Stories of the Forest series finished

image of Stories of the Forest I, mixed media drawing on canvas board, 12" x 9", by Yelena Shabrova
Stories of the Forest I ~ mixed media on canvas board, 12″ x 9″
image of Stories of the Forest II, mixed media drawing on canvas board, 12" x 9", by Yelena Shabrova
Stories of the Forest II ~ mixed media on canvas board, 12″ x 9″
image of Stories of the Forest III, mixed media drawing on canvas board, 12" x 9", by Yelena Shabrova
Stories of the Forest III ~ mixed media on canvas board, 12″ x 9″
image of Stories of the Forest IV, mixed media drawing on canvas board, 12" x 9", by Yelena Shabrova
Stories of the Forest IV ~ mixed media on canvas board, 12″ x 9″
image of Stories of the Forest V, mixed media drawing on canvas board, 12" x 9", by Yelena Shabrova
Stories of the Forest V ~ mixed media on canvas board, 12″ x 9″

This series started with a title, and that almost never happens to me. By the time I sketched the very first piece I could not remember how exactly I came up with “Stories of the Forest,” but the initial idea was to make ink drawings of groups of trees and shrubs that would gradually fade into the paper collage background to showcase the beauty of common plant inhabitants of Western Oregon forests where I often hike. Every little plant, every shrub and tree have a story to tell if we look close, and together they weave a more complicated story that makes some unassuming spot in the forest look amazing.

It all looked good in pencil, but moving forward with inking was a different story. It looked too busy. Varying density of strokes and dots didn’t really work, so two ruined drawings I decided to change the approach. Maybe pen and ink was not the right choice for what I wanted to achieve, or maybe (and more likely) I failed to collaborate with my pens properly.

So I started to remove details that were less essential from my sketches, starting with varied growth under and behind tree branches, then with nonessential branches themselves. I do all corrections on tracing paper laid on top of the original sketch that needs to be improved. This considerably speeds up the process and keeps new ideas flowing without interruption of redrawing the same parts of a sketch.

And that’s how I’ve ended up with just a few leaves and scarcely spaced branches, letting the gently colored background to hint at whatever a viewer wants to see in the finished piece. There is special beauty in simplicity, and that old saying “less is more” gave me exactly what I wanted.

    Corinthian House Art Show 2014

    Corinthian House in Campbell has a new exhibit now, and several of may artworks are a part of it:

    Yelena Shabrova ~ Plum Blossoms in Los Gatos Creek Park ~ Prismacolor colored pencil on Bristol paper, 16" x 20"
    Plum Blossoms in Los Gatos Creek Park ~ Prismacolor colored pencil on Bristol paper, 16″ x 20″

    Yelena Shabrova ~ Fortitude ~ Prismacolor colored pencil on drawing paper, 9" x 6"
    Fortitude ~ Prismacolor colored pencil on drawing paper, , 9″ x 6″

    Yelena Shabrova ~ Newborn ~ Derwent colored pencil on Bienfang watercolor paper, 11" x 14", horse portrait
    Newborn ~ Derwent colored pencil on Bienfang watercolor paper, 11″ x 14″

    Corinthian house is located at 250 Budd Avenue, Campbell CA 95008.

    The exhibit is open from 9:00am to 4:00pm, Monday through Friday till January 18, 2015.

    The reception will be held on Sunday, December 7, 2014, 2 – 3:30 pm.

      A growing… something

      A growing... something - digital art

      I haven’t visited Harmony for a long time, not even sure why. It’s a great place to get unstuck (and I am stuck thoroughly with an abstract piece right now), to unwind after a stressful day, and to doodle away no matter what your circumstances are.

      Harmony is perfectly capable of helping you make realistic art, but that I could do on my own, right? So for the most part me and Harmony create strange things like this one.

        Fortitude

        Fortitude – 9″ x 6″, colored pencil on drawing paper

        “Fortitude” is an ode to the plant that grows in our patio. I can never remember what it is called. But whatever it is, it survived a serious frostbite last winter, had to be completely chopped out, and in a few months came back as lush and healthy as ever. Right now this plant with an unmemorizable name is taking over the patio despite the heat. I keep hoping that it will stop on its own and I won’t have to trim it. It would be difficult to decide which parts to take away.