Water Oak Removed

From the time we purchased the house we're in, we've had to clean up the lot (which is about 1/2 acre) where the house sits by removing MANY trees and shrubs just stuck growing all over front, back, and sides.  You couldn't see the house from the street, mowing was a true pain in the backside,  and was a real eye sore to the neighbors.

The house was a rental for many years so it's no wonder the property ended up so unsightly.  And many of the trees were planted too close to the house causing issues with roots and branches with roof, windows, etc.

We lost count after 30 the first year after we purchased the house.  And we've continued little by little shaping what's left and having more removed if considered unhealthy or a risk during hurricane season.

This week we had a huge water oak removed at the front corner of our house/driveway.  A large camphor tree near our garage right up against the concrete driveway, and heavy trimming of another camphor in the back that was top heavy on one side leaning in towards the house.

Next week we will have another type oak trimmed of two very large branches that grows over the driveway and house and a bowl depression at a fork that could rot from water and bacteria filled in with concrete.  The tree is in a healthy state so we don't want to have it totally removed.  Plus it provides us a great deal of shade we appreciate.

We love our trees but due to the risks we face each year, we had to do something.  And we still have plenty still standing.  Looks like a totally different place and our neighbors love us for what we've done.

Anyways, as the guys worked, I sat and watched as the oak was being taken down.  Amazing how they do it and safely without damaging anything around the trees or harm to those working below.  We were willing to move our pontoon and cars but they said not to worry about it.  And the orange tree and lemon under the oak was left untouched by falling debris.  The lemon tree was suffering from lack of sunlight so we should now see a major improvement.

Found Treasure - Dried/Hard Tree Fungi

Terry was out weeding and mowing taking advantage of the really beautiful weather we had yesterday.  He came across this attached to a left behind tree stump from where we had to thin trees and shrubs a few years ago from our yard.

It's light weight but hard as a rock.  The tree stump it was attached to is a Camphor Laurel tree. 

Right off it looked like a foot to me.  One way like a foot and the other way like a boot. 

Decided to sketch this in carbon pencil - 2B.  Stonehenge 90 paper. 

More Hands Practice

I am really enjoying this little challenge as each pose offers a unique challenge for me.

I'm using either the B carbon or the 2B carbon pencils with little to no erasures.  I'm trying to "correct" as I go leaving the marks in place.

I love the 2B but the side of my hand picks the carbon up easily and then re-transfers on the paper surface :-(  I could spray it but not sure how well this paper will handle the spray with as thin as it is.  I've seen where the spray can turn some toned papers a strange color and the sketch on the other side show through more.

Working with Hands

One of my dearest friends mentioned hating to draw hands and it got me to thinking about the fact I tend to hesitate in wanting to draw them too.  Not as much as she does and that's only because I've practiced in the past and not as intimidated by them.  Thought it was time to practice some more with various hand poses.

I first sketched these on the Ipad......

Then I decided to make a little pamphlet using newsprint paper and will dedicate it to 24 pages (front and back with more hands).  May also do this for feet which I've not had much practice with.

I'm using the Wolff's Carbon pencil B grade.

Gift - Set of Wolff's Carbon Pencils

This week we had a sketch outing and one of the gals gifted me with a set of carbon pencils - B, 2B, 4B, and 6B

I've been playing with them and find I really like the wash ability they provide as they are water soluble although I don't recall seeing any reference to that.  I always test so that no surprises if wanting to take watercolor to my pencil sketches.

Initial findings as I compare each grade of pencil.........they all can go very dark in value to include the B.  What makes each different (at least to me at this point) is that it takes less pressure to obtain those darker values the softer the grade.

The darker, of course, smears more easily and I'm one who doesn't think to lay a piece of paper down or tissue to keep my hand/fingers from hitting areas already drawn and making smudge marks.  Example of that is evident below.

The bottom of the above example was my taking the 6B pencil and scribbling a dark block on a piece of cardboard.  Then took a damp to wet brush mixing that block and then to paper.

This next example is using the 6B and working a line sketch first and taking damp brush to create the wash on paper.  Some areas were still damp when I penciled back over and other areas had already dried providing a nice textured look.

When posting in a Facebook group I'm in, someone asked if the carbon still smudged after taking water to it.........so of course I had to give that a test run as well.  Here are my results:

Exploring that further, I wanted to see how it would work taking water to the carbon and then applying watercolor over it.  Although colors are muted due to the under lying wash tones, they still remained what I would consider clean.  Best area to show that is the yellow flower on the hat. 

For this example I only used the B pencil.  I worked the line drawing to include some hatching and then took the wet brush "painting" with water.  I allowed it to completely dry.  Then without fiddling, I brushed over with watercolor. 

Not sure I'd want to use the softer grades but I may later test that out as well.  I normally don't like going too dark with pencil lines anyway if I'm going to ink and/or add color.  And even with regular graphite I have found I need to take care on how dark because even graphite can dirty colors like yellow when applied.

All examples were worked on Bee Aquabee Super Deluxe paper.

Playing with a Carbon Pencil

I have various pencils but wasn't familiar with a carbon pencil (at least not to my knowledge).  A dear friend from our sketching group was working a sketch using her carbon B pencil and gave it to me to play with.

I'm trying it on various papers..............

Handbook by Global Arts (Mixed Media).  The man and the bear were sprayed with a fixative.  Then learned the carbon pencil is water soluble so I tested it at the bottom of the page.

This quick little sketch was worked on Strathmore Visual WC paper.  The pencil picks up the tooth design of the paper surface as noticeable in the tail feathers.

Before and after taking a damp brush to sketch.....

This one was worked on a piece of Stonehenge 90lb paper.  Also sprayed with fixative.