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 Animals!

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Opaque watercolor and graphite

Opaque watercolor and graphite

Loved this week’s #sketchbookskool lesson. This is one that I know I will go back and read through many times. A week was not enough time for me, but I will enjoy going back and doing these exercises again. The first part of the homework was to draw from taxidermy or from figures. I was lucky enough to find some nice little Panda figurines in the hardware store to use as reference. I am looking forward to going to either a natural history museum or to our Portland LL Bean for drawing from taxidermy. Next time I draw these I will make sure that my view point shows the other two feet–he looks a little flat without the other feet! Panda’s are hard to draw! But, they are super cute and I found myself really happy to be looking at these and drawing them. Bonus!

Next part of the homework was to draw live animals. Much harder. Thankfully I have a dog and a very handsome one at that. And, he is pretty slow and loves to sleep. Even with a slow and sleepy dog, they aren’t reliable and they move! I will keep working at it, it was a lot of fun. Really helped with observation skills.

Graphite on paper. Big dog sleeping.

Graphite on paper. Big dog sleeping.

Materials

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Warm up assignment

Warm up assignment

I was a little behind on my #sketchbookskool homework, so I think that I rushed through a little to catch up. I don’t think that I should do that, I need to remember, its an online course! It’s not going anywhere! So, because I rushed I didn’t feel super great about the projects. I also didn’t really like the technique that we used. The assignment was to draw in pencil, ink in the outline and then color in with watercolor. It’s just not my thing…but, I can see that it can be a good approach for certain things.

This week the subject matter is more interesting to me, drawing animals! Looking forward to this, but I need to find some figurines to draw from for the assignment. The first step in this weeks class was to draw your art supplies. I see other artists do this a fair amount, it’s something I never really considered as a subject. However, once I sat down and really focused in on it I did find it fun. On to the animals!

Ink outlines and watercolor washes

Ink outlines and watercolor washes

Documenting My Week

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Looking up at the tree tops during our mid-walk rest

Looking up at the tree tops during our mid-walk rest

Here is my #sketchbookskool homework so far. Really enjoying the thought process behind documenting part of each day. I think it will be nice to look back and remember some of these moments. They are quick!

Big dog taking a break

Big dog taking a break

I think that I would like to do more drawings of Big. He goes pretty much everywhere I do, and he is a handsome subject.

little clam found on the beach

little clam found on the beach

Sketchbook Skool

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Beginnings: Page One

Beginnings: Page One

The Sketchbook Skool Beginnings class started yesterday. This is the first Klass I have taken in a long time! The first assignment was to draw and feel. The guidelines were to pick an object to draw that evokes some feeling (bad or good), use a color wash in the background, add an opaque color in the shape of the object(s) and then do a line drawing in ink over the color. And, add WORDS! So, for me, it’s really the words that are the challenge!

It was hard to decide what to choose, so I thought about that for awhile. I love the sea urchins and I find them challenging to render, so that is what I went with. Sea Urchins remind me of walks on the beach and also they bring to mind a couple of very special friends that share my love of beach collecting. I have gathered a lot sea urchins over time and I have tons of them to choose from. Most of them are from the Maine coast, but some have been given to me and some are from other places. These are from Maine. This assignment prompted me to learn more about the sea urchins…because I needed WORDS! That part I really liked.

As the time goes by I will get better at the word journaling part of all this. I like the idea of capturing your feelings or part of your day in an illustrated and written journal. I am looking forward to this Klass.

Below is my warm-up sketch for the journal page. Doubling as my #inktober drawing!

warm up ink sketch

warm up ink sketch