Winter Blooms

"Winter must be cold for those with no warm memories." I think that's a nice quote (though from a unknown source). This week has been very cold, and thoughts of spring flowers are pretty far away, so all the more reason to paint something bright, cheerful, and very spring-like. I started with a pencil sketch to get the curve of the flower stems the way I liked them. That seemed like such a luxury compared to starting right off with pen when I was cramped for time in the 20 minute sketches! I went over the lines with pen, and then filled in with watercolor. All in all, this fraktur-inspired painting probably took around 50 minutes to complete. Pencil, pen and watercolor, approx. 5 1/2" x 7".

Rochester Skyline

The city of Rochester has a beautiful skyline, and as many Rochesterians know, the Ford Street Bridge is one of the best locations from which to enjoy it. Set against the Genesee River in the foreground, the Chase Tower, Bausch & Lomb Building, and Xerox Tower form a distinctive silhouette when joined with smaller buildings such as the HSBC Building, Hyatt Hotel and others.  


Last week, looking for inspiration for forthcoming drawings, I stopped on the way home from work at the Ford St. bridge to take some pictures of the Rochester skyline. I was pleased with the results and knew that the photo would prove a worthy challenge to draw.

Rochester skyline from Ford Street Bridge (image copyright 2012 Paul Bielewicz)

To begin the drawing, I set up a virtual grid on the photo using Photoshop. I translated this grid onto the sketchbook and created key reference points for each building and other features in the photo in order to ensure that the drawing would be to scale. This proved time consuming, but it was worth the effort. As I began "connecting the dots" with pencil, the buildings and river area started to take shape.

Pencil sketch - note visible grid along edges of sketchbook

Due to the precision involved, the grid method somewhat takes away some of the "organic" nature of a drawing... but that was less important to me for this subject matter composition than it might be for others in the future.


When I was satisfied with the pencil sketch it was time to begin inking. The first step was to create a line drawing to capture the fundamental elements of the drawing. I began with the bridge, continued with the buildings, and continued with the trees and foliage along the west (left) bank of the river.

Early inking - bridge, towers and trees along west bank of river

I continued with the buildings on the East (right) bank of the river.

Line drawing with buildings outlined

Once the line drawing was finished, the next step was to add detail to the buildings. The Bausch & Lomb building (the peaked building in the middle) was the most challenging due to the architectural details of the building. The bridge also proved challenging because I couldn't "cheat" with a ruler! 

Detail completed on central buildings

The apartment building on the East river bank (right side of drawing) proved challenging as well due to the colorful and scattered exterior paint scheme. Once the buildings were complete to my satisfaction, I added trees, foliage and detail to the riverbanks.

Buildings, trees and riverbanks complete

The next challenge of the drawing was to translate the intricate cloud pattern into ink and finally, to add detail to the water in the foreground.

Finished drawing

All in all I was very pleased with the finished drawing. This drawing was really fun, and I learned a lot which is the important part after all. Although pen is pretty unforgiving, I don't think there were too many mistakes - whatever I wasn't 100% happy with, it was easy enough to cover it up. I did take some artistic license too - for example, I chose to leave out the cell tower that's in the original photo (on the right side), and I simplified some of the trees, smaller buildings, etc.

I thought the water and the clouds were going to be the hardest parts, but they really weren't. I just had to pick a pattern I liked and stick with it.

I am definitely looking forward to the next challenge! 

Creative Variations

Though I have been sketching nearly daily for the past year, I have also continued my pursuit of other creative outlets. I don't think there's any shame in expanding the horizons of this blog, as this year my challenge is "Creative Every Day," and creativity comes in many different forms.

Today, combining some old silk flowers I had on hand with some ribbon and Valentine's sparkle hearts, I decorated this grapevine wreath (above). I was eager to have something bright and cheerful for Valentine's Day (as I love red and pink together) and couldn't find what I wanted in the store. It took me about 30 min. and cost less than $10 for the materials. Seriously. I am very happy with it.

And - I finally finished the Tooth Fairy pillow I've been stitching for the past few months. The child couldn't wait to lose her first two teeth this past week, however... but fortunately there will be many other teeth to lose and place in this pillow before adulthood. Taking the child's ideas (sparkle threads! rainbow colors! blonde hair! red shoes!) into account, I drew, designed, charted, tie-dyed the fabric, STITCHED and sewed this fairy pillow, all myself. I have charted several other designs before, but this was probably the largest and most involved one I have done. I was happy to complete it, and the child was delighted beyond compare. Creative success!



Sweet Summary

Hand-dipped chocolate covered pretzels with white chocolate drizzle. You paint the drizzle by... painting around it and leaving the paper white! This would have been more challenging for me last January, but after a year's worth of practice doing paintings like this, I feel I efficiently accomplished a nice little painting in 20 minutes. Watercolor, 4 1/2" x 6".

A brief summary of how I fared in my 2011 20-minute daily sketching challenge:

I had, as close as I can approximate, 240 20-minute sketches, paintings, and drawings, described and elaborated on in 245 or so blog posts. The other posts represent commissioned or other finished artwork that nearly always took longer than 20 minutes to complete. An average of almost 5 sketches a week for the calendar year - keeping me in good artistic practice!

For anyone wanting to take on a challenge like this, I highly recommend it. It's been said that anything you do repeatedly for 6 weeks becomes an ingrained habit, and a positive habit like sketching regularly most definitely develops artistic skills we usually put on the back burner.

Some things I learned: keep my subject matter simple for the "best" (most finished looking painting) results, have all necessary supplies or tools on hand ready to go, and be willing to put myself out there for criticism. However, people have been so supportive of my creative endeavor here, that it's their support which has kept me motivated for the course of the whole year.

So what's next?

For the 2012 calendar year, I am planning a slightly more flexible kind of challenge. While searching online I found the "Creative Every Day" Challenge  (see link at the top of the page). With so many different creative passions (painting, needlework, crafting, cake decorating, etc.) I could pursue each in turn, while also working around a busy homelife. I realize it may not be a set 20-minute block of time every day, but I hope it will even out to a regular skill-building and learning exercise much as this past year's challenge has.

In 2011, there were days I did not have even 20 minutes to spend on necessities like eating, let alone sketching, and other days I hated to finish painting/drawing after only 20 minutes. I could have worked on a piece for hours or maybe even days. More flexibility in my creative schedule this year will ease those difficulties, I hope!

So - for 2012, my blog posts may become more infrequent than they have been, but they may also be longer posts, full of a variety of my creative pursuits. I hope to update at least twice a week, so we'll see where the year takes me. I hope you will stick with me as I continue to pursue creativity, in whatever form strikes my fancy. I would love to hear your comments, ideas, suggestions! And if anyone is interested in purchasing my artwork, it is for sale, of course!

Quick Dinner Sketch

With the holidays in full swing, I have been hard pressed to find 20 minutes to sketch these days. But as this self-imposed 20 minute daily sketch challenge comes to an end for this year, I am determined to finish it up the way I began - sketching food! Drawing right in pen as our dinner was served, I had to be quick if I wanted to eat while the food was still hot. I love the spontaneous style of this, even though the colors of the food will have to be added in paint in a later session!

Christmas Treats

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We celebrated with family and food, and lots of wonderful treats and sweets. This slightly ambitious 20 minute painting is of a piece of Dutch almond roll, almond cake, and anise honey koek. All homemade and delicious, and only a sampling of the many varieties we had to enjoy. Watercolor, 5 1/2" x 8".

Delft Ornament

The large and varied assortment of Christmas ornaments hanging around have been wonderful subject matter for 20 minute paintings! Every ornament is different (well, other than a couple of those colored glass ones). The blue glaze on Delftware is a very unique deep dark blue - but I think I captured it pretty accurately on this little ornament here. Watercolor, approx. 5" x 7".