#perpetualjournal

Sycamore keys, Wild Cherry blossom, Pheasant, Swan & Wood Pigeon feathers. #sketchbookpages #naturalhistory #perpetualjournal #feathers #sycamore #wildcherry #pheasant #swan #watercolourillustration #gouachesketch https://www.instagram.com/p/CaNduq4LEJE/?utm_medium=tumblr

One of my favorite plants in every season. #perpetualjournal https://www.instagram.com/p/CKKemeAB8Ct/?igshid=hyxe2omzk7dt

Drawing for me isn’t about making art or a finished product, just the act of creating as its own end. Being in creation has become more and more vital for me - even if it can’t be done without being attacked by a tiny person, still meditative. Not new ideas but they’re mine! #perpetualjournal https://www.instagram.com/p/CJb__oCB6HV/?igshid=xfor6ua03j0l

Just trying stuff. #perpetualjournal https://www.instagram.com/p/CJCLw_7B2Rp/?igshid=12sbx5ipi0smw

Trying to do a #perpetualjournal for my own sake and sanity. Not hoping to become a visual artist or anything but it’s a precarious kind of madness trying to do while the kiddo demands attention. Magical! https://www.instagram.com/p/CG3CnGKBWkF/?igshid=1d8rjdivvpfra

Last week's Perpetual Plant Journal entry presented difficulties due to high winds and frigid air ... in April! After doing a very quick and fairly careless pencil sketch en plein air. When I returned to my garden the next day, the wind storm had all but destroyed the plant. I completed the Bleeding Heart at my drafting table using my Ipad for reference. My sketching carelessness became apparent immediately and I decided to redraw the blossoms. They weren't drooping in the beautiful way that Bleeding Heart droops. I'm working in a Stillman & Birn, Zeta Series sketchbook. In a few weeks I will have completed my first year working in this two volume sketchbook set that I've designated as my Perpetual Plant Journal. I began the journal last May. All of the text will have already been designed on the pages. The upcoming challenge will be to place new entries in a way that works well with the previous year(s) entries. The plan is for this to be a three-year collection of plant illustrations. I used a limited palette of opera, alizarin crimson, hansa yellow light, Joe's Blue, Ultramarine Blue , a touch of viridian and a touch of cadmium orange. I decided to handle the leaves and the smaller cluster of blossoms loosely so that the focus was on the main cluster. I painted the entire illustration with a #8 round brush. The text was was drawn first in pencil using rulered guidelines. I then inked the letters using a Platinum Carbon ink fountain pen. #chriscarterart #chriscarterartist #explorewithchriscarter #perpetualjournal #botanicalillustration #bleedingheart #watercolorflowers #watercolor_painting (at Lebanon Township, New Jersey) https://www.instagram.com/p/B_N4pyYnXAc/?igshid=1hunxodmi5dci