Saturday, July 14, 2007

Car drawings


We´ve been doing some driving lately, and I´m always so pleased when my dear M drives, so that I can spend my time in the car drawing.

These are three pages from our latest little trip, all done in the car, with an ink pen, a Niji waterbrush and some watercolours. I like drawing in the car, because it forces me to make quick decisions about what to draw. I look out the window, memorize the landscape and then draw more or less from memory. It´s fun, and it´s quick, and I often find a lot of inspiration in these pages afterwards. They are not so thoroughly done (except perhaps for the trees this time, I worked a lot on those), so they leave a lot to imagination. I often find I can make bigger paintings of them later on, or work on the sketches some more, exploring colours or textures or whatever the image invites me to do.

The car is one of the places where the Niji waterbrush does an excellent job. I don´t like painting watercolours with a waterbrush if I can find room for a jug of water and real brushes, but when in a small space, or somewhere crowded, waterbrushes are a must for me. They are very good for smaller sketches, as long as you don´t need big even washes of paint.

16 x 21 cm, Lamy Safari, Noodler´s black and watercolours on Arches Satin watercolour paper.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! Hard to imagine that you can work that fast and produce something so lovely. You continue to inspire and challenge me.

Lin said...

These are absolutely gorgeous, NIna -- each one is a study in itself of how to create a wonderful tree!! I LOVE THEM ALL!!

brian nelson said...

I am even more impressed with your talent! I love these "quick" sketches. I am impressed that you can do them from memory as well. My memory continues to fail me! Wonderful job and thanks for sharing them!

Gabriel Campanario said...

hi nina, these are beautiful. love the ink trees and how well you can do different foliage, and the color sketches have a lot of depth and richness. you're sooo good! i can't believe you don't get dizzy doing this in the car. i'm so impressed. thanks for sharing them.

Anonymous said...

Nina,

You must have a wonderful understanding of trees that you can do such a great renderings from a quick glance. These are really great fresh sketches.

I'm glad you're having a relaxing vacation.

andrea joseph's sketchblog said...

Wow Nina - these are all SO good. I don't know wher to start! The drawings of the trees are amazing, each and everyone; they make such a great spread. Then your painitngs are just stunning. The colours perfect. WOW!

José Louro said...

One of the best blogs in sketching that i know.

Karen Sandstrom said...

Nina - I, too, am in awe.
Can you write a little bit about how you work when you're riding in the car? Do you capture a glimpse of a scene, then do it quickly from memory as the scene fades into the rear-view mirror? Are there tricks to getting the composition down quick? (I am the slowest sketcher on the planet, so I'm always looking for tips for capturing scenes more quickly.)

Anonymous said...

I am in awe - I cannot imagine how you can do such beautiful paintings so quickly! I wish I were one of your students.

Anonymous said...

These are wonderful, Nina! I love to draw in the car too, and it doesn't happen anywhere near often enough!

I agree about the waterbrush, too--I don't like it for anything but the smallest journal sketches, but it SHINES, there! You did a terrific job...I feel as if I were right there.

Felicity Grace said...

Wonderful sketches, those trees are amazing. It's always fascinating to hear a little about your process, I always find it so useful.

Tami said...

These are GREAT!!! I have tried drawing in the car and can't seem to do it, maybe the trick is just to jump right into the painting instead of setting lines down first...

Anonymous said...

Nina, I thankyou so much for these land scapes and the trees. I trying to teach myself and Im having a hard time with folidge and then I came over to your blog and you had these wonderful paintings. If you dont mind I will study these to try and figure how you did these. Sure wished I was there to watch your brush strokes, sigh, ( I wouldnt of ate to much lunch) thank you again and if theres any tips videos on how to do this please let me know.
Linda

Unknown said...

Awesome, I can't imagine how fast you take the essence before leaving the scene behind.

Africantapestry and Myfrenchkitchen said...

Amazing scenes and done so fast and on memory. They are all wonderful Nina.
And I always love your arhtitectrual drawings and paintings, like those of the town in your previous post. You inspire me to try my hand at some buildings...
Ronell

Nancy Van Blaricom said...

I am so impressed ... I can't draw in a moving vehicle, and these are wonderfully done.

Claudia said...

Hi Nina,
today I received my black Noodler's ink. It should be waterproof, but it isn't. When I paint over it, it still bleeds blueishly. What I'm doing wrong? Any idea?

Alison said...

Yes, you have done a lovely set of landscapes. Some of them could almost be Australia.

suzanne cabrera said...

Wow, I can definitely see how these can inspire future work for you. I love, love, love the bottom series...the middle one in particular. The fluidness of the colors is so striking and mood provoking. I love these.

Lydia Velarde said...

I know how hard it is to draw in the car with a lot of memory going into it. Your's are simply beautiful! Congrats! and thanks for sharing them!

Anonymous said...

Yep--Wow! These are beautiful and thanks so much for explaining your process. I'm inspired!

Anonymous said...

Really amazing!

Must be dificult to draw in the car. Congratulations.

Anonymous said...

Wow, I am not worthy. These are awesome sketches from a car ride! Oh my. Beautiful. Great work.

Jana Bouc said...

I always enjoy work done in series and these are just great. I love the collection of trees.

picklesandroses.blogspot.com said...

You are either very fast with the brush and pen or driver goes very slowly. Beautiful trees.

Anonymous said...

Nina - beautiful work. My pen never goes where I want it to when I am being bumped around in a car. You must have a very light touch that it does not matter. Perhaps this would be good practice