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Kitchen Baskets

2 hr mixed media sketch, 5″ x 7″

With a tiny page, I can do a more detailed little scene in one morning’s warm-up. Today’s sketch was based on a photo of a kitchen nook, and I was most interested in trying to render the fruits and vegetables hanging in the white mesh baskets. They looked really fun to draw, and they were – fun and tricky!

I started over a watercolor wash that I painted the day before, so it was completely dry before I scribbled on top of it with colored pencil. I used mostly dark black-raspberry red, burnt orange, warm brown, and periwinkle blue, and leaf green. The last details that I really wanted to pop were added on the very top with white gel pen.

While I was drawing, I wasn’t looking for realism as much as I wanted an interesting and expressive play of color and texture. Although I wish I’d spent a little more time fussing over the drawing, I’m happy with the cozy feel of this illustration overall.