Wednesday, June 23, 2010

My Bluebonnet Trials cont'd....

There are several species of Bluebonnets ( I read recently that there are actually 6), five officially named and all of them are the official State Flower of Texas....so when you see a Bluebonnet such as the little ones that only get from 2 to 7 inches tall or a beautiful 3 foot tall flower spike...it's still a Bluebonnet and it's still "A Texas Treasure".  Bluebonnets have been called other names such as Buffalo Clover or Wolf Flower over the years, but it was officially named the Bluebonnet and made the Texas State Flower in 1901.  In the language of flowers it means "imagination" and I know stirs many imaginations every March-April in Texas.  It's my favorite flower and I am proud to honor it with my humble drawings and paintings....thus the next installment of my work to transfer my original pen & ink/rouged oils into a picture done with colored pencils. 

This is my effort on white Mi Teintes paper...



I had to decide whether I should burnish or not, stay with the same colors I used on the blue paper or change everything to get the look I was after.  Pen & Ink/Oil Rouging sure gives you the freedom to play and change things and not have to start over...I will post the one done on hand made paper and all of them side by side next so check back soon.... you never know what you will find...

Thanks for looking...

Here are a couple more of this years beautiful work of "Art by God"... 


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Wednesday, June 2, 2010

My Bluebonnet trials...



I have been working on converting my "Texas Treasure" Pen & Ink/Rouged Oils picture into colored pencil...I have made quite a few attempts as it has been harder than I thought it would be and I'm not sure why because I have done lots of colored pencil things.  I just wanted it to look as good as it does done with Pen & Ink/Rouged Oils...there are lots of things to think about...the flower is very unique and I have to say doing it in Pen & Ink/Rouged Oils is so much eaiser!!!, but I wanted to be able to share what I learned...I will be posting my progress so check back often...

Decisions, decisions...white paper? blue paper? texture? smooth? burnish, don't burnish, dark value with this color? medium value with this color? highlight with this color? and what happens if ???..... here are a couple of things I have tried so far      

(some of the photos didn't come out very clear,
but I think you can see it)

I started with the decision to try blue Mi Teintes paper...getting it on the  paper several times so I could compare the things I liked with what didn't  work well...then trial and error...lots of trial and error with different            colors to get it just right.







 I'm working with white Mi Teintes paper next and then hand made paper....then eventually I will post the things that work well and lood good to me and I may want your opinion so come back and see this one finished and the progress with the rest.


Thanks for looking...


In case you didn't get to see Bluebonnets along the Texas landscape this spring...In each of my Bluebonnet posts I will share a few of the photos several of my friends shared with me so you can enjoy what they saw.... God's art is beautiful!