Drawing the Daffodils from My Garden

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image & artwork copyright Judith Nijholt-Strong. all rights reserved.

Daffodil Drawings on My Desk

March 2011

Last week, our garden decided to 'spring forward' with some of the sweet daffodils we had planted last autumn. On Tuesday last, I spent a couple of hours drawing a group of them in one of my Moleskine sketchbooks.

image copyright Judith Nijholt-Strong. all rights reserved.

Drawing the Daffs in the Garden

March 2011

I finished this drawing indooors because, after awhile, the sun gets a bit too hot for me. The sun was pleasent; I'm not complaining - I just can't do intense sun anymore for very long.

When I started this, I was using Staedtler Pigment Liner pens, Lyra-Rembrandt & Faber-Castell  regular colored pencils and Faber-Castell Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils. When I brought it inside, I added more greens with Winsor-Newton pan watercolors and added more crosshatching with the liner pens.

Here is the fininished drawing:

drawing copyright Judith Nijholt-Strong. all rights reserved.

Patch of Daffs - March 2011

pen and ink, colored pencils, watercolor pencils and watercolors in Moleskine

I cut a few of the daffodils and brought them inside to study them a little closer in my studio and to work on different papers. We have two different kinds of daffoldils in our garden, one is very tiny and all yellow, so it needed to be cut to draw it. I don't know the names because I threw away the bulb packages , which was a bit silly of me to do. And yes, my desk is always crowded! I do own a lot of colored pencils and pens and I do use all of them :o) By the way, trying to take a picture of yourself drawing is a challenge in itself! lol

image copyright Judith Nijholt-Strong. all rights reserved.

Drawing the Daffs Inside

March 2011

And these are the results of my 'inside" drawings, both done from real daffodils sitting on my desk.

drawing copyright Judith Nijholt-Strong. all rights reserved

Two Daffodils - March 2011

regular colored pencils on beige recycled paper

Another one of the tiny, all yellow, daffodils, drawn on different brown paper ... using only regular, artists quality,  colored pencils, no watercolors involved.

drawing copyright Judith Nijholt-Strong. all rights reserved.

Single Spring Daffodil - March 2011

regular colored pencils, pen & ink on brown rag paper

And a photo mosaic of some of the flowers currently in bloom in our garden - the small pink tulipas,"Persian Pearl", have started to bloom too. It's definitely looking a bit cheerier in the garden, although I'm afraid that the harsh winter zapped some of the other large tulip bulbs we planted ...we'll see.

all photos copyright Judith Nijholt-Strong. all rights reserved.

Flowers in Bloom in Our Garden Early Spring ~ March 2011

Left: "Persian Pearl" Tulipa ~ Right top: Daffodils

Right middle: Flowering Dogwood bud. ~ Right bottom: Purple Crocus

Happy! :o)

tot ziens,

Judy

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Finishing things, another form of 'spring cleaning' ~ colored pencil drawing of stoneface at Kasteel de Haar

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"de Haar Stoneface"

 Kasteel de Haar ~ Haarzuilens, Netherlands

9"h x 5.5"w approx.

Colored pencils on black Stonehenge paper

drawing copyright Judith Nijholt-Strong. all rights reserved.

There's nothing like a little 'spring cleaning' in your studio to remind you of all the 'noble' projects left unfinished ...  and this was one of them. I started this peice a very long time ago, years ago ... shameful, really. Talk about procrastination - I am the champion!!

Anyway, the drawing is now completed, finally! I changed the original format some (cropped some off the right-hand side), decided to leave more areas of the black Stonehenge paper showing than originally planned and added more colors in among all those gray colored pencils I used. Often, I think it's ok to come back to unfinished artwork you've put aside for one reason or another - you see them with new eyes and new concerns. 

So, this piece has been sprayed with fixative and it's now in the new pile of drawings & paintings that need matting & framing - which I hope to get around to completing before next spring arrives! ;o)

This is an aerial view of Kasteel de Haar (Castle de Haar), which is located in the province of Utrecht, Netherlands. 

Image copyright Google Maps, 2011 ~ Kasteel de Haar and grounds.

- click for larger view -

Now let's see, what else needs "spring cleaning"... err, I mean finishing! :o)

doei,

Judy

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Red Pepper Day! ~ ~ Rode Paprikadag! Colored Pencil on Black Paper

drawing copyright Judith Nijholt-Strong.

all rights reserved.

Red PepperDay! ~ Rode Parikadag!
8."h x 7.5"w  approx. - (NFS)

Colored pencils on black Stonehenge paper

Sometimes when I buy fruit or vegetables at the market, they end up as models for a drawing or a painting .... inspiration! :o) I'm particularly fond of red peppers, both for eating and for drawing.

For this piece I used:

• Faber-Castell Polychromos, Sanford Prismacolors, Derwent Coloursofts, Caran d'Ache Pablos and Lyra-Rembrandts.  All artists quality colored pencils.
• Stonehenge paper, black
• A delicious, fresh, red pepper.
• And my imagination for the background. :o)

Tot ziens,

Judy
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