My wife is a gardener and she loves to visit garden centers. She was doing just that a couple weeks ago and they were having a big sale. She came home with a car full of plants and a plaster garden cow that, to me, looks like a sheep with horns. I think it’s the stone fur that does it. In any case, it’s cute as can be so I drew it.
Stillman & Birn Beta (8×10 softcover), Platinum Carbon Black, Platinum Plaisir
Today I drew our Ocimum basilicum plant. Sweet Basil is a one of my favorite herbs. Did you know that it’s related to mint? And while it tastes just dandy, it’s those big, puffy leaves that cause sketchers to be drawn to it.
There’s not much to say about this sketch. I sat on our deck and drew it. Not a big drawing (about 4″x4″) but I did switch pens. Instead of my fine nib fountain pens, I chose an old Hero fude pen just for a change.
Why would anyone draw a single squash? Because it was there, of course. There need be no other reason. And so it was as the squash sat on our kitchen island and I drew it. This one was odd-looking in that while most Sunburst squashes are round, but flattened, this one was almost as high as it was round.
If I were Charlie O’Shields (Mr. Doodlewash) I’d have a charming story to tell you about how Philippe prepares squash or how his mother forced him to eat it when he was young. I’m not nearly as talented. I buy squash, I cook squash, I eat squash and now I can say I’ve sketched squash. Anyway, I had fun sketching it.
I’m still having fun conjouring happy memories as I sketch my way through Jodie’s stuffed animal collection. This time I was reminded of a time before Jodie was born.
If one could bottle, for sale, the energy of mothers preparing the nest for a baby we could stop burning fossil fuels. But once the room was set up, Chantal was just getting started. She began making clothes and stuffed animals. Here’s one of them, a cat. The ‘real’ one has a very complex pattern of flowers all over it but I didn’t have the patience to draw that. I wanted to finish the sketch in my lifetime.
We were enjoying cheeses, a baguette and some wine while sitting on our deck last week. It was a delightful evening, one of the evenings that we dream about during our long winters.
Eventually I got the urge to draw some of the many flowers we have all over the place, courtesy of Chantal’s green thumb. I only had a small sketchbook with me and was too lazy to go get something larger so I just started drawing little flower drawings. Here’s a couple of them.
