Little By Little

Little by little, I am seeing progress in the artwork that I am doing.

The three pen and ink illustrations in this photo are sourced from one drawing of an agave plant located just outside the Baldwin Education Building at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. The first drawing, the one in the middle, was done for a session of the Pen & Ink I class that Rick Wheeler taught last spring. The other two drawings, also done for that class, are versions of the original. All three are done with Pigma Micron pens and ink wash that is applied with a brush.

The top board, my sampling substrate, takes the black and white art into the color realm. I enlarged the agave drawing and am working on the color and line for another version of the original, this one to be done with pen and ink outline with watercolor. I had to learn how to mask out the main subject matter so that I could sponge the background before the ink work begins.

All of that is done -- the sponging, the inking, the planning, the color choices. Next I will do the fine tuned inking of the drawing and then, finally, I will mix watercolors and take a brush to the work.

I have learned so much. I had this idea that an artist just takes paint and brush and goes to it. Well, it doesn't work that way. I have had to learn about colors, about mixing, about line, about composition. I learn something new every time I get out a pencil or a brush. I learn as I watch my fellow students and see their work develop.

None of this happens overnight, yet I can sense that something wonderfully original and creative is emerging. It's happening little by little, but it is coming.