Something Old

Did this for a forum monthly challenge not remembering it was supposed to be a graphite sketching challenge.......not watercolor.......lol.  Oh well.  I enjoyed doing this just the same. 

One of the items I primarily used the Lunar Pigments from Daniel Smith.  I absolutely love the granulating effect these pigments produce.  I should really play around or use these more often!

#8 Round used in the Mini Handbook.

Beach Treasure - Sharks Teeth

One of the "treasures" we seek out when at the beach are sharks teeth. 

A couple years ago my brother and his family went with us to Sarasota, FL.  Out of all the beaches I've ever been too, I was totally amazed at how clear the water was on the gulf side (at least where we were staying)!!!  You could walk out far with water only reaching your knees or slightly above and you could see your toes!!

While on this trip, we spent a day at Busch Gardens, Safari.........went on a nature cruise........and spent a day at Venice Beach known for finding sharks teeth.  Venice Beach was typical of ocean water I'm used to on the Atlantic side where you can't see the bottom.  Not sure why.  Anyways, we had a blast all places but we definitely had a lot of fun "panning" or "mining" for teeth.

Mini Handbook
#8 Round

Play'n with Palms

One never knows (to include myself) what I might be inclined to do next.  Last night I was looking at Bahama photos one of my friends was sharing and I guess palm trees kind of stuck in my head.

These are from imagination and playing with two different brushes to render the fronds.

I did the right page first which turned out OK, I suppose, but not exactly the results I was hoping for.

The second attempt (on left page) turned out better not only with choice of brush but with colors I chose (at least to my own eyes).  The trunk is a bit too wide and probably should try again with an even smaller angular flat. 

Mini Handbook
1/2" Angular Bristle (right page)
1/2" Terry Harrison Wizard Brush (left)
3/8" Angular Flat (both trunks held differently)

The paint used on the left page was a bit more fluid than what I used when painting the right page.  I think that too made a big difference in how each turned out.

Side Note:  I have no idea why I do this but I always seem to go right to left.  Any wonder why I struggle with smudge marks when using graphite????  ROFL 

Another Bear Sketch - Graphite

After sketching the little black bear, I wanted to do another of one of my favorites............the Panda.

This is in my mini Handbook using a 9B Derwent Graphic pencil that a friend in the UK sent me.  I love how easy it is to go dark!  This is my first time using it.  Almost forgot I had these.

 

Added since panda sketch........................

Thought I would add a little value scale seeing just how dark I could go with the 9B pencil.  With the sketch above I could have actually gone a little darker as you can see by this scale.

Bear Sketch

Following Sandy on sketchingeveryday.com, I did this quick sketch of a bear.

Most of the sketch was holding my pencil parallel using the side of the lead to make my marks.  Then for added detail I used the point.

Mini Handbook
Derwent Onyx Pencil

Grandma and Grand-daughters Sketching Together

On Wednesday we had the grand-daughters with us.  It was a gorgeous day so we basically stayed outside enjoying the sun and fresh air rather than sitting in front of a TV.

The girls played with squirt bottles and then did some gardening.  Once they tired of those activities they grabbed their sketchbooks.  Both not knowing what to sketch, I had them do an exercise where they were to draw different size boxes (squares/rectangles) on a page and then walk around sketching whatever they might come across or see filling each of the boxes.

Started out with both sketching something they actually saw but then they both sat down and started filling in their boxes from imagination.



Madison is age 9..........

Morgan is age 6..........

While the girls worked on their exercise, I managed this little sketch of one of my plant pokes.  It's a set of four I purchased from Amazon.  These little resin figures are cute!

OOOOPS...........I just noticed the date is wrong.  I seem to be a day behind these days.  Wednesday was the 14th........right?  LOL I scanned the girls' work tonight adding the date so theirs is correct.  I wrote the date on my sketch on Wednesday thinking it was the 13th.

This last sketch is another that Madison did while at home and brought over for me to scan so I could have a record of it.

I am thrilled to bits that the girls are showing a real interest in drawing and painting.

Gifts of the Past

Our power went out last night and my backup power unit my computer is plugged into doesn't play nicely when our generator is running.  I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs wondering what I'm going to do at 9:30 on a Saturday night.  That's when this one item caught my eye and I decided to do some painting in my journal.

This is a reminder of years ago when I was into anything crafty from wood cutting to crocheting and many of my gifts at Christmas to family were things I made by hand.

This particular item is a bar soap holder.  The angel I handcrafted for various usages like tree ornaments, magnets, jewelry, etc.

Most of the soap holders I made had flowers glued to the center front.  With my own, I decided to use one of my angels.

What's not included here are these stems of beads tucked in amongst the flowers.......most of which I've lost during several moves throughout the years.  I still have the original bar of soap (wrapped in a baggie) cradled inside.

Hummingbird on Branch

I'm not real sure how I feel about the results of this one.  I caught myself wanting to fidget.  Wings always give me a problem and I'm not real sure I'm happy with how I placed the values throughout.  Personally I feel sketching with pencil is much easier and turns out better for me than when I add paint.

Bright side is I did something today.

Fabriano Artistico 140lb Cold
#8 Round
DS - BS, FrU, SGrn, PGrn, QRose, Ind, and RS

How to Draw a Woodchuck

One of my favorite blogs I love to follow is sketchingeveryday.com.  Each year I look forward to this time of year when Sandy shares exercises and how she goes about creating her beautiful artwork...hoping to inspire and motivate others.

The second exercise of the 2012 season is a woodchuck and when I saw her graphite sketches, my interest was sparked and I had to jump right in to see what I could do.

Please see Sandy's post on sketching a woodchuck for more details to include several lovely graphite woodchuck sketches.


The originating demo of this little creature is by Sheri Amsel at exploringnature.org who has several demonstrations drawing birds and other animals.  Do check out her website, Exploring Nature Educational Resource............its a great site for all ages.

With Sheri's permission, Sandy used and shared her demo breaking it down into simple basic shapes.  It definitely made the drawing process not only easy but fun.  And with Sheri's and Sandy's permission, I share here with you.......

Taking it one step further, I decided to use brush and paint to finish him off.

This was done in my Handbook journal using Daniel Smith pigments:  Fr Ultra, Raw Sienna, Burnt Sienna, and Sap Green.  A #10 Round was used to keep myself from getting too detailed.

Fear of Diving In

Many people find themselves hesitant in starting a painting.........sitting there staring at the white paper.  It can be even more daunting when working with a new sketch/journal book.  One gets a new book anticipating their new journey recordings and then freeze when they open to the first page. 

For me it's not always just the first page.  Depending upon my mood, any new page might seem a bit intimidating taking brush to paper.  I expect a lot from myself to include when I'm practicing.  Our sketchbooks/journal books are supposed to be personal..........a place where we can feel free of fear and play......experiment.  A place where we can make mistakes and not fret from it.  A resource of experiences and experiments to especially include learning from our mistakes.

With a journal book I think I'm more skittish knowing the book is bound making it difficult to trash something I might not like.................whereas a piece of paper can be trashed and I can just start over without the reminder I painted a less-than-desirable.

It seems to be struggle I deal with from time to time even knowing that it's OK to goof up because it helps us learn.  It definitely goes without saying that we are our own worst enemies and critics and our emotions often dictate our actions over our logical thinking.

But getting back to staring at the white fresh new page in the new journal book (or any fresh page for that matter.............one of the things I find helps me dive in is choosing a simple shape and playing with color.  Color charts that use creative shapes rather than squares and rectangles.

Watercolor Sketching Frenzy

Wanting to play a bit, I've completed several pages in my journal book(s) with a quick loose style.  All are done using a size 10 round which would be considered large working in a 3 1/2 x 5" book.  I'm doing this to keep from getting too detailed and hopefully fresh - not over-worked (although one in particular ended up still being over-mixed which I covered with a masking tape band-aid :-)

 

 

Poppy Pods in Watercolor

Today's play with color with the goal of keeping this "loose." 

Pre-wet each pot with brush strokes of water here and there (not completely covering entire pod) and loosely brushing in color.  Few areas I added a little glazing after initial wash was dry.

Daniel Smith:  Cerulean Blue, Quin Rose, New Gamboge, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Burnt Umber

#10 Round

Fabriano Artistico 140lb Cold

Miya - Wacom Tablet and Pen

This is a little sketch done using a Wacom Tablet and digital pen.

My youngest dog - Miya