Watercolor sketch: Leaf from a Talisay tree

The Universe connects with us every time and it is up to us how we wish to respond to its prompts. Yesterday morning, after driving my little girl to preschool, I planned on doing field sketches at our parish church’s grotto. I was very eager to do so as I hadn’t done any live outdoor sketching for months already. But then, I came to think about my chores and other pressing errands for the day. So I ditched the idea and proceeded to drive home. Along the way,  a big leaf from a Talisay tree was blown by the wind and it landed on my car’s windshield. For about half a minute, I waited for it to be blown away again, but it didn’t. It got stuck on the edge of the windshield. It was then that I realized I could bring home this lovely leaf and sketch it. It is after all the leaf of a Talisay tree -- one of my favorite trees. And, you know, I've always enjoyed drawing leaves. (Ask my Botany teacher. Hee hee.)

So I stopped the car, got out, and grabbed this leaf. When I reached home, I laid it carefully on my art table and headed to the backyard to finish my laundry. The whole time I was loading the clothes and hanging them to dry, I was thinking about the leaf and how it just came to me, as if wanting to be drawn and painted. Or maybe it’s just me trying to romanticize this ordinary occurrence. Or maybe I’m just trying to find a reason to sketch. What does it matter, anyway? The important thing is, I was able to sketch that day. And I did it for the love of leaves, trees, sketchbooks, and watercolors.

Sketching in my A6 Monologue art journal

Since I resumed painting in acrylics and other media last November, my watercolor set has been quietly sleeping on the corner of my art desk. If you have followed my old blog and previous IG posts, you probably know that I was mostly into watercolor painting and sketching. When I relived my passion for art more than 2 years ago, the one medium that I chose to 'master' was the watercolor. For the simple reason that it's handy and easier to work with. (I'm a busy work-at-home mom, you see...) But late last year, I decided that perhaps I can already dabble into my dream of doing mixed-media artwork. My kids now know better not to play with Mama's acrylics and brushes, and they are now willing to give me 30 to 60 minutes of art time on a fine day. So I kept doing all these mixed-media paintings and art journal pages... Until I found myself at my art desk 4 days before Christmas, yearning to just sketch and wash. Yes, I've missed the good old stuff!

So I brought out my A6 Monologue sketchbook with gross-grained paper (a really good one for watercolor sketches), a pencil, and a drawing pen. I was stumped for a while and didn't know what to draw or paint. Then I saw my new tube of gesso and thought to use it as subject. It was midnight after all and there's just no way I could find a nice pot of flowers to sketch.  Might as well make do with whatever's there right in front of me. My husband bought the Reeves gesso for me earlier that day 'cause he knew I was badly running out of gesso. So sweet, right? 

 

To make this simple sketch, I just used the usual stuff in my watercolor kit: my Sakura Koi Pocket Field Sketchbox of 24 colors, an HB Faber-Castell Art GRIP pencil, a Zig Kuretake water brush with a large tip, and a black Faber-Castell Fine PITT Artist pen. I hope to make more watercolor sketches in the days and weeks to come. I find watercolor sketching very relaxing. It also helps me come up with quick studies for mixed-media paintings.

What have you been sketching lately?