A first attempt...

Although I've got a sketchbook with drawings in it (which I will someday scan into this computer), my first official attempt to make a sketch to mail to my friend (mentioned in my last post) was rather anticlimactic. I've pretty much decided that flowers are one of the most difficult subjects to capture. They are incredibly complex when you really look at them and I find them slightly overwhelming to draw. I made a sketch of a Columbine (the red variety that grows in northern Minnesota) and finished it with colored pencil. Pencil is not my favorite medium. I don't like the way the lead disappears so quickly and lines change in width. Sharpening a pencil every few minutes isn't my idea of fun. I've loved pen and ink for quite some time and love the textures achievable by the use of cross-hatching, stippling, etc. I think my next attempt will be a pen and ink drawing.

I have many favorite pen and ink artists, among them Maurice Sendak, Ernest Shephard, Beatrix Potter, Gillian Tyler and Uri Shulevitz. I will include some of their art in this post to inspire myself! :)

I love the details in this Gillian Tyler painting!
Isn't this a great little illustration by Ernest Shepard? I'm a fan of The Wind in the Willows in large part because of his illustrations.
Classic Sendak. Love that crosshatching!
I love Shulevitz's use of watercolor to complement his pen and ink. His drawings have a dream-like quality.
For an Anglophile like myself, Beatrix Potter's paintings are a delight. I really enjoy looking for all the little details of English life in her art.
I think I AM getting inspired! :D