A pen, a journal and the mountains
Long time, no post, I know. :/ I've been busy but I hope to be active on this blog once more. :)
Here are some pen sketches which I made in Kashmir (on a trip to Sharda; Neelum Valley). I have been meaning to post these for more than a month but procrastination always gets in the way. :/
Kashmir was a wonderful place, definitely one of the most beautiful places I've been to. We got a chance to explore the place, and to absorb in the sights, sounds and smells of nature. These sketches (some reasonably refined, others quite unfinished) are an exploration of the natural beauty of the valley. Unfortunately (and contrary to the title of this post) I couldn't sketch any of the mountains. They just seemed too huge in their size, and too varied in their features and I really doubted I could capture the landscape with my pen and paper, although I do wish I had at least made an attempt to sketch them. But I did make sketches of other things. :) Here they are.
This one was the first sketch I made during the trip; a pine tree overlooking the window. :)
Here are some pen sketches which I made in Kashmir (on a trip to Sharda; Neelum Valley). I have been meaning to post these for more than a month but procrastination always gets in the way. :/
Kashmir was a wonderful place, definitely one of the most beautiful places I've been to. We got a chance to explore the place, and to absorb in the sights, sounds and smells of nature. These sketches (some reasonably refined, others quite unfinished) are an exploration of the natural beauty of the valley. Unfortunately (and contrary to the title of this post) I couldn't sketch any of the mountains. They just seemed too huge in their size, and too varied in their features and I really doubted I could capture the landscape with my pen and paper, although I do wish I had at least made an attempt to sketch them. But I did make sketches of other things. :) Here they are.
This one was the first sketch I made during the trip; a pine tree overlooking the window. :)
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| One thing I discovered about drawing trees is that you don't have to worry about the leaves looking like leaves, as long as the whole sketch looks like a tree. :) |
The one below was probably the best sketch of the trip. :) I drew this outdoors, sitting by the riverside. This tree stood at the bottom of the mountain across the river.
I'm pretty satisfied (and surprised!) by how this turned out. I really didn't think drawing trees could be as simple as this was! :) Again, if you zoom in, you will notice that the leaves aren't leaf shapes, but little circles and dots which create an overall impression of leaves.
This one is supposed to be a waterfall (well, it wasn't a very massive one, just a stream of melted-glacier-water that gushed down the mountain slope and fed the River Neelum at one point, but it was very beautiful). The landscape here was picturesque, but the drawing definitely isn't! xD Everything in this sketch is totally out of size and proportion. Perhaps the fact that I drew this while sitting on a rock with my feet in the ice-cold water contributed to it? I don't know. I may be good at drawing plants but I'm definitely not good at drawing water! ;P
This is a view of the riverside and the rocks and the plants surrounding it. The subject was quite interesting, and although I enjoyed sketching this too, the drawing doesn't really resemble the real thing. I think it is probably difficult to tell that the random lines in the upper area of the drawing are supposed to be water. ;D
The last one is an unfinished sketch of a plant-pot that sat on our balcony. This is not exactly complete, because it occurred to me that it was pretty stupid of me to draw this common plant instead of the wonderful scenery so I dropped the idea. ;)
I hope you enjoyed looking at these! I know some of these sketches weren't really that amazing but then this is because I didn't filter out any of the drawings. :)
Wow these pen sketches are amazing! It's great to see that you've posted a writing piece, photography and art related to your trip to Neelum Valley. (I wish I could be that productive!)
ReplyDeleteThe first one is so beautifully done because you don't even have to label it "pine tree" for anyone to recognise what it is. I love the varying textures and tones you've captured in this tree study and have to agree with what you mentioned there about leaves not having to look exactly like replicates of real-life ones to indicate which species it is.
The tree sketch by the riverside is absolutely stunning! The process you went through to draw this is really interesting, the varying pattern techniques and overall the way in which you applied them to build up the shape of it. The detail is incredible! I'm surprised you say it was simple - you're definitely making good progress. :D
Hey contrary to what you said, I think the next one is really well done... I can perfectly visualise what the view must have looked like in real life by this simple yet effective sketch. :) Haha I suppose that's an awkward position for sketching (or maybe not!) but water is definitely a complicated element to draw, where you can easily overlook/overcomplicate it as you have to figure out exactly what state of motion the particles are in (gushing, streaming, trickling, static, etc.). :) I suggest trying to observe how fluid it is and what it might look like at an instant in time in terms of the way light reflects off of it? (I'm by no means a professional however!) Anyway, I love the way you drew the tree sprouting from the rocks by the waterfall there, it has a pretty style.
Oh wow the one following after is fantastic! I was struck by the way it depicts an atmospheric mood with the above perspective, kind of like you're looking down into the water. I love how you drew those rock details and that they appear harder than the slightly less-focussed water texture.
The artistic abstract theme in the last one is really interesting even though you didn't finish it; I particularly like the way you drew those leaves in different dimensions rather than just 2D. The shapes are really cool! Haha I can relate, it's like fixating on something and suddenly having the drive and inspiration to draw it even though it's somewhat unrelated to the place you're in and then mid-way wondering why you're drawing it of all things. (It happened to me in my outdoor Inktober sketches. xD) This still looks really good though!
I really enjoyed looking at all of these, including the ones you mention would otherwise have been filtered out! I think they all deserve to be showcased here. :) Just wondering, did you take photos of the subjects you were drawing (like the trees)? It'd be interesting to see your style through a comparison! (Though not necessary of course, it's up to you!)
I think I rambled a little too much here! xD
DeleteThanks for your lovely long comment! (lol no that wasn't rambling, I honestly enjoyed reading every bit of it! :D)
DeleteI photographed the pine tree in the first sketch but I don't really remember photographing any of the other subjects. The idea of posting a photograph alongside a sketch of the same thing has always appealed to me but I'm usually too lazy or forgetful to actually do it, hehe. I do hope to do it sometime, though. :)