I have been feeling all the stress of change from pushing forward into new territory, so I decided to do something soothing. I packed up two waterbrushes, a travel watercolor palette, and my little square sketchbook and spent the morning at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. I took a long walk and lot of photos, but I really enjoyed sitting on benches, watching the bees, and doing some small paintings.
This time of year, the gardens are buzzing with so many bees and butterflies. The garden feels thick, exuberant, and drowsy. It’s like a buzzy warm hug and it was exactly what I needed.
Pollination at Work
Perennial Garden
I’ve written about my travel art kit in other posts, but this one is my favorite and the one I grab most often. Although today, I took both a small and a large waterbrush, when most times I only bring one. My favorite watercolors are in my ArtToolkit Folio palette. I love this palette so much. This setup fits in a book-style zippered pencil case.
These small sketchbook paintings are simple dots, lines, and shapes defined by color. I like painting small because it forces me to distill each thing down to the basics so it becomes semi-abstract. If I had a pen I would have been tempted to add little details and that would have spoiled the mood.
When the weather in Michigan is impractical for outdoor sketching, I rely on my personal collection of reference photos and work in my cozy studio where I don’t have to worry about the wind, rain, or snow. Plus, it is much easier to get a photo of a tiny wildflower, than it is to kneel in the weeds with your sketchbook and paints.
Photo references also help us remember a scene or a landscape and the shapes and forms of things when we don't have a live specimen to study. Photos are equally great for exploring cropped or zoomed-in compositions.
The best thing about your own reference photos is that you can use any camera, they don’t have to be “good” photographic work, and they can even be blurry! Because you are translating one media to another you have all sorts of artistic license to interpret what you see.
Here are some zoomed-in photos of leaves and one cropped image of a vine wrapped around a tree. All of these images are from plants in the tropical conservatory at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens. Look at all those fabulous textures and organic patterns. I use photos like this to make studies in my sketchbook. Sometimes it’s just an ink wash and sometimes I add color. I don’t get crazy serious about details because I am looking for the feel and the movement.
