Scenes at Home

As I've thought more about scribbling scenes more than simply objects, it has expanded what I look at and the attention I pay to it.

What are the "objects" my eye follows?  What is it I look at most of the time?

What context do those "objects" inhabit?  Co-inhabit with me?

One evening, before last Winter ended, I did two quick sketches thinking about exactly those questions.

This first one challenged me.  I wanted to focus on the person.  The dog was almost entirely obscured by an ottoman, but I didn't want that in the picture.  I wanted to include the fireplace, but I didn't want the tile work to pull away from the focus.

I had to move up and down from my seat a lot to get the dog, which I sketched in using a grape pencil.  You can see the light scribble marks.  I didn't get it the way I wanted to--I think the constant changing in my perspective kind of messed me up.  But I got the gist. of it.

I drew all of this with a Pitt F pen, except for the person, which I did with my Hero bent nib pen.  I love that pen.

I like how the composition pulls you toward the person.

I completed this in less than ten minutes, with another ten for the layers of watercolor.  I feel like I am getting better at that!

The next scene from home is one that faces me breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  I know, I know... I should have a little more discipline for the cat.  But I don't.

For this one I started straight in with pen, again using the Hero bent nib pen, this time for the whole thing.  I decided not to paint the brown table top.  Just to let the cat and plate and fork me there.  I am particularly pleased with the shadows.

I can already tell that these are scenes I will be glad I looked at.  Small things, but important to me, and capturing them tells the story of who we are, how we relate to each other.  These sketches took very little time, and focused me on some of the things I most value about my life right now.