Sunday, May 11, 2008

A Walk in Spring, Bitter disappointment

The weather has been very cold and wet and I was desperate to go for a walk. I wanted to find some pussywillows to draw. Nothing was blooming in the garden and everything just seemed so dull and uninspiring. At Glenmore Park, I found this gorgeous branch that had been blown off in the wind. The twig was the most beautiful colors, orange, yellow and red, bursting with sap. The pussywillows were so delicately colored. I had fun drawing it and using the watercolor pencils which finally seemed to be the "right" medium for the subject. Finally I was inspired! I even found a quote that summed up what I felt when I drew this, my joy in drawing the everyday things around me:
"Make visible what, without you, might perhaps never have been seen." Robert Bresson

And then I scanned it...

Honestly, in real life it does not look like that! I have been struggling with this Moleskine drawing journal and it's given me nothing but grief. The color throws me off, and in this case it really threw the scanner off. It's about nine shades too yellow and the delicate blues and grays of the pussywillows don't show up at all. So then I tried something with blue shades in it. This is the one thing that is blooming in my garden but was buried under the latest snowfall on Friday. It's better, but again there's too much yellow in the scan and the blues and violets are washed out.



I think this journal is not for me. I think I will use it for my everyday writing journal, and go back to the Aquabee sketchbook and the Moleskine watercolor journal with white paper. Sometimes, things just don't work out the way you want them to.

3 comments:

Linda T said...

I'm not much of a moleskine fan, either. Could you try tweaking the color after you scan it? I have done that and I am no computer whiz at all. I think I click on something that says "fix". The drawing of the pussy willows does have a delicate feel, though.

Alan said...

I have been using a Moleskine too for the first time. I like the feel of the paper for working in pen and color pencil. I haven't tried using paint. I am not all that excited about the color of the paper however.

Margaret Ann said...

I am now just getting used to working with the pocket moleskine...the color was annoying at first but now I have grown to enjoy it...I have restricted its use though to black, brown and sepia, pen work. I also have a computer option (microsoft editor) which "fixes" color and takes a lot of the yellow of the paper out...just a thought...

I think your sketches are lovely and your book is very pleasing...give it some more time maybe ??? :)