A Peek In My Sketchbook: An Abstract Pear and Peonies!

Yes dear readers, I am back on the road with my my sketchbook/art journal journey which took a short hiatus due to all the Jewish holiday preparations and celebrations. I have to admit, I REALLY missed drawing and painting, which came as a huge surprise to me, as the only specific creative activity I recall missing during the holidays is crocheting! So,apparently the painting/drawing journey has taken a hold on me, and I am downright pleased, as this means that I can easily hop back on the wagon and continue filling my art journals with paintings and drawings. It is true, painting in a sketchbook with paper that is meant for drawing is a bit risky, but I’ve found that it works just fine as long as you realize that the pages will buckle/ruffle a bit and not lie exactly flat. But a small price to pay for the joy of recording your journey in a book, rather than worrying about where to put or what to do with the paintings! If you love a particular painting you’ve done in your sketchbook, so photograph it and print it! I actually am quite happy with the results of this abstract pear painting, lets take a closer look at how it was done, shall we? Ah yes, and there are peonies as well!

This pear was painted using the technique called “negative shape painting” which means painting around a shape on a piece of paper that you’ve already covered with a painted pattern of sorts. This is also a great way to recycle art that wasn’t successful. The two artists that employ this technique, and from whom I’ve learned are Bob Burridge and Amanda Evanston, both of whom are now on You Tube, and Amanda has online classes as well as an Insider’s Group which is fabulous, especially for those needing encouragement and lessons that are suited to making art in a sitting and with basic supplies, for all ages I might add!
What actually transpired, is that as I was painting the peonies on the left, using a tutorial from Amanda Evanton’s Insider’s group, I dabbed the excess color from my brush onto the right hand page, creating a page with an abstract pattern. THEN a day or two later I painted the pear by using the negative shape painting technique, with some carving out of lines in the wet paint (using the end of my paint brush) and adding some pastel and paint pen at the end for definition and shading. Painting pears is so much fun and really quite simple. I do plan on checking out some of Bob Burridge’s pear painting lessons before I paint the next one so that I’ll be clearer on where to place the shadows and shading, though that kind of literal approach also isn’t really necessary, as the shape is so recognizable.
And the peonies, well that is another story I won’t go into at the moment, and the layer and layers of color and indecision has me challenged as i was painting, but it all worked out, phew, as correcting this would be difficult!