Art Potpourri: a Pear, a Beetle, Some Seedpods, & Autumn Leaves

—Art Class Recap, Part 3

In today’s post, the final in my Art Class Recap series, I’ll share more art I created in the class and will point out class techniques I incorporated into each piece.

The subject of this class at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum (ASDM) was Lost and Found Lines. You may well be thinking: what are lost and found lines? In a nutshell, this means that rather than defining the edges of subjects using solid lines (which is more-or-less my usual style), defining edges instead by using different types of lines (thicker/thinner; solid/dashed/dotted/none; sharply defined/softly blended) as well as using changes in value (darker/lighter).

Here’s a pear I drew on my first day of class. I used charcoal (for the first time ever!!!) and incorporated no lines at all—only soft edges. Wow, radical (at least for me)! 🤪

Pear (charcoal)

Boy howdy, I loved how easy it was to create soft gradients by drawing with a stick of charcoal and then smearing the charcoal with my finger. I did not, however, love how my fingers immediately turned black. 😐

I took advantage of the collections of pinned arthropods in display boxes that are available to ASDM students, and drew this Red Speckled Jewel Beetle that caught my eye. The Beetle is native to Southeast Asia.

Red Speckled Jewel Beetle (pen, watercolor, & graphite)

For the side of the Beetle further away from the viewer, I used faded color and no lines, to indicate a highlight and bring viewers’ attention to the (darker, more contrasty) side of the Beetle.

After drawing my Beetle friend, I turned my attention to natural history closer to home (literally), and drew some Blue Palo Verde seedpods from my back yard.

Blue Palo Verde Seedpods (pen, watercolor, & graphite)

For my seedpod art I decided to skip drawing lines on one side of each seedpod, using color and/or shadow to define those edges instead, and used broken lines for the thin stems.

I also created art of another non-Tucson subject: autumn leaves. This art is a “combo platter” of concepts I practiced in the class: I utilized different types of lines (from solid to dashed to lightly dotted to none ) as well as different values (from darker to lighter to none).

...as autumn fades... (pen, watercolor, & graphite)

I hope you’ve enjoyed my 3-part Art Class Recap series and enjoyed seeing the different art mediums and techniques I explored!

All-in-all I thought the class was good food for thought. I don’t anticipate using lost and found lines in all my art from here forward, but I’ve already incorporated some of these techniques into art I’ve created since the class—for example, in my Perpetual Journal art (which you’ll see in the near future!).

🎺 Doot, do-do-DOOOOO!

That’s the trumpet fanfare announcing that as of last Friday, May 30, 2025, I’ve maintained my Daily Art Habit for 250 days in a row!!! 🎉 Woo hoo!

My Daily Art Habit count-up timer showing 250 days in a row of creating art!

This means I’ve put pencil, pen, and/or paintbrush to paper for at least five minutes/day, for 250 days in a row (and believe me, some days it is only 5 minutes—and that’s okay)! Being consistent, even with small increments of time, has added up to lots of art!

Speaking of small increments:

“The least little bit can do so much.”

Bob Ross

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