Clematis on Trellis

Hi all,
I finally finished the last drawing in a series of of pictures I was doing of flowers growing on a trellis.
I have shown a Clematis (montana) and bindweed in the last post so here is the final one.

It's another clematis but I not sure which one. It is probably my least favourite of the three that I have done but I still pretty pleased with it. They make a great group where they are hanging in the hallway and give me a lot of pleasure. I have taken prints of them a hung them in recycled frames from a charity shop. It is too dark now to photograph them but I hope to show you a picture of them together in my next post.

There is something else I have to report on the art front and it is quite exciting. Over the years I have had a longing to have a go at digital art. I have used it for design purposes but not for proper art. I did have try using photoshop, but the learning curve was extremely steep and I lacked imagination as much as I lacked the skills.

Anyway, I decided to give it another go and bought myself an ipad for Christmas. Well if I don't treat myself nobody else will. I've had a bit of a dabble and I am really impressed by the potential, what's more, I can do it while sitting in my favourite armchair. No water, no mixing paints and all mistakes are instantly rectifiable.

It is my intention to post my efforts on here, warts and all, so you can see how I get on and judge for yourself how and or if I improve. If anybody else is thinking of going digital I will be pleased to answer any questions. I won't be going over to the dark side completely so you will still be able to find normal artwork on here.

Just one last thing. To Celebrate the start of the new year I am giving away downloads of my book "Bossyboots."

It will be free to download from Amazon and you can go straight to it by clicking this link .
Please download it and have a good laugh. I am removing this book from Amazon's "Select" programme so this is prabably the last time you will be able to get it for free.

Clematis and Bindweed

Hi all,
I am concentrating my artistic output at the moment on graphite pencil. I don't know why, but for some reason graphite is floating my boat. I also like the fact that there is no need to mix colours. The materials are simple, I just use five pencils, an erasure and some blue tack. It is very simple and satisfying.

The drawing below of a clematis is the first in a series of 3 images that I am doing which will all feature a flower growing on some trellis.

 I have been drawing on Bristol board because I find it easier to get fine details, but for this drawing and the rest in the series I'm using Arches hot pressed watercolour paper. I can't get the same level of detail with this paper but I can get darker blacks. For the darkest tone I have used a Derwent 9B. The other pencils I used were, 3B,B, H and 2H.

I am hoping that Santa brings me a set of Steadler Mars 100 lumograph pencils for Christmas and then I can get back to the Bristol board and hopefully maintain a really dark black. There is nothing wrong with the Derwent 9B and Archies combination but the deatail isn't quite so sharp.
Here's the second drawing in the series of some bindweed.

I hope you like the drawings, any comments or question are welcome..