Hosta La Vista, Baby!

So, as promised, here's my Hosta drawing. I haven't decided what to do next but it was requested by it's future owner (read: Mom) that I take pictures to show it's changes as I continue to finish it. Part of me wants to continue with either pen & ink or pencil and leave it black and white. Another part thinks I could then do a watercolor background. Or... I could paint the whole thing using watercolors. Or... I could use the copic markers to flesh out the leaves and stems then watercolor the background. Grrr... I don't know which direction to choose!

Title: "Hosta #1"
Medium: Pen & Ink

The one thing I do know is that I love the drawing. I'm so thrilled at how it came out. It's the first time I've done anything "plein air". (definition: Term used for paintings or drawings made directly from nature and infused with a feeling of the open air.) It was great!! I just sat down in the garden and drew the beautifully undulating Hosta in front of me. And it looked JUST like that. I'm still smiling from the experience. I thought I'd have trouble drawing directly from nature. I can't wait to do it again. I'll have to put a travel watercolor kit on my Christmas list. (I'll have to research the best one too. Any suggestions from fellow artists would be welcome!)

Ok, next!!

I had the before and after of this painting so I thought I'd show and tell. I did this last week when I was experimenting and learning about backgrounds. I seem to have an issue with wasting paper so I decided I'd draw a quick rose before doing the background around it so it could be a painting instead of just a pretty but quite useless background, lol. I LOVED how the background turned out. I felt after this one that I was finally starting to "get" how to leave some spaces and fill in others. 

Now with the rose added, I'm even more thrilled. I can't believe the background stood up to the powerful rose and didn't need any retouching to give it oomph. I guess it means I did it right. :o) Doing a little happy dance. So far I've named it "Bi-color Rose" but that title kind of sucks. I'll take suggestions on names, though. What would you name it?

We'll talk soon. I have a post coming up probably this week with a lot of links, places I go, blogs I enjoy etc. so come back for that and of course... more art!

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