Day 225 – A Bit of this and that!!

February 15, 2015Leave a comment

Decided I would post some of the sketches that for one reason or another I never quite got around to posting. These were done at Whiole Foods in the last few weeks. I really liked the guys green shirt!!

A spirited one sided conversation. I think she was interviewing but she did all the talking. I thought you let the interviewee talk occasionally?!

This guy fascinated me. Everything about him was very square. His shoulders his head his forehead. And mile long fingers. Read a running magazine as he ravenously ate pizza. Drove a car with DeKalb Co tags. No wanted to ask him if he knew my kids but I restrained myself. You learn a lot about people when you sit and sketch them aka observe them.

Thanks for looking.

Day 224 – Something Different

February 15, 2015February 15, 20156 Comments

Saturday is life modeling day. Our model was the lovely Erica.

I drew Erica with my Neocolor caran d’ache watercolor crayons. No pencil was used on this drawing. Just the crayons.

I tried to draw her with a limited pallete of peach, yellow ochre, burnt Sienna, burnt umber and a chocolate brown. I did add in white before I finished and a touch of a bright rose pink.

I used a fine misting spray bottle to release the colors. I also used my waterbrush for this as well as to blend some colors.

I think the dark on the right side of her mouth needs to be wiped off. How do I do that?

I lift color with an old Grumbacher hog bristle brush or with a damp wadded or folded bounty paper towel. Always am amazed by what you can wipe off Fabriano paper.

Thanks for looking!!

Day 223 – More gulls

February 14, 2015Leave a comment

My friends will tell you that I rarely do just one of anything. I always do multiples. So far eight pages of those sea gulls. No idea how many pages of wild birds that visit my feeders on the back porch.

I usually start by drawing the outline of the birds starting at the head and chest. Then the shape of the body and add details last.

I was getting tired of the cerulean backgrounds so as my kids at school would say I changed it up to a green background. I made the green with manganese blue and cad yellow light.

Otherwise the birds are done the same as yesterday’s. I just didn’t have time to color these yesterday.

The background on this one is Quin Sienna a very orangey color.
This was my fav page til I realized that one of the birds might need some more body aka belly on him. I do love the look f the Quin Sienna with the greys. My favorite background.

First I drew them with a grey Tombow marker as I watched them out the window. Sometimes I had to give them several turns at the feeder to get them almost right. I didn’t use the bird books or Google images at all on this page.

I should have used a darker Tombow because you am an hardly see this one after I colored the birds with the caran d’arches crayons. The crayons are a lot of fun.

The lettering was done with my Pentel brush pen. I do love that pen. I also did a lot of the birds legs with this one.

A lot of the smaller birds were done when they were sitting on the porch rail waiting their turn. The red house finches are very bossy and try to run off the other finches. I also wrote some of their behaviors down. The little wren would land on the wind chime and watch a bit then zoom in and out.

The chickens were on a netflixs show I had been watching so I added them to the drawing.
Thanks for looking.

Day 222 – Now that’s a NumBeR I never thought

February 13, 2015February 13, 20152 Comments

I would get too. Why is 222 days of consecutive blogging more impressive than 221?!

I was in pursuit of more birds today. Looking for some geese but couldn’t find any near the edge of water. All were swimming out in the middle of any pond. Too far to see. Then I remembered the seagulls we drove through yesterday. I stopped and sure enough they were still in their parking lot.
I started drawing. They tried to stay away. I remembered I had a couple of biscuits from Cracker Barrel in my purse. They got nearer and nearer as I threw bits to them. Hard to sketch hold the book and throw them snacks. But I managed 8 pages.

Colors Piemonite mixed with cerulean and ultramarine. Greys are Quin Sienna and cerulean as well as burnt umber and ultramarine blue for darks and black. Background is a very watery piemonite and cobalt.

I really should slap an envelope over the bird on the right because I think the two on the right are super. Same colors as above just not as much water in background. Beaks and legs are Quin gold and nickel Azo with Quin Sienna.

I have gotten bored with cerulean backgrounds. Wait til you see the backgrounds I am planning for tomorrow’s gulls. I think I will feed then crackers. Trying to go gluten free.

Thanks for looking!!

Day 221 – A few ChiCkEnS!

February 12, 20152 Comments

My friend Marilyn Tomeo told me that Browns Feed and Seed has chickens and a turkey. On my way home yesterday I stopped by and drew those chickens. It wasn’t long before they ran off. Perhaps they were shy or I scared them!? As long as I stayed in my car they were happily running around and eating. Once I got out I had to follow them around. They climbed under fences and behind some of the accumulation at Browns.

So rather than chase chickens – I already had three pages of chickens. I decided to draw the store. It was fascinating with everything from signage that would make the American Pickers sigh with happiness to an old horse harness, the remains of a ghost and my favorite – an alligator concrete bench. The bench is because there’s an alligator in the pond next to the store. I will have to go back and look for him to draw but not while it’s cold. He’s hiding.

The more I drew the more I saw just like Tommy Kane says. I do wish I had either painted the fluffy clouds in the sky and or the pines behind it but I love the way it turned out.

Colors used. Burnt Sienna, burnt umber, cerulean, Quin red, cad yellow light, ultramarine blue, manganese blue
Greys were made by mixing the blues and the Browns.

These were adorable chickens. The brown one had on pantaloons. I am assuming they were both hens but I have no idea!! They both kept giving me profiles. Maybe that’s why chickens frequently appear that way? Colors used. Quin Sienna, burnt umber, cerulean, cad yellow light, ultramarine blue

Backgrounds are cerulean. Shadows cerulean and burnt Sienna.

Yellow dog came out to wag its tail and beg a pet. Too bad I didn’t have a treat for her. Poor old thing only had one eye. Maybe she got in fight with the alligator In the nearby pond.

Day 220 -A nice round number

February 11, 2015February 11, 20153 Comments

To have reached. Been a busy day. Sketching people at the Bean. Lunch at Raes Coastal Cafe which looks like a great place to sketch and Browns Feed and Seed with Chickens. Been looking for chickens to sketch.

A commission. ExCitEmEnT!!

Last nite one of the best watercolor sketches I have done. Life is good!!

The teapot was made by local potter Shishir At Tirecity.com. I coveted his teapots for a long time before I got one.
I will try to describe how I painted this. I washed the pot w a pale mix of cerulean and burnt sienna. Shadows were done with more cerulean. The hard part was the blue lines. And making the pot look rusty.

I actually painted with two paint brushes. One to paint the dark blue line and a watery smaller brush to paint the edges so it bled. The same thing with the rust. Spots of rust aka burnt Sienna were dotted around and I smudged them. I think it would have been easier to splatter this but I was afraid to get my background dirty with splatters.

Then I discovered I was suppose to use a water soluble pen. OPPS. I at least drew the block around it.

I did a contour drawing of it first with my noodler creaper Ahab.

This is what it looked like without the pen square. Which one is your favorite?!

Thanks for looking!!

Day 219 More Caran d’Arches Experiments

February 9, 2015Leave a comment

This is a sketch using Caran d’Arches Neocolor II looks
pretty lame until you wet the colors.

Then it looks like this. All of these sketches were done with the Caran d’Arches and then sprayed. The bottle I use does a very fine mist. The paper is Strathmore 500 Mixed media.

Zoe
I love the way it will run a bit. Sometimes less sometimes more depending on how much I spray it.

Zoe

Tufted Titmouse – the grey stuff below the bird is not where I messed up but where it ran. I love runny stuff.

Cardinal. Love the drippy stuff on this one. I did highlight the eyes with a gel pen.

My secret weapon. An old spray bottle that makes a fine mist!!

Thanks for looking!!

Day 217 – How to cover that Journal!

February 9, 2015February 9, 2015Leave a comment

I started with a plain Strathmore soft back mixed media Journal. I decided that if I was NOT sketching at home I had better add hard covers to it…and besides its not the prettiest book on the shelf!

Supplies I used…be sure your box cutter has a sharp blade. Makes life easier as does a metal ruler…cant cut it with the box cutter.

Supply list!

Archival paper for cover

Archival Cardboard

Green self healing mat

Parchment paper, freezer paper, waxed paper or deli wraps

PVA glue and or Modge Podge

Foam Brush

Pencil

Scissors

Metal Ruler

Sharp Box Cutter

Bone folder

Old credit card to smooth bubbles from paper

Binders clips or clothes pins to clamp edges

First I cut two heavy cardboard covers from the back of an old art tablet. Good to use archival NON acid paper so the wood pulp wont be able to eat up your sketches!

Trim all paper and cardboard with the box cutter and metal ruler to keep those edges straight!

I have a great box of marbled and other fancy papers from Paper Mojo...lots of beautiful scrap. Because its scrap none of the pieces are big enough to cover a journal entirely so I piece the covers out of coordinating papers.

Lets get started!!

Cut the paper used to cover the cardboard about 1/2″ larger than the cardboard cover. Use the bone folder to make nice folded edges.

Heres the front side of the cardboard with edges folded over. The paper is glued on! Smooth any bubbles out with either an old credit card or the bone floder.

The covers were glued onto the journal with the PVA glue.

Once the covers were glued on its time to flip over the folded edges.

Miter the corners just like wrapping a gift. CLIP diagonally across each corner to eliminate bulk. Then neatly fold in your corners. This will be covered with a piece of paper for the endpapers so the uneven paper does not show when you open the book.

I use binders clips with deli wraps inside to let the folded edges dry. You could also use parchment paper or freezer paper to do this step. Clothes pins instead of binders clips.

Time to cut the spine.

Time to cut a piece for the spine. The spine should be the width of the book including the covers and the length of the book. Clear as mud right?? The width of the spine to include the covers.

Here is a picture of the paper covering the spine. I put two hashmarks top and bottom on the center of the paper that is to cover the spine.

To make covering the spine even more of a challenge I had to center this boxy looking lattice on the spine. I folded it along each side of the spine using the bone folder to crease the paper. I then checked before I glued it down to be sure it was centered.

At the top and bottom of the spine cut a 45 degree angle and fold the paper on the spine down to cover the cardboard spine. Spines normally float free and should not be glued but my paper was thin so I decided to glue it down.

Glue the spine to the book and fold over the remaining edges. I didnt need to clamp it with the binders clips because the glue is so sticky it held. If it hadnt I would have held it in place with the clips till it dried.

Cut two pieces of archival paper to cover the insides so all your folded paper doesnt show. These are called the endpapers. Glue them down with the PVA glue.

Clamp with the binders clips and protect the book with deliwrap.

Let dry.

Glue a scrap of watercolor paper painted with pretty colors for your title!

Coat the book with Modge Podge to make it more durable.

Now go forth and draw!!

Thanks for looking!!

Day 217 – Life Modeling in Aiken

February 7, 2015Leave a comment

With the lovely Amy. My best one so far I think….love the way it turned out. I did the sketch completely from start to end with Caran d’Arches Neocolor II watersoluble wax pastels.

TIP: I sprayed them with a fine misty spray bottle to get the colors to brighten. It was so much easier than brushing the colors with a brush that I was finished early….this is a big picture…on a watercolor half sheet. If you do this why its vertical you get some lovely drips of color.

TIP: I also used an old grumbacher hog bristle brush to life color off the page. That worked great like across the top of the thigh where I did not have enough curve and the light on the front of the left leg.

TIP: You can also wipe out color at least on Fabriano with a folded paper towel. Fabriano is terrific for letting you lift color when its wet. Tough paper!!

Try it you will see how much easier it is…I think this would work with watercolor pencils too. I hate to think of the number of times I have spent hours coloring a picture with watercolor pencils only to loose some lovely detail when you wet them with a brush.

The texture of the sketching can also just disappear before your eyes when you use a brush…Going to try that technique again…alot of fun. Paper is Fabriano Artistico 140# watercolor paper.

Now will an animal or a person PLEASE hold still long enough for me to sketch them??

Day 216 – So many days!!!

February 6, 20152 Comments

Amazing that I am at 216 days of consecutive blogging. Onward. Hoping for 365 days!!

Last night I discovered one of Roz’s assignments was draw your pets everyday. Oopps!!

I did four last nite. I thought three were done. This is Zoe peering at me around her favorite feather pillows hoping I was done messing and could now pay attention to her. Done with Caran d’Arches Neocolor II on Strathmore 500 paper. They loved each other.

Here’s another one of Zoe done w watercolor on Strathmore 500. I used the water brush. Lots of blotchy washes. Not a good look!! I really think it was the watercolor brush. Hard to get a big wash going with drips of water.

After looking at this photo decided it wasn’t done. No background and some more color on that green and brown and blue pillow. Or maybe it just looks not done when you compare it to the first one?!