Kristen LInk in Petersburg

As a part of the Rain Forest Festival each year, an artist is often invited to teach workshops for adults and children over the course of the week.  This year we were lucky to welcome Kristen Link, a young science illustrator from McCarthy, Alaska.  I participated in her botanical illustration workshop Saturday afternoon, and her field sketching class today.

Kristen, standing in blue and braids, with a few of my fellow students.

Yesterday's class was an intensely rewarding experience for me.  Although I am committed to drawing and make it a daily practice, my days of drawing from life pretty much ended with grad school.  I re-discovered the power and magic of drawing what's in front of me in Kristen's workshop.

We drew first on tracing paper, later transferring that to watercolor paper by adding graphite to the back of the tracing paper under our drawn lines.

I chose a favorite plant, cottonwood, and used a branch of it as my model.  This is my up-close detail of a bud, still on the tracing paper.

The cottonwood branch rendered on 11"x17" watercolor paper.  I ran out of time to add color, alas.  The bud detail will go in the lower right part of the page.

Today we were graced with yet another lovely fall afternoon out at Sandy Beach in which to enjoy Kristen's field sketching workshop.

After we did some close-up studies, I chose to paint this scene looking across Frederick Sound at Horn Cliffs.

This is the rest of my scene.

Working on an accordian-folded sheet of watercolor paper was very effective.

I did not have time to finish my painting...

...but feel it is complete.  Two hours just wasn't enough time!

 

Rediscovering the enchantment of drawing from life was a great gift.  I believe I'll continue to practice this magic regularly.  Thanks, Kristen, for coming to Petersburg and sharing your gift! 

Post script: Flossy wants Readers to know she roamed at large on the Beach all afternoon without giving in to the temptation to roll in dead salmon.