Orchid Sketch

I've been painting for a good number of years now, and I like to consider myself somewhat of an artist. One thing that I wish I was better at though is drawing. Realistic sketches. With charcoal or pencil.

See, Chinese brush painting is of course a beautiful art form, and one that I greatly enjoy (obviously). But one of the characteristics of this traditional type of painting is that subjects are usually stylized, so that while the subjects can be easily identified, they are not what you would call perfectly "realistic" depictions. They are not what you exactly see with your naked eye.

I took a basic drawing class back in college that I really liked (and had to work my ass off for -- I worked harder in that class than in any other I took in my entire 4 years as a science major), but my projects were specifically focused on drawings of the uneven parallel bars used in women's gymnastics. Kind of a narrow focus, I would say.

So anyway, I have this awesome coptic-bound notebook that I purchased from the crafthope shop awhile back (made by seller moon23, who has customer service like you would not believe - in a very good way), and I've decided that I will be practicing some sketching. We'll see how long I keep up with this.

Here is the first - of the orchids that are now blooming in my kitchen window.



I used a medium vine charcoal for this. One thing I found with the charcoal (besides the fact that it smudges so easily), is that it's difficult to sketch with precision. Maybe because I used a thicker stick for a relatively small drawing. So I had a hard time with any sort of detail. The next one I try will be in pencil I think. Hopefully if I do more of these you'll be able to see a clear progression and improvement as I post them... at least I hope so.

Here is a photo I took after I did the sketch, so you can see what I was looking at.