Day 233 – Madly Sketching

February 23, 2015February 23, 20152 Comments

Nothing unusual about that is there?

Both of these are on Strathmore 500 Mixed Media and done with my beloved Noodler Creaper Ahab.

grantchesterbw

I drew this last nite while I was watching Grantchester on PBS Mystery. Mystery is my favorite show on PBS. I just love Grantchester, and of course it doesn’t hurt that the hero James Norton is such a cutie.I wasnt wild about him in Murder at Pemberly….too foppish for me. BUT in Grantchester he plays a wounded but sweet guy.I looked at his face and though as square as his face is its NOT hard to draw and I was right. His partner Robson aka Geordie was NOT as easy to draw though I think it looks like him. His face is too wide. I did draw him off the tv.

His side kick Robson Green is not bad either. He’s been a favorite of mine since his show Wired in the Blood where he’s a profiler. Wired in the Blood is A VERY creepy show set in Scotland. Even my sons love it!

I don’t seem to be able to leave them in black and white. I finally threw in the towel and colored it with my Caran d’ache watersoluble crayons. Was nice curled up on the sofa coloring and them painting with the water brushes.

Some of the lettering in this version was done with the Kuretake- the heavier lettering. I have five of Kuretakes and rarely use them. I was so surprised because I kept adding words and the Kuretakes dried INSTANTLY. I painted over the lettering at the top immediately after writing it…usually a guaranteed bleed with my Pentel Brush Marker especially when its heavy like the word Grantchester.

I think it got a little cluttered…I kept adding words to it as I thought more about the characters…I could have done a better job organizing it!!

My faithful companion Zoe snuggling on the sofa while Mom aka me messes with the computer. I think I am drawing a dog everyday lately. Well most days!! Zoe is helpful laying next to me on the sofa.!! This one is still in black and white. I had just watched Andrea Joseph’s video in SBS…maybe where I got the idea for all the crosshatching?? Or maybe its because I drew her with the brush marker yesterday. I wanted to see what the Noodler would do with her fur…MUCH easier to draw and get good results. I dont know why people complain about their Creapers. I LOVE mine…had it four months without a problem.

Thanks for looking!!

Day 232 Sunday Experiments

February 23, 2015February 23, 20152 Comments

A grey rainy Sunday makes for a good day to draw the birds at the feeder. Two double page spreads and two single pages later I think I am done. One page of Zoe too.

I was trying to get the hang of drawing with the Pentel brush pen making those fine lines Roz Stendahl gets with hers. Not easy. I drew two pages in the Strathmore 500 Mixed Media journal then changed to the Stillman and Birn Zeta hoping it’s smooth paper would make drawing with the pen easier.

I even changed to a Kuretake brush pen by the page labeled p. 3 to see if it made it easier to draw fine lines. Kuretake pens, another Japanese pen, seemed to dry much quicker than my beloved Pentel brush pen which never fails to run when I hit it with water when I paint. The Kuretake did NOT run even if I got water on it right after drawing with it…VERY quick drying.

FYI I bought my Kuretakes at Binders in Atlanta -the only Atlanta art store I have ever seen them in. The Pentel Brish Pen which is supposed to be permant is at all three Atlanta art stores but cheapest at Sam Flaxs in Midtown.

Not being able to leave the drawings alone I colored all the pages in the Stillman and Birn Zeta but not the Strathmore 500 Mixed Media journal. All the pages were colored with Caran D’Ache watersoluble crayons which are such fun. Drawings were done with ink only…no pencil used.

These are the birds done with the Pentel pen on Strathmore 500. It did seem to do a great job on the sketches of Zoe down in the right corner.

First page in the Stillman and Birn Zeta still with Pentel brush pen.

Some of this was done with the Kuretake pen. The chickadee with the smear is the Pentel brush pen …even an hour later it was still NOT dry.

The doves stuck around for quite a while today. Like the gobbling finches and squirrels I am sure they were hungry. I have been going thru the bird seed this week – 10 lb so far.

Drawing Zoe was so much fun with the brush pens that I decided to draw a bigger pic of her. I used both pens on her fur. I think it was easier to make the fine lines with the Kuretake. Whichever you use it really takes a very light touch to get a fine line. I DONT have a light touch whether it’s pen or pencil. MORE practice required!!

Not as full as the other pages. I needed a nap after I did this one. It was beginning to pour and only the bravest animals were at the feeders by then.

Did the pen make a difference?? THe Kuretake was definitely faster drying and much more waterproof than the Pentel. I hate to tell you how many times I have had the Pentel bleed HOURS after I drew with it. Try the Kuretake pen, a disposable pen, if your Pentel brushes are giving you trouble. Maybe the bristles are a little stiffer?! As one of my first graders Dresean once told me That’s all I got Miz Hunt!!

Did the papers make a difference?? I really couldn’t tell that it was easier to draw with the brush markers on the S&B or the Strathmore 500. Maybe I need that Japanese journal Roz raves about on Roz all wound up?! HMMMM.

Thanks for looking!

Day 231 – Life Modeling in Aiken

February 22, 2015February 22, 2015Leave a comment

Went well today. Only 134 days left til I have blogged daily for a year. Starting to sound doable.

Materials used Neocolor II Caran d’Ache and #140 Fabriano Artistico

Today was life drawing at USA Aiken and the lovely Elena was our model.

She’s been thru quite a few stages. This is where she is now though thinking of lightening her right eye. I think it’s still a little dark.

Here’s how she looked after the first twenty minute break. That lemon yellow caran d’ache had been calling my name and saying use me use me!!!

TIP I take pics while I am working on it so I can see how it looks from a distance. You can really see your mistakes when you do this. And they are handy for a WIP work in progress blog post!!👍

My friend Ruth said she didn’t like the yellow and could I make her peachier. Ruth is usually right so I did. I also needed to lighten the shadows on her face which was making her look too old.

I lifted the shadows with a good stuff hogbristle oil paint brush and blotted off with a bounty towel. That#140 Fabriano Artistico is tough paper. Always amazes how you can wipe off the Fabriano.

I also had to narrow her right shoulder and lift both of them up a bit on either side of her neck. I love that hogbristle brush. It lets you do the lifting of color a smidge at a time.

Thanks for looking.

Day 230 – Finishing Up

February 21, 2015Leave a comment

Day 229 – A Few Bits and Bobs

February 19, 2015February 19, 2015Leave a comment

Terribly cold here today and I cant stay home. Ten degrees with the wind chill this morning and it will be that bad tonite. Somebody send some warm air back.

Because I am busy today will post some more that I haven’t posted yet

I drew this at the Starbucks at the local Barnes and Noble a few weeks ago. I really need to go again. You really begin to know alot about the people you sketch if you sit there and collect drawings like I did on this one. The young girl was on her cell phone though I thought she looked a little suicidal with her hair in her face all dressed in black. I was relieved when I noticed she was on her cell phone.

The old guy was talking animatedly about taxes. Groan…dont want to hear about taxes!!

A very fast sketch that I drew while Jan checked out at the Hampton Inn in Valdosta. I really like its chunkiness…almost an abstract. Always a favorite of mine it was NOT well received on Instagram but I still like it anyway! This was sketched as I sat in the middle of a room of people eating breakfast busily walking by me checking out and getting coffee. No one seemed to notice what I was up too…there are two more pages!!

This should have been in my Key West sketchbook. It started as a double page spread but I never finished the other page so it never got finished. I dont know if you have ever driven from Atlanta to Key West but its a VERY long LONG trip!! I guess I will finish the other page when we go back this summer!!!

This well dressed older man was sketched at the Atlanta Starbucks in Edgewood Barnes and Noble.He had such long fingers. I also have his hadn drawn somewhere else…Hands can give you fits and do require PRACTICE!!

Thanks for looking!!

Day 228 – A Bit of Fun

February 18, 2015February 18, 20154 Comments

Squirrels are the bane of bird feeders. Pesky things. Ours are so bold. They leap and attack it or they climb upside down on the chain to gorge at the suspended feeder. They even use the screens on the nearby porch as a get away.

One of them was posing on the deck outside the window. I caught him actually behaving. Later on when one of them was hanging off the feeder upside down I decided to turn it into a Wanted poster after all they are thieves aren’t they?! So naughty.

He was drawn with Tombow Markers. I have four or five of them and used the range of greys to shade and sculpt him. Then I wet him down to let the colors mix on the Strathmore 500 mixed Media Paper. I don’t know why I use the Tombows because according to Roz Stendahl they are not archival. The colors are fugitive. So sad because they are such fun to use and give such a neat effects when wet.

Since I don’t have a brown Tombow I used caran d’ache watercolor crayons for the browns and yellows.

I also used a big white Pitt matker to make him look more fluffy especially on his tail. Love that pen!!!

I used a scrap of old yellow ledger paper because I didn’t like the original layout. If you can’t fix it glue over it and try again. And then it becomes mixed media, right?!

Stay warm. Thanks for looking.

Day 227 More birds

February 18, 2015Leave a comment

I haven’t felt well since last week. I could be an ad for an allergy commercial and am on my third box of puffs. KeRChOO!!!

I have been sitting on the sofa watching HBO romantic comedies like Runaway Bride and watching the birds. Of course next thing I am sketching the ones that longer at the feeder.

The chickadee actually sat for a while. Usually they dart in and leave quickly. But this guy stayed for a while. Long enough to draw him. The cardinal sat on the rail for a while. I really like the way the cardinals turned out and the wrens.

I really love the cute little wrens. He actually sat on the deck for a while staring up at the feeder as if he was trying to decide if there was food up there.

This guy sat on the feeder for at least a half an hour. He was all fluffed up and just wallowed in the tray on the feeder.

I had quite a few problems. You can see in the next page it was plain so I added the old ledger paper to perk it up a little. But I still thought it was boring and added the blue background. Then I got into trouble because the word Goldfinch done with my usually reliable Carbon Platinum ink smeared. I fixed the name with a scrap of kilimanjaro watercolor paper. And called it quits.

I did have a yen to draw around it with a gold marker but no idea where mine is. So I am calling it quits.

I used Strathmore 500 Mixed Media paper Staedler pens Noodler Creaper Ahab caran d’aches neocolor ii

Day 226 – a few more bits and pieces

February 16, 2015Leave a comment

A group at Panera. I actually knew one of the women but she never noticed me sitting in the booth drawing her. Funny I think.

A close up of the Panera group.

My hand model. Hands are hard to draw so it’s great to have a hand model. Also known as my right hand.
Done with my Pentel brush pen.

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!!