Something different for a fraktur design in 20 minutes, a pomegranate-inspired shape. This is a traditional motif, but not overly common. Fun to color! Watercolor and pen, 5 1/2" x 8".
This is an excerpt from a travel journal page, and I'm sure it took me longer to execute than 20 minutes. However, I thought it does such a good job of explaining some of the details that make handcrafted furniture so unique. Granted, John Townsend is the cream of the crop of early American furniture, and my paintings barely do his work justice. But I take delight in knowing that there are still such master artisans and craftspeople out there, creating such awe-inspiring work. I am continually inspired by them!
Once again, in 20 minutes, I am dazzled by the complexity in such an ordinary natural object, the humble white onion. Besides the many layers that lie underneath its outer papery skin, rendering the parallel lines that radiate out from the roots to stem was necessary to get the spherical shape correct. I also love the balance of colors present, from pale peach to acid green to bluish gray in the shadows. Watercolor, 5 1/2" x 8".
Today we "gained" back the hour we "lost" in the spring due to daylight savings time ending. Clocks are neat visual objects, I love their sense of architecture. I could (and probably should) do a whole series of them as I never tire of drawing them. This one is an 1840's Gothic-revival style desk clock, from a book of early American clocks. Clocks of this era/style often had reverse glass painting on the lower section, usually flowers or neoclassical subjects, but this one had a bee skep with flowers, kind of unique. Pencil, pen, and watercolor, 4 1/2" x 6 1/2".
