Sunflower, watercolor and colored pencils on watercolor paper, cleaned up in Photoshop.
colored pencils
Fir Branch
Fir Branch, graphite and colored pencils on watercolor paper, Uni-ball pen, Photoshop polish.
I clipped this end of a fir branch from one of our trees on Orcas Island.
Spent Daffodils
Spent Daffodils, graphite and colored pencils on watercolor paper, Photoshop.
It’s almost the end of daffodil season. Our family planted dozens of daffodil bulbs on our hillside on Orcas Island a few years ago, and last year my wife planted dozens and dozens more. Now in the spring the fields are dotted with bright yellow, and it’s dazzling.
They’re still eye-catching—even beautiful—as they wither and become bedraggled, ghostlike and faded.
Sprig of Little Flowers
Sprig of Little Flowers, graphite and colored pencils on watercolor paper, Photoshop.
This little sprig of flowers was growing in our garden. It seemed sweet and simple and was fun to draw—somehow it almost feels like a small “scientific illustration/comic art,” the way it turned out with the pencil lines clearly visible.
Freesia
Freesia, watercolor pencils, graphite and colored pencils on water color paper, Photoshop.
From a bouquet of spring flowers I bought to put around the house when my wife returned from a recent trip to Michigan.
Two Tulips
Two Tulips. Graphite, watercolor pencils and colored pencils on watercolor paper, plus Photoshop.
I started with the black and white pencil drawing of these same tulips I did yesterday—I traced the outline of that onto watercolor paper using a light table, because I wanted to create a color version of the same thing.
Pronghorn Skull
Pronghorn skull from the Burke Museum, Mammalogy Collection, University of Washington, Seattle. Colored pencil on watercolor paper, cleaned up in Photoshop.
(Antilocapra american, family Antilocapridae)
I wanted to capture the roughness of the sheaths on the horns versus the smoothness of the ivory skull. (Pronghorns shed their sheaths annually, but underneath is a horn made of bone.)
