Nature is a Presence

I believe with all my heart that nature is a presence all around us. She has eyes, ears, and a voice. She sees what we do, she hears our loud existence, and speaks to us but we rarely listen. Sometimes nature fights back, but most of the time she can only watch as we slowly destroy the very thing that gives us life. I suspect that most of the time, nature is angry. She has every right to be.

This will eventually be colored in with pens, watercolor pencils, paint, and gouache. 

"I am Watching" 8.5" x 11" done on 130 lb, 25% cotton drawing paper.

Pencil drawing, with just a few lines inked in. When I am figuring out a drawing, I work really rough and kinda sloppy - more of a quick gesture drawing. I get focused and a bit anal after the pencil is done flying around, and the paper is full of erasures. Which is why I need tough paper or board. Otherwise I would rub big holes in the drawing before it was ever finished.

Here is the drawing now inked over, with most of the pencil erased out. I used a Micron 05 pen in a dark blue. I mainly ink drawings in dark blue, dark green, dark brown or dark grey. I rarely use black.

This is the inspiration for the drawing. The photo is one I took on our property, of a an oak tree bole. The woman figure was cut from a fashion magazine. The leaves and twigs are ones I picked up on my way back from the barn.

The only thing I am concerned about is that the paper has a slight bit of texture to it, and I am used to working on illustration board, which is smooth. If I don't like the results on the paper after I put in the color, I think I will redo the drawing on board.

So, while it has been raining and foggy, this is what I have been working on. My husband and I have pulled back on quite a few of our horse activities this year, for a variety of reasons. One of the big ones for me was, wanting to get back to my artwork, which has been on the back burner for years. The pencils and paints still feel a bit clumsy in my hands, but...

I have missed them.