Chickadee in Watercolor

One of my favorite birds happens to be the Black Capped Chickadee!!  I love their acrobatics and to me they are just plain cute!!

We had one that flew into our glass door a few weeks ago and it knocked the wind out of him!  He was laying on his side and I thought for sure it was a fatal blow.  I went to get a paper towel and when I returned, he was sitting upright.  When I went outside, he still just sat there.  I actually stroked the top of his head and he stood still until I stood back up and shifted position.  Then off he flew.  I was so relieved to see he was OK.

Playing with Hotpress paper (Fabriano Artistico 140lb)

Daniel Smith:  RS, BU, Ind, PGry, FrU, Cer Bl, Sap and Peryl Green

#8 Round

005 Micron pen - black

Dogwood Macro

Not much to say about this one except that on less than ideal paper, the shadow didn't turn out so bad.  I was actually pleased with it.....especially the variation in it.

I'm getting better at painting and going over that center fold of the book.

Pen and Ink
Watercolor
#8 Round
Mini Handbook

Professional Attire

Back in December on a Sunday.......the previous owners (and our neighbor) who'd been here in the house my husband just purchased, left for where they reside in Maryland (the house here being their retirement home).  It was morning and the first thing we took notice to was a For Sale sign that was posted at the end of their driveway.

We texted my daughter-in-law who is a real estate agent as soon as we saw the sign asking if they had taken notice.  Those neighbors were not exactly the friendliest of people so my son and his wife were quite ecstatic to see they were selling.  So was my husband!!!!

There are only two pieces of property up here.......my son's property with his house and a mobile home we were staying in (3 1/2 acres) and the house that was now on the market (almost 19 acres).  The rest is all woodland owned by a gas company.

I asked if we could see the house and within the hour, we were all marching down the driveway and across the field to see the property and house (4 adults and two little girls).

It's cold with some snow still on the ground in places and we are all in our pajamas and housecoats. 

This watercolor sketch is for my daughter-in-law..............as a real estate agent..............probably the only time in her career she will ever have experienced such an informal and easy showing as she did this day. 
Get a load of her "professional" attire........her everyday robe with Christmas PJs. (Those are little snowmen on her pj bottoms)

Rock Exercises

These are two different exercises I did using different brushes for comparison.  One is primarily watercolor with a touch of pen and ink and the other is pen and ink with watercolor.  I went back over a few areas with ink after the watercolor dried.

Notice with the one with the flat brush how much more vivid or strong in tone value with pigment?  Although there may be other reasons for it, I think part might have to do with the fact a flat doesn't hold the same amount of water as a round does. 

Both are done on Fabriano Artistico 140lb Hot Press paper for a change of pace.

Clementines and Grapes Watercolor

My previous post is a simple still life of three clementines.  I love how they turned out with more shine....to me they just sing out.  The shadow was OK but the strongest area happens to be in the clementines themselves.  I used more Aureolin whereas with this one, I leaned more towards the Orange mix.

The strong plus for me with this one is in the shadows.  I'm super pleased with how the shadows turned out.  Normally mine are flat - often streaked giving my lack of confidence away in applying shadows.

I've been studying Richard - Artist on the Road's work and love his shadows.  They sing out......every bit as interesting as the subject casting the shadows.  He works on hot press and watercolor behaves and moves differently on that surface..........often in a very majestic way.  I'm using cold press so to get the paint to move, I pre-wet the area first and then dropped my pigments in allowing the colors to run, merge, and mix on their own without disturbing (except carefully nudging along edges and into crevices with the point of the brush.)  Then I quickly took a damp brush and carefully softened a few of the edges.

The other thing I did differently with this one was not being too concerned with exact positioning of the shadows.  They are more suggestive in placement and for me I like that better.  Allows the brain to ponder and do the rest.

Daniel Smith:  Aureolin (just a little this time), New Gamboge, Perm Red, touch of Cad Red Light, Fr Ultra, Perm Aliz, Raw and Burnt Sienna.

#6 Round and 3/8" Angular Flat

Fabriano Artistico 140lb Cold


NOW............had I been able to achieve that zing in the clementines I did with the previous post along with this shadow, I'd be one happy camper!  :-D

Clementines Watercolor Sketch

This was a quick sketch I did yesterday between outdoor chores.  Not a great deal more to be said from what I already wrote on the page.

Except.......I don't use orange too often so I found with this that it might be to my benefit to do some mixing exercises with the yellow and red pigments I use most often.

Daniel Smith:  New Gamboge with a touch of Perm Red, Aureolin, Sap Green, Cobalt Blue with Quin Rose for violet, and later I applied a light glaze of Cad Red Light added to the orange I mixed with NG + PR.

Primarily wet in wet finishing off with glazing.

#6 Round and 3/8" Angular Flat

Fabriano Artistico 140lb Cold

Garden Gloves - Pen and Ink

Today's achievement is a pen and ink sketch of a pair of my garden gloves.  I used a Rotring Pen (F) but chose not to use the waterbrush.  This time I just wanted the ink sketch.  This was done in my mini Handbook.

An exercise I try to repeat often to help myself with observational skills and gaining confidence.  Although I don't freeze (for what seems like a lifetime), sitting there staring at the paper fearing to put pen to paper, I do still find myself a little hesitant in starting.  It gets better each time I do these.

I managed to get one glove done and as I sat there feeling great about the results (so far), my fears kicked in and I panicked..............feeling I'll probably botch this up.   I decided to scan what I had done ...... just in case I messed the works up drawing in the second glove.  That said, I knew if it all went amiss, I had my scan to remind me that if I could do it once, I could do it again if need be.  (Dealing with my insecurities and gaining confidence is a works in progress :-)

The finished ink sketch.  I DID IT adding the second glove without botching the works up.  Talk about a real feeling of accomplishment!

It's sad when our minds and feelings play against us.

 

UPDATE:  OK........NOW I want to take the water brush to the ink and finish as an ink and wash.  Do I or don't I?  Think I'll sleep on it.  Actually if this were non water soluble ink, I would have enjoyed applying watercolor to it.  Guess I'll just have to do another sketch but in watercolor ;-)   

UPDATE2:  Well..............it kept calling to me to take a wet brush to it so I gave in.  I tried something a little different this time and that was using my 3/8" angular flat.  With the flat I knew I could maintain a little better control with flow of water.  I really like how this turned out and I may take to using the flat more often.

Hmmm.......should I take it a step further????

UPDATE 3:  I just couldn't rest till I took it one step further.  Here is the finished sketch applying color to the top glove.  My garden gloves are a goldish color with green thumbs.  The ink and wash set the stage for them to look as they truly do..................used and dirty from working in the garden.