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Blackberry Bears

August 29, 2017
by Katherine
bears, blackberries, drawing, process
1 Comment

August is the height of blackberry season and my neighborhood hasn’t been in short supply, so the other day when I was feeling kind of down about all of the packing and cleaning my husband and I have been doing since we moved into our new house, a new idea popped into my head: What if I tried drawing with blackberries?

BlackberryAugust
For the record, I’ve tried drawing with edible things before. I love experimenting with materials that are hard to control, because the lack of rules is very freeing, but at the same time weird mediums come with their own unique set of limitations. With blackberries, I wondered if I could crush them into an ink, or use a brush to paint with the juice. So, I got started by mashing up berries with a toothbrush and dragging it around to make strokes that looked like fur.

BlackberryToothbrush

Maybe I should try drawing bears? Bears eat blackberries, so that makes sense, right? The juice went on lightly but then got darker as it dried, and would change to an indigo color on more acidic papers. I sketched with a pencil and laid down some details with watercolor, and then looked up other animal references to try out techniques on wrinkles and feathers. I overworked some pages into a soupy mess, but it didn’t matter because I was having fun.

BlackberryBear1

BlackberryAnimalGroup1

BlackberryBear4

BlackberryBear3

If you can get your hands on some blackberries, I promise that they’re fun to play with even if you feel like you don’t have any drawing skills. Just go crazy with making marks—with your fingers, a toothbrush, a stick, or an actual paintbrush—and give yourself permission to make a terrible mess. And best of all, you get to eat all the leftover berries! I’m excited to play around with it for as long as the season lasts.

About the Author
I'm the award-winning author and illustrator of NEIGHBORHOOD SHARKS and HOW TO BE AN ELEPHANT, and the illustrator for the EXPEDITIONERS series by S. S. Taylor. Sign up for my newsletter to join me in my studio every month for an exclusive, behind-the-scenes look at my latest sketches, research, events, classroom tools, giveaways and more!
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One Comment
  1. martin magovsky September 3, 2017 at 4:12 am Reply

    hi there katherine….great idea to drawing with blackberries….even though over here in italy they are a wonderful dessert…..out favorite ristorante here in vedano olona serves frutti di bosco…fruits of the woods/ blueberries,raspberries and blackberries/ in italian, mirtilli,lamponi and moire…a great treat…imagine mixing them all together and than drawing???? love the sketch of the elephant done with blackberries….my favorite!!!! wishing you great success in your book signing travels across the U.S.A. for your new book “how to be an elephant”……your friend from italy, martin

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