What I See

Every morning I wake and start my daily ritual. First, I look outside my bedroom window to make sure that my car has not been stolen (habit from living in Brooklyn) nor that it hasn't been demolished over night by a drunk driver driving recklessly down my street. The second thing I do in the morning is look out at the huge pine tree across the street. Every day since moving here in June I have been meaning to draw what I see and what always makes me laugh especially on a very windy day. Today was that day. :D

What is outside
my bedroom window.

What I see.

"Intermission"
Graphite and watercolor on paper

“Play is the beginning of knowledge.”

Tree Mural (cont.)

Revised sketch of tree

The process....

So the gnarly fat tree I drew the other day for the wall mural was given some revisions. "Make it thinner and to the left" was the suggestion. Although I was quite married to the original version I can see how this change will work better on a wall around furniture. Part of creating a wall mural is first showing the client a fairly accurate sketch. The artist can't deviate from this sketch once approved. Artist liberty is saved for other projects. Going from quick sketch to painted sketch is done by using a cheap light box....aka the window.

Makeshift light box

Drawing transferred to watercolor paper

After the original approved sketch is traced through the window onto water color paper it is then taped to a flat board. I have one special board I use for all my illustrations. I'm a bit superstitious about it and tend to use only this particular board. It has years of paint and tape and even clay attached to it. There is something soothing and familiar about those marks. After the paper is firmly attached I begin painting using a combination of water color paints and watered down acrylics. The paper usually takes quite a beating (hence the need to tape it down firmly). This particular sketch took about 3 hours to bring to finish.

The owner of Divine Rooms (whom I'm working with on this project) approved the sketch and sent it off to the client. We now we wait to see if the client approves it for the wall. I'm rather excited to begin putting paint to wall.

Tree colored and ready for client to view