Painting in the Library

In my home, I have a room with a very nice setting and a big window. My painting table is right next to the window. It’s a very peaceful place to work on my paintings and drawings. However, one of my favorite things to do is to go to the library to practice drawings and paintings.

My husband works at a University, so I have access to a very big library. A library is an enchanted place to me; I could get lost in there for hours. One of my very good friends, Maxine, told me to never pass an old book without opening it. In the library, I can do that to my heart’s content. I love to open all the old books, and it has been very rewarding to me. I have learned of so many artists and truly enjoyed looking through their illustrations. I also love to look at nature books of any kind.

A couple of days ago, I had some time to go to the library. During Covid, my husband has discouraged me to go the library, so I had the chance to go a couple of days ago because the students were still on Christmas break. I browsed through a lot of books–a big stack of them–because I missed the library so much.

I like to practice on old artists’ drawings or paintings to practice my skills. I found the only way to get better is to practice a lot, and a library provides a lot of inspiration. Most of these drawings are in my sketchbooks.

This drawing of a grizzly bear is from an old photograph of a nature book. The content was about some high mountain region in California. I liked the bear image, so I looked at the general form and shape and began drawing. I have to always keep in mind the head is a ball, and the body is a big cylinder, so the painting at the end will not be so flat. I think I could lengthen the snout a bit, just a very tiny bit. If I finally decide to put this painting to sell in my shop, I will do so then.

Adding the Watercolor

I took a little break after the drawing and went up to the children’s book section. I came back and decided that I had some time to do some watercolors. It was very fun! I used a lot of sepia, brown, and Yellow Ochre. It is not perfect of course; that’s how a sketch usually ends up, but I can learn from my mistakes. But I had a lot of fun.

A couple of things I will do better: the volume of the head needs to increase a bit, and several parts of the value. But all in all, he is a very friendly bear. I think he is actually smiling. So much fun to do quick sketch and drawing. My sketchbooks are my treasures. They’re full of mistakes and learning.

Thank you for reading!