Day 244 – Those Squirrels

March 7, 2015Leave a comment

At times I get bored drawing the birds on the back porch and I draw the squirrels. Actually they are easier to draw than the birds because the hold still sometimes for quite a while. The squirrels are drawn with Noodler Lexington Gray ink and are painted with watercolor. A combo of Quin Sienna and cerulean. I don’t understand why the Lexington Graybis waterproof while the supposedly Bulletproof black and the eelskin so not. So strange.

Like a stupid head I drew one squirrel right in the center! A disaster!! I decided to paint over it with some of the Schminke gouache and yes it covered the squirrel completely!! Hurrah.

Next came the trial of trying to write the words on it. Finally I got the Kuratake brush to write on the gouache zip zip it was done.

Thanks for looking!!

Day 243 – The Chicken or All Roz’s Fault!!

March 5, 2015March 5, 2015Leave a comment

This was the first chicken that posed for me when we went to Key West. I bought a box of Schminke gouache from Wet Paint last week and Roz said use them for two weeks. Painted on Strathmore 500 Mixed Media Paper.

Till I did the chicken all I had done was paint backgrounds to cover up boo boos like yesterday. I meant to paint my house or a church downtown that I have always loved as the last assignment for the last teacher in the last week of Sketchbookskool.

I ran across this chicken pic. He cocked his head at me and said paint me. I succumbed. What can I say?! Maybe that’s why I have been doing all the bird drawings. Practicing for this rooster.

First I drew him quickly on a scrap of paper laying on the table.

That did it. He hooked me. I got the sketchbook out.

And the lovely new box of Schminke gouache.

It came in this great wooden box. Almost too pretty to be touched! But I managed.

I used all the colors and tubes of M.Graham Azo yellow and pyrole red that I already had. It was much like painting with acrylics without the shiny plastic look they have. The colors covered well. Easy to mix. I did have to get out my acrylic brushes. The long watercolor brights were not stuff enough.

Tip: I used my monarch Winsor & Newton filberts and an escoda Prado filbert. After I switched to these the paint behaved so well. Went on easily and smoothly. Yesterday I discovered the stiffer hog bristle brushes leave ridges in the paint. Not a good look.

Thanks for looking.

Day 242 – A Trial

March 5, 2015March 5, 20152 Comments

I make some spectacular screw ups to fix. I was trying to capture the birds doing something besides a profile view. Upside down, looking over their shoulder, diving in,etc. For some reason while I was drawing this I decided to use a pilot varsity to do the lettering like I don’t have five other pens loaded with permanent inks in three colors. DUH what was I thinking?!

Fast forward to I thought watercolor wash for the background. White is so boring. It needed a little umph, don’t you think?!

The pilot began to run. See the top left corner?! Nasty. Had such nice writing. All done with that Pilot. I liked this spread and I wanted to save it. What to do?!

The Pilots come in seven great colors. NONE of them permanent. BEWARE if you want to watercolor over them. And yes I have all seven of them.

So what all did I try to fix the mess?! Read on!!

Got the bright idea to wet the pilot own words down and wipe some of the ink off. Maybe that would help when I painted over it?! Nope!!!

Then I painted over it with white gouache after all Roz said it would cover anything. Make that anything besides a non permanent pilot pen. More Grey. Sigh.

Next I got out some acrylic paint. Since its plastic I didn’t think the ink could bleed thru. I was right EXCEPT the paint was semitransparent. You could still see the lettering and the grey gouache mess.

OnWaRd!! At this point I thought why not paint over it with gouache. I was right the ink would not leak they the yellow green acrylic paint aka plastic layer. But since I didn’t feel the greatest I couldn’t find a tube of bright clear yellow to mix with the turquoise for a great yellow green. BUT even though I knew it would make a muddy green – think pea colored-I persisted and lo and behold a massive pile of pea green. I used it. Didn’t want to waste it. Did NOT like that layer. A sock pea color.

I finally found a tube of Azo yellow gouache I had accidently bought at Sam Flaxs. A deep turquoise will over power a light yellow. I knew that. Did I hold back on the blue?! NOPE. Most of a tube of yellow later I finally got a light enough color. And painted it for the third time if you count the coat of white gouache.

Success finally. How many hours and a whole tube of paint. Here’s how it looks now.

TIP: Gotta make it worth your reading.

I had tried my Noodler Creaper Ahab on gouache yesterday. It really HATED the gouache.

No problem. I have a lot of felt tip pens. Pitt pens Staedler pens Micron and Kuratake pens including a nylon brush Kuratake pen similar to the Pentel Brush pen.

I didn’t try the Staedler or the Micron after the gouache gummed up my Pitt pens. The Kuratake brush pen was super with the gouache.

The fiber tip Kuratakes not so much. Started clogging up. I may have a lot of pens but I treasure them all and DONT want to ruin their tips.

Bytw you can buy a Kuratake on amazon. Very Japanese looking pen. Even has a loop on it.

Thanks for looking.

Day 241 – Mary Ann’s Cup

March 4, 2015March 4, 2015Leave a comment

One of the assignments for sketchbookskool is to paint a teacup. I have my great great grandmother’s coffee cup. I had already painted her husband’s coffee cup earlier and had meant to paint Mary Ann’s but not quite gotten around to it. So it was a great opportunity to do it.

Mary Ann and her sister Sarah Purcell Robinson

I really don’t know alot about Mary Ann other than she raised my grandmother and when my great grandmother decided to ride a horse astride in a horse race she would NOT have it. She told my great grandmother she would NOT be riding on a horse like a man. She also had a great collection of family photos of her and her Purcell family. And thats about all I know about her. She died a year after her husband of many years. Strange that I would have her coffee cup and not know more about her.

Back to that coffee cup. I drew it with my Noodler Flex pen with De Artremis Brown Document ink. I meant to do the whole spread with that pen but OPPS picked up the other Noodler that had Lexington Grey ink in it. I am glad at least it was not black. Of course I did not realize it till I was well along with the grey writing and drawing the map of Oklahoma.

I can’t say I really enjoyed painting this cup. I wanted to draw more birds and squirrels but since I signed up for SBS I wanted to see it thru.

I think the cup is slightly out of round but so would you be if you were a hundred years old!! LOL..

I drew it first with a yellow ochre watercolor pencil…probably should have used a grey one. Colors used Cad yellow light, cerulean, yellow ochre, quinacridone sienna, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, quin rose and cobalt.

AP’s Coffee Cup

This is her husband, A P Johnson’s cup. If you see paper glued on a journal page you can be SURE that I messed up the lettering and fixed it with another piece of paper!!

Mary Ann and AP Johnson with Dad, 1923

BYTW I thought perhaps her cup was not old. It just doesn’t look as old as AP’s except the pattern on them is very similar-same feathery odd looking leaves and pink flowers. I never would have noticed that had I not painted them both.

Thanks for looking!

Day 24o – The End of Downton Season 5

March 3, 2015March 3, 20152 Comments

I meant to draw more of the players but somehow it did not record. So I drew Lady Violet Crawley Dowager Countess of Grantham. What a name?! I hope I got it right. Nobody is better than Maggie Smith in her part.

My favorite character Lady Violet always has some smart answer.

I drew her with my Noodler Creaper Ahab loaded with Carbon Black Ink. I love that pen. Makes such great lines because of its flex nib and so cheap.

I drew the face and hat. Added a lot of crosshatching shading with the Creaper. A bit at a time. Hard to go back once these too much.

I originally had her name and the quote below Lady Violet who was in an oval. Originally I intended to paint the “mat” area.

I ran out of room for the quote so I got the bright idea of making an oval mat out of old ledger paper. I use it because the pen does well on it. Some paper the pen feathers on. Not a good look.

How did I get that oval? I might add it was perfect on the first attempt. I cut a piece of paper the same size as the sketchbook page. The I clipped it over the page, held it up to a sunny window and drew the oval. I then carefully cut it out from the inside out. I really was amazed that it fit exactly.

She was colored with caran d’ache and some Watercolor markers I got at Michaels. A lot of fun. No idea if they are lightfast but there are 24 of them. Cheaper than the nonlightfast Tombows.

Here’s the whole double page spread with more Lady Violet quotes. She’s so funny to me. All lettering down with the Noodler Creaper Ahab on Strathmore 500 Mixed Media paper.

Thanks for looking!!

Day 239 – Four Reclining nudes in Twenty Minutes

March 2, 2015March 2, 2015Leave a comment

One of the guys gave me his chair dead center of the model yesterday so I could have a better view of the model but I only had twenty minutes left to draw. And no big paper – just my art journal. So these are what I did in 29 minutes.

Number 1 – a contour drawing with my Noodler Ahab on Strathmore 500 Mixed Media paper starting with the shoulders. I start there to get the shoulder angle right comparing it with the models shoulders to see if my line is parallel to her shoulder line. The I drew across the top Of her hips and legs continuing across the bottom back to her shoulders. The crosshatching was added after the contour drawing as was her face. I hate her face so decided to turn the page and start again.

This is number two. I think she went better and her face looks better.

Number there is the big one in the bottom with the Pentel brush pen. I think her thigh is too big and her head a tad small.

So onward to number four. Only about five minutes left. That’s my favorite. The PBP makes great drapery fast!!

They were quick fun sketches and I think a bit Henry Moore or Picassoish.

Which one is your favorite?!

Thanks for looking!!

Day 239 – Four Reclining nudes in Twenty Minutes

March 2, 2015Leave a comment

This is number two. I think she went better and her face looks better.

Number there is the big one in the bottom with the Pentel brush pen. I think her thigh is too big and her head a tad small.

So onward to number four. Only about five minutes left. That’s my favorite. The PBP makes great drapery fast!!

They were quick fun sketches and I think a bit Henry Moore or Picassoish.

Which one is your favorite?!

Thanks for looking!!

Day 238 – Life modeling

February 28, 20152 Comments

After 30 minutes drawing.

Tom, Ruth and I made our weekly trek to lifemodeling today. I used caran d’ache and fabriano watercolor.

I wasn’t too thrilled with my view of the model. Mostly her head but glad to say she turned out looking better than I ever thought my view of her would look. Usually drawing from a foreshortened angle is tough but for some reason I did her correctly today.

I liked the way she looked at our first break. I drew her with yellow ochre. Scrubbed out the incorrect lines with my old Grumbacher filbert hog bristle brush. It’s also great to lift color with.

This is after another half an hour. And she’s done for the moment. Still a bit more to do like the background and a few shadows. I almost made the mistake of using burnt umber on her til I heard Charles Reod saying NEVER use anything darker than burnt sienna on a young model. The only place I used it was on the hair, the eyebrows and the eye.

I used the old grumbacher hog bristle brush to scrub out the highlights on her face near her mouth. And some on her nose. Also across the top

Of her left shoulder. I did manage to retain the whites on her right shoulder. I sprayed the bottom of the girl and the drapery with my spray bottle to get a few runs in the caran d’ache. Always a fun technique.

Colors used: flesh, pink, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, lavender, burnt umber.

Thanks for looking.

Day 237-Dr Skeychys – Part 2

February 27, 2015Leave a comment

It was hard to see the models legs because they were behind the hulka hoo

I won two tickets to the next theatrical at Chay Noir. It reminds me of a strongman posing at a sideshow. Started with my Noodler Ahab and filled I with my Pentel brush pen and my red Tombow.

I am not really fond of any of these. Started with my Noodler Ahab and filled I with my Pentel brush pen and my red Tombow. Accents with my wink of Stella’s. I have a red, a black, and a gold one.

The last pose of the night?! I guess she was tired. I know we were after more than ten sketches in a couple of hours.

Started with my Noodler Ahab and filled I with my Pentel brush pen and my red Tombow.

Day 236 – Dr Sketchys

February 27, 20152 Comments

Our favorite art event of the month- the last Wednesday of the month at Chat Noir.

Between crosshatching those buttons for hours and the rain I was NOT in the groove last nite.

We did a bunch of one minute gesture sketches which are usually great but the model moved making them harder than usual.

1 minute gesture sketches. Was NOT in the groove. Pentel brush pen with a prepainted background in my Strathmore 500 mixed media journal.

Not sure how long these were. Two minutes perhaps. Same poise reversed. Pentel brush pen with a prepainted background in my Strathmore 500 mixed media journal.

5 minutes but she moved the whole time. At least I am going with that excuse. I didn’t draw because I was getting frustrated with the model moving all the time.

Finally she held still. I drew her with my Noodler Creaper Ahab which I love loaded with Carbon Platinum black ink. Things improved somewhat. But I only had red Tombow markers, a gold Pitt pen, and the Pentel brush pen. Poor planning. All the pink and red is done with the tombow.

Thanks for looking.