I think I will stick with faces for awhile. The #sktchyapp is great motivation and there are so many expressions to choose from. I have always felt that drawing people was somewhat intimidating…so it seems like trying to draw a face a day might be a good way to get over that! Trying to stick with using my ballpoint pen.
I am really loving this new app that I discovered through #sketchbookskool. This is an iPhone app called #sktchy that the users can upload photos to and then anyone can draw them and then upload the drawings. Great way to find some interesting faces and connect with other artist. Drawing faces is a huge challenge for me. I am having fun finding some good expressions. I am going to try and do one a day…that should help me improve!
Taking a break for packing up my art supplies and I must be dreaming of my vacation coming up in the #outerbanks of NC. I took the resource photo for this painting soooo many years ago…I have been looking at it for a long time. Going through my supplies I found this blue paper and the old photo, and well, there you have it. I like the way the casein worked against the blue color of the paper, a little dry brush technique in areas created a nice effect. I will try some more of these. I think that the background needs more consideration, but a fun experiment (and break from packing!)
Looking forward to several days in a row of painting and drawing at the beach.
I am finally getting back to a little #sketchbookskool mini assignment. Quick drawings of dogs. I have a bunch of reference photos sent by friends that I am using to do some “quick” drawings. The Boston Terrier was under 15 minutes–the other one was closer to 30 minutes. I love starting these with no guidelines, just the pen. Forces you to really look and to commit! Super fun to draw dogs! Especially your friends dogs!
This new expressive line technique seems so perfect for reinterpreting some of my past sketches. It’s difficult for me to draw the same thing again…even though I feel like that is probably a good approach for refining work. But, I tend not to want to do it. I stumbled onto this idea while looking for a way to “try” out the line technique and have discovered a way to explore the previous sketch in a new way.
I liked the way this turned out, I might try a few more in different color combinations and on different paper stocks. This linen type paper seems to work very well, gives some nice “bleeding” effects.
It’s been a marathon weekend of #sketchbookskool catch up! I got through my last 3 weeks in two days. However, I am still shy of the last weeks homework assignment. The last week is to sketch a “tiny adventure”. Unfortunately, I have run out of time for even the tiniest of adventures, so this assignment will have to wait a few days.
This particular session has really been my favorite one so far, lots of good ideas to carry forward in sketchbooks and finished work. I was kind of suspicious of Penny Dullaghan’s lessons at first…somehow I just didn’t think that they were for me exactly. But, I was WRONG!!! She gave 3 different lessons on how to achieve some interesting line work…creating ways where you have no choice to let the technique dictate the result (to some degree). I only tried one, but I love it. I plan on trying the others as well. I changed it up a bit…but the end result worked out really nicely.
So, this piece was created by slathering some water mixable oil paint onto a plain piece of paper and then placing my “sketchbook” paper on top, and then drawing right on top with an old dental instrument (she used a screw driver). When you pull it up, you have “transferred” the oil paint to the paper, but it reveals your line drawing (and some smudges that work nicely too). I then went back over it with some watercolor and colored pencil. I think this will be a fun way to revive some of my older sketches and turn them into something different.
Finally this weekend a return to my #sketchbookskool class. I have been missing it. This weeks lesson was great. The instructor is german and felt most comfortable speaking in his native language. This was actually really cool! It was subtitled of course, but I found myself more engaged than usual. Good lessons on watercolor washes and glazes. This guy does really great illustrations (here is a link to his website: Felix Scheinberger) fun to watch him and see his books.
The one thing I have learned from the lessons is with watercolor glazing you need to be patient and let things dry! I am probably more a fan of the washes, but the glazes are good to know about. A challenge for sure. Oh, and I did the under-drawing with a crayola crayon and that was AWESOME!! I love crayons, and the watercolor works great with them.
He has inspired me to tackle more people and faces. Always nice to be inspired.
Well, I was able to do 13 or 14 paintings of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge. I knew it would be near impossible to get one done everyday. But, I still feel good about it–the challenge kept me motivated and I did more work than I would have done if the challenge hadn’t been there for me.
I had a very nice time in Kauai and captured (by photo) a lot of flowers for future inspiration. I am going to stick with the spirographs for a little while. I like them peeking though the background into the foreground. And, I like the yellow! I think sticking with yellow as well as the spirograph give the work some consistency. The addition of the yellow ochre warms things up a bit, I like that. I am going to concentrate on the flowers for a little while.
Sketchbook Skool is back in session. I am having some difficulty keeping up. I still need to work on two homework assignments: A little illustrated accordion style book about myself and an infographic! Traveling always makes a class difficult–but in addition to that the week we returned home my father in-law passed away. A very sad time for our family.
I think I might be too far behind to catch up at this point–4 days behind! Yikes. No matter, I am going to push on. I read an article that the bats in New England are in trouble. They are so good for catching bugs, sad to see them not doing well. I felt like I was drawing upside down! It’s a little wonky, but it was fun to draw a little baby bat. Casein & graphite on paper.
Along with the #30paintingsin30days! challenge I started a new #sketchbookskool Expressions Klass. The first one is all about lettering…looking forward to that project as well. Maybe I can use it for my next painting!
Gerber Daisy: drawn with the pen tool in the iPad app Paper 53
Leave it to #sketchbookskool to open up another medium for exploration. I have had the Paper 53 app on my iPad for a long time. I have never used it, until yesterday! It’s AWESOME!!!! No doubt it is going to take some getting used to, but it is super cool. I am really surprised how nice the pen and pencil tools are. I am using a cheap stylus that isn’t great, but good enough for some experiments. I ordered the Paper 53 stylus in hopes that it will prove easier to use. I am really excited about the possibilities for this new way of sketching.
The pros:
The Cons:
Overall, I am really excited about using this app for different sketchbooks. I have created one for “Learning”, “Bugs” and one just for “Sketches”.
I am also working on the Every Day in May Facebook Group Challenge. Basically just a drawing a day using the prompts from the group. Hopefully I can keep up. May 1 was your favorite food, I couldn’t get the entire image on the scanner–but the eggplant turned out okay. It was delicious roasted for supper. Today May 3 is curtains. Of which I have none in the house, so I will have to figure that one out.
Water-soluble crayon, black & white sharpie
Art Projects 