Fool in the Rain

Jan. 15, 2013
crayon, charcoal, watercolor

It was lightly snowing when I walked to the dam yesterday to draw the landscape. However, as soon as I set my coffee cup down and opened my sketchbook, the snow seemed to pile up on the open paper. Quickly, water was pooling on the page and snowflake-floes were glacially moving as I tried to draw the snow-covered log on the top of the dam (above).

It was difficult making the waxy crayon stick to the wet paper so I switched to charcoal. As I scrubbed, dirty piles of charcoal-plowed snow accumulated around the places I was drawing. I gingerly flicked them to the ground and tried not to smudge my beautiful artwork. Finally, the charcoal started running and the brilliant white patches for the snowy log turned gray as the snow and rain took over my artistic project. How silly of me to be drawing out in the snow sleet and rain. Even the mailman thinks twice about that nowadays!

Before leaving, I made one more quick drawing and resolved to add some watercolor washes and try to clean them up once I got back to the studio. Here's the second drawing (right).

The drawing below was done a few days ago when it wasn't snowing. All was still and the far trees were reflected in the cold sluggish river. It's all very beautiful regardless of the weather.

Jan. 13, 2013
crayon, charcoal