A rose, a cat, a giraffe

And a mermaid

Our Fairy Goddaughter gave us a rose which I placed on one of our bookshelves to admire

Over the next few mornings I did a sketchbook drawing…

…and I handwrote a quote.

Here's a scan of the artwork so you can perhaps see it more clearly.

During another “render a rose" session I positioned the rose differently and I photographed the steps I did in my sketchbook:

Step one: make color shapes mirroring, sorta kinda, what I see of the flower using gouache and watercolors. I use clips to hold the pages open to dry while I pour coffee and help with breakfast.

Step 2: after the painting is dry I use my fountain pen to draw contour lines of the rose and leaves (on the left sketchbook page) between bites of breakfast.

After pouring another cup of coffee I sat drinking it and just looking at the rose for a while. Then I draw still more ink lines (on the righthand sketchbook page).

See how this working process leaves me plenty of time to eat breakfast and sip coffee? And yes, it has taken me years of almost daily practice to learn to draw as well as I do. It's easy to practice because I'd rather draw than doomscroll…

Anyway, because it makes daily drawing practice easier I love using the splash-color first and then draw over it method in my morning sketchbook.

If you'd like more details about this method I recommend “Ink and wash florals" by Camilla Damsbro Brix

Speaking of coffee: after I recently shared another one of my sketchbook creations, an illustrated story about a giraffe, a reader asked me to make a mug with my giraffe artwork from the story on it. I replied “It'll have to be a very tall mug due to the giraffe's neck. Is that okay?” They said it was fine - so I made a Giraffe with book and beverage mug.

I hope your weekend goes swimmingly!

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