Misty Morning over Shaver Lake

Here's a quick rendering from a photo taken by my friend Peggy Allsman. Her son spent a scout weekend at Shaver Lake in California. It's a small drawing just 4x8"

Wisconsin Barn

It's been almost a year since my last barn drawing, so I'd say it's about time for a scene closer to home. Just on the east side of the Mississippi, Wisconsin landscape displays beauty at every turn. This barn is tucked between trees with a vista that spreads out behind.

After playing with a number of different composition possibilities, I've got decided to get started and see where the pencil leads me. Here are the steps I've done so far. The size of the drawing is 10x18 on Mellotex paper stock. It's a relatively new paper for me and is ultra smooth.

The sky is created through a series of cross-hatching and chamoised smooth. I started with a F .5mm mechanical pencil and cross-hatched 3 layers of light, smooth pencil strokes. Then using a chamois to smooth the layer out. 3 layers of 2B cross-hatching, chamoised smooth with a final 2 layers of 2H cross-hatch applied with a light chamois blending to finish a smooth silver-toned sky. I have lightly blu-tacked the clouds. These will be developed as the rest of the drawing develops.

The trees behind the barn are starting to be formed. I start at the tips of the trees and work my way to the dense centers. I keep the leaves loose and open at the tips, allowing much of the sky to peak through. The open areas are as important as the leaf bundle placements. This gives way to the character of the tree. A 4B chisel point clutch pencil allows me to 'paint' the layers of leaves into the trees.