parks & Gardens, Squirrel by Melisa McCurley

I snapped this squirrel with my phone while walking along the Tammany Trace, which is a 31 mile Rails to Trail project where they have turned an old unused train railroad into an asphalt trail for biking and walking.  I walked right up to the squirrel and he chirped angrily at me but refused to leave his little tree.

Parks & Gardens, A flower bouquet, Sirkka Jalava

Now I have looked at your beautiful drawings from the gardens, I have admired everything. But I have a problem, I have not one painting from my garden actually. As you know, there is no new vegetation yet after the winter, it is still winter here, it is again snowing and cold and windy, this week at least. So I thought to paint a bunch of flowers I had picked up last summer and sketched them. I have painted them now with more colors.

 I had no preference flowers now of course, but I tried to get the right colors on all of them.
I had Canson watercolor paper, Schmienke watercolors and 2 japanese brushes of two different size.

Parks and Gardens, Winter grey by Rob Kulas

This is another view right from my side yard. I'm really looking forward to adding warm greens ands yellows to my palette. But for now "I paint them like I see them" Winter grey.
In the spring and summer this is lush with green and corn in the field.
I sketched and painted this from the comfort of my car.
I used a 6x9 Strathmore watercolor sketchbook with Casein paint.

Parks & Gardens by Rob Kulas

I chose this view right in my own yard. This winter has been hard on many of our trees. Freezing rain and heavy snows have beat them up, their branches sagging and many broken. It is still very winterish in my part of Michigan. After the snow is gone our gardens will be replanted to the right of this tree.
Sketched and painted from the comfort of my car.
This is 6"x8" in a Strathmore Watercolor sketchbook. I used Casein paint which is a milk based paint that cleans up with water.

Parks & Gardens, Jez Eden

When I looked out of the french doors this morning to look at the garden, I noticed that the big old tree just outside had kindly dropped a large pine cone just outside the door.  Just the thing for my first Parks and Gardens post, though I always find them very complicated to draw.

Pit Artists Pen in Black and Sanguine on cream card.