Sketch

This sketch was inspired by a notecard that I received which bears Hannah Borger Overbeck’s (United States, 1870-1931) rendition of the blood root (Sanguimaria canadensis), a somewhat rare woodland plant once used by Native Americans to dye their baskets orange-red.

My challenge for this sketch was to be able to match the colors she had used. This meant being patient and experimenting with my blue and yellow selections until I achieved at least the sensibility that she created.  I started with a color wash on the page and then I did the sketch. My wash color is cooler than hers was — that’s another challenge I can take up. I was able to get the tones of green and brown that I was looking for rather quickly. The final job was the white petals. There was simply no way around it, I had to buy some white watercolor paint.

Overbeck created her piece using watercolor and pastel. I used a Faber-Castell PITT artist pen and watercolor.

This posting has been shared with Off the Wall Friday. Go over and check out what’s happening with those artists.