Challenge Day 9

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Water-soluble crayon and ink pen

Water-soluble crayon and ink pen

So happy to get a resource photo for the turkish teapot from my friend Mallory. I really like to draw either from life or from my own photos, and it’s fun to include friends in my search! This is a great teapot, And, a challenge to draw. The great thing about the #AJChallenge is that every day I get an opportunity to learn about something new. So many of the subjects i would never choose on my own, I am really enjoying the discovery part of this project.

Today’s challenge was coin or paper money. I happen to be visiting my parents, so I asked if they had any interesting money. Turns out my Dad had a little box with some old coins and paper money from his Uncle Norman. He hadn’t opened the box in several years. It was fun to open up the paper money and look at the different coins. I didn’t enjoy the sketching part of this, but I really loved the discovery.

My Dad's box of coins

My Dad’s box of coins

Day 7

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Single Lily inspired by Georgia O'Keefe. Ink pen

Single Lily inspired by Georgia O’Keefe. Ink pen

Plans change. #AJChallenge Day 7, re-interpreation of Georgia O’Keefe’s Single Lily. I do love this painting by Georgia O’Keefe. However, I had my heart set on Emily Carr. But, it just didn’t work out, mostly because at the time I did this drawing the reference material for Carr just wasn’t available to me. This reference is from my wall calendar.

I didn’t miss Day 6 of the seed and pod challenge, just not super happy with the results, so no need to share that. Maybe I will revisit that day in February.

On to the turkish tea pot today! I feel fortunate that one of my friends sent me a photo to use as a reference. I didn’t want to have to google.

Day 5

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Water-soluble crayon and ink: View from the sailboat

Water-soluble crayon and ink: View from the sailboat

I am running a bit behind on the #AJChallenge. This was done for the 5th day, the subject was to draw a bridge. I knew this was the subject I wanted to do, but I just couldn’t get to it on 1/5/15, so I did this about 5:00am on 1/6/15. Yesterday’s challenge was seeds or pods–I am working on a Devil’s claw for this one (so also a day behind). Then I have to play catch up because today’s challenge is to do a rendition of one of your favorite paintings! Oh my! I was thinking Van Gogh, but many other folks have chosen him, so I think I am going to go for Emily Carr. Hopefully I can get that done today!

It’s great to have some subject matter that is so different from what I might normally choose.

State of Mind

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micron ink pen: pelican

micron ink pen: pelican

I can’t concentrate! This is something that makes me so frustrated. My holiday family situation is a little on the tense side. I really didn’t expect that to interfere with my art vibe. I have a few things I want to do and I am finding that I just can’t concentrate on them well enough. So, I decided to just do a little ink drawing and some color grounds. My micron pen is running out of ink…time to get another one. I love pelican’s, but man, they aren’t easy to draw. The goal is to get up early tomorrow and maybe get a little bit of good drawing time in.

Holiday Rush

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Quick sketch: micron ink pen

Quick sketch: micron ink pen

It’s closing in on Christmas and I am trying to enjoy the season and not get anxious about all that there is to do. The drawing time is getting slim, but once the 25th is actually here I will be able to spend several days devoting myself to sketching and painting (this is my hope). In the meantime, I am looking around at all the beautiful scenes and storing up images for future projects.

These little salt and pepper shakers are so awesome. I love them! Each table in this restaurant had cute little shakers, all different. I like these the best.

saltandpepper

 

The Kitchen

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Micron blue pen and opaque watercolor

Micron blue pen and opaque watercolor

So, I ditched the shells on the counter idea. I did a quick sketch with a pineapple on the counter–which I liked, but all the proportions were off. The shells just didn’t look right on the counter, so off they went. In the end, I decided to block in the color first, so I put on a wash of a medium blue for the stove, a yellow for the counter and light green for the wall. This made me feel better. I started in with the stove and worked out from that. The pineapple was next to the toaster, but by the time I got over there, I couldn’t squeeze it in!

I have to admit this was somewhat painful for me. I did a lot of complaining while I was drawing. I looked at the clock a lot! I put in 3 hours, I was happy when I finished with this. It’s good to tackle difficult things, I appreciate the assignment. I loved, loved, loved Tommy Kane’s class. The ideas I will take away are:

  • Go ahead and “steal” from your favorite artists
  • Slow down and spend more time with your work
  • It’s okay and often preferable to make mistakes and keep going (often times no one else will know)
  • Finish what you started

Great way to end this semester. I have to say I am so sad that it’s over though. Looking forward to the next semester starting in January.

Drawing for nothing

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Opaque watercolor, colored pencil and white paint marker

Opaque watercolor, colored pencil and white paint marker

Discovery of the week: it’s good to just draw for yourself! That is how the onion came about. I needed to try out my new white paint marker, so I had to have a subject. My friend Paul brought us these beautiful onions, along with many other wonderful heirloom vegetables from his garden. So, I grabbed one, did a color background and started drawing. I just finished some shells with a background and used graphite…which I like fine, but it didn’t seem as bold as I wanted. For this I decided to limit myself to a dark green and dark blue prismacolor pencil and then white paint marker. I am really pleased with the way the materials work.  I put this in my “No Fear” sketchbook, so of course it turned out great. I didn’t really care what happened….somehow I need to trick myself into this for everything!

Next #sketchbookskool assignment is to draw from figurines or taxidermy. I don’t have access to the taxidermy, so I found these great little pandas to work from. I found them at the hardware store of all places!

pandas1

Re-discovering Ink

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Ink and water soluble crayon, 5" x 7"

Ink and water soluble crayon, 5″ x 7″

I had forgotten how much I actually liked ink. I think when I was young I may have sketched the drawing in pencil first and then gone over it in ink. Now I seem to have less fear and I can dive right in and put that ink right on the page. The lines now have loosened up for sure. Adding splashes of color with the water soluble crayon adds a spontaneity that I really enjoy. And, If I keep that color thin enough I can sneak in and add just a little over spots where I have drawn and then ink right over that too. I will keep working with this.

I started out with the micron ink pen just thinking of planning a painting, but the second piece I did really turned out well. I think that it’s a good medium for small planning sketches and also finished work. Next experiment is to use the ink drawing for a base for encaustic. We’ll see how that goes.

Planning sketch: ink pen

Planning sketch: ink pen