January 28th and 29th Sketches

For yesterday I worked a sketch of another miniature bear we named Violet.  I like working in graphite first as I become familiar with the shapes.

Worked in the Generic Sketchbook with a Staedtler Mars Lumograph 7B pencil

And this is a page with me doodling various trees and rocks from imagination.  I was trying out a different pencil stroke for trees rather than what I normally use which is the squiggly stroke.  Pencil leads mentioned on the page.

And for today's sketch I decided to sketch what my youngest son's favorite toy and past time were.  He was always collecting matchbox cars and trucks and would sit for hours on end playing demolition derby.  And he made sure they looked like it to by smashing them with rocks or a hammer.  Having all boys was such a treat with their mischievous antics and play time.  What I had was a house full of legos, transformers, and matchbox automobiles :-)) 

Worked in the Generic Sketchbook using a 7B pencil and I made this into a personal exercise where I worked with a subject I'm not used to sketching and doing so not allowing myself to erase.  I know I have lots of practice ahead of me getting perspective right but then that's a weakness regardless of what subject I choose.  Besides not erasing, I didn't allow myself to spend too much time on each illustration.

January 27th Sketch

After viewing one of Cathy Johnson's videos on YouTube, I decided to try sketching first with a Derwent Blue Grey watercolor pencil.  Once that was complete, I painted over the sketch with watercolor and then used some pen and ink in selected areas using my Pilot Prera and Lexy Gray ink.

The trees right behind the steeple is using a Terry Harrison Wizard brush that is cut at an angle and has irregular length bristle hairs.  I used that dry brush to get the real fine suggestion of twigs.

Global Arts Hand.book journal.

January 26th Sketch

Well......look at me........I'm actually posting the same day as my sketch for a change :-))

One last page of the little Red Rose Tea figurines for a while.  I have other figurines but I'm ready to move on to something different.

This page was first completed with using watercolor pencils dry.  It just didn't have the pizazz  I wanted so I decided to take a damp brush across some of the areas.  I also used some watercolor in other areas.

I wasn't real excited with these figurines at first because two were white and the other a bluish color that just didn't fit the piece so I decided to use some artistic license.  I decided to add color to the white figurines and change the color on the ship's wheel.

Changing the view by capturing looking down was a great exercise for me.  By the time I reached these last three, I was feeling a bit more comfortable and found a little easier to accomplish.

January 25th Sketches

With this post, I do believe I'm finally caught up :-)

Working in the Hand.book, I decided to work a 2-page spread of one of my palettes and color chart.  In fact I have a small watercolor chart very similar to what's here that I place under the clear removable plastic palette nested in the top cover.

The palette is my all time favorite which when it first came out was called the Homee palette.  Now it is sold by another manufacturer and comes in two colors rather than just the blue that I have.

And this page represents some of the ceramic figurines one gets in a box of Red Rose tea.  We collect them and give to the granddaughters.  Terry thought I might want to sketch them so I worked this first page trying to capture from a view I don't normally attempt...............look down.

I would balance one of the figurines on the actual sketchbook and then try to sketch right next to it exactly what I saw.  It was definitely a challenge but one I'm glad I did.

After the line work, I added a quick wash of W&N watercolor to each.  Then I took watercolor pencils matching color for shading and shadows.  The pencils were used dry.

January 18th through 24th Sketches

Wow..........where did the last few days go?  Here's me catching up yet once again :-/

This is one where I was just messing around after viewing a catalog.  One particular ad made me laugh about weight loss and I decided to capture in my journal book.   Worked in the Moleskine watercolor journal.

 

 Received my first square format journal made by Global Arts called the Hand.book.  I've used these journals in the portrait format and liked them OK for what I enjoy doing.........to include watercolor.

The mushrooms are from a photo I took last year the day after a rain where they just sprung up over night.

For the lettering in the heading, I actually used a brush.........a small angular flat.  Then used a blue watercolor pencil to add the line emphasis on each letter and the rest of the writing on the page.

My Uniball 151 .38 Brown Black pen was used for the line work and finished by applying the watercolor wash.

This next page in the square Hand.book journal is of a stuffed bear I have that has a palette in one paw and brush in the other.  Used a Micron 01 Light Brown pen for this one.

Terry bought me a bouquet of mixed flowers New Year's Eve and they lasted two weeks.  He picked me up another but for some reason started wilting within just a few days.  These little carnations are still hanging in there and I wanted to record them in my journal.

In a group I'm in, we are still working on a project where we sketch from photo references of houses or buildings within our area.  This first is what caught my attention rather than the building and I sketched in the Generic Sketchbook.

House sits on East Main Street in Clarksburg, WV

 

After I worked the tree, I chose a portion of the house and worked it in the square Hand.book.

Here is me just messing around trying a few things that really didn't work out all that well. 

The left page is OK but didn't like the shadow in it.  Plus I didn't give the washes time to dry between layers.

The right is where I was attempting to get an embossed look and wasn't all that happy about any of the attempts.

January 20, 21, and 22 Sketches

This brings me up to date for today and the last two days of sketching.  I've been a bit out of it but still trying to do at least a little something each day.

All except the little bear were worked in the Generic Sketchbook.  Using various pens and graphite plus a little watercolor on a few.

The bear was done in the Moleskine WC journal. 

 

January 18th and 19th Sketches

After several sketches adding watercolor, I was in the mood for just plain sketching with either pen and ink or pencil.

This first one was stepping back into my comfort zone.  A subject that comes easier for me where I could just relax and make simple pen marks without worrying about perspective or everything being just right.

Terry picked me up another generic sketchbook (from Walmart) and this is the first page I've worked.  I used a Uniball 151 - .38 pen - Brown-Black ink.  It's getting easier for me with the various value strokes with pens like this by the way I hold the pen.  I can get real light fine pen lines by holding the pen almost parallel to the paper.  If it's too much so, it won't feed but just the right angle and I can get those very fine light lines.  Also how far from the point I hold the pen makes a difference for me as well.

This next page in the generic sketchbook is using a mechanical pencil for the initial sketch and lighter value on the fur and then went back in with a Staedler Mars Lumograph 8B pencil adding the darks.

Another sketch from my 2009 trip to Texas visiting my sister and her husband.  I love going back through holiday/vacation photos and sketching from them because it's like re-living the time again :-)

 

How I went about working the fur:  Mechanical pencil using light pressure and the darker 8B a little more pressure making sure I maintain a sharp point.

January 16th and 17th Journal Entries

Yesterday I was gone most of the day so my big achievement was adding some color to the two previous sketches I had worked on the 15th.............plus I worked a page with my favorite model "Opal"
 

 

 

And for today's journal entry is a medicine bag my husband has hanging on his lamp.  I love the colors in that bag so my challenge was trying to match the colors as closely as I could.

January 15th Sketches

Here are the sketches finished for today.  I started two others and hope to finish tomorrow if I get a chance to.

This first is from the site called Paint my Photo where artists can use copyright free photos for their artwork.  The page indicates the photographer and search word used to locate this still life.

Worked in the Zeta journal using the bent nib Hero pen with Lexington Gray ink, and watercolor.  Used a white gel pen for the subtle lines in the glasses lens.

Using the Hero takes some getting use to because depending upon the angle the pen is held determines the line width produced.  A very wet feeding pen I had to be careful allowing to dry on this paper before resting my hand to work on another area.

The next sketch is from a group project initiated by Ed Huff.  He shared two photographs for architectural practice and this is the one I chose.  Also looked up on Google Maps Street view for other angles.

This was worked in the small Moleskine WC sketchbook.  I would have been kinder to myself had I chosen a larger format sketch because I had to fit a lot of detail in a very small space.  I had to leave some detail out.

Used my Platinum Carbon pen with Lexington Gray ink.

From the Google Maps Street view, this little area grabbed my attention that sits across the street so I sketched it on the facing page to go along with this building.  Same materials used.

 

January 14th Sketch - Bristle Brushes

Just for fun, I thought I would work up a page of some of my bristle brushes.  My favorite to illustrate being the Zoltan Szabo brush due to it's aging.  I had fun painting the old stained wood, peeling handle, and the rust stains.  Still works beautifully and to me has true character.

Worked in the Stillman & Birn Zeta using Micron 01 Brown, Light Brown, and Black.

Watercolors used were Winsor & Newton.

With this page I lightly sketched with pencil and then painted each.  Pen and ink was used after everything dried for detailing.

January 13th Sketch

Although I love sunflowers, my favorite are the Rudbeckias.  Their longer petals just look so graceful extending out from the center dark brown to black cone.  Come fall, I love watching the birds feed off the seeds.

This is primarily worked using a Micron 005 but then added a few darker lines with a Pitt F point trying to lift the upper petals from the bottom.

January 12th Sketches

I actually have two to share for yesterday's journal entry.

This first one is recording one of the flowers in the bouquet Terry got me New Year's Eve.   I lost track of the days so "8" days is incorrect.  Should have read 12 days.  And they are still going strong as of today.  The leaves are withering before the flowers.  I've hesitated sketching sunflowers due to all the petals but decided I needed to break free of that hesitation.  There's still room for improvement but I felt good I managed this.  :-)

And this page is using the Noodler's Flex pen and Lexington Gray ink.  Shading was done with both pen and ink and graphite.  I was in the mood for some plain pen and ink with no color with this one.

Daily Sketches - January 10th and 11th

Still working in my Stillman & Birn, Zeta journal......

This first one did not quite turn out as I had originally planned but the end results ended as a 'happy accident.'.  My intentions were to use my Pilot Prera with Lexington Gray ink (waterproof) and finish off in watercolor.  At some point I stepped away and upon returning to my sketching, I in error and without thinking picked up my Pilot Prera with Namiki Black ink (water soluble).  I did NOT know I had done this until it was time to take watercolor to it.

You can imagine the surprise or shock when the ink in places started to bleed.  I had to quickly change gears with my original intent working very gently to add a little watercolor without this turning into a total ink wash sketch.  I did wash some ink in a few areas like the tree trunks but using only a slightly damp brush to do so.  Namiki is potent ink!

 

Today's Sketch....................I never know from day to day just what will intrigue me into sketching.  I had my tens unit out and the wires caught my eyes.  I played a bit with the set up of wires to create this page.  This was a lot of fun to do especially the wires :-))

Pilot Prera with Lexington Gray ink (I paid attention this time to the pen I picked up).

Daily Sketches Jan 6 - 9th

It's bad when your days seem to just fly by.  Here I am again trying to play catch-up.....

This first is practicing people again.  There is a site that offers free pdf downloads of various things one can practice learning pen and ink plus watercolor.  This illustration is from the pdf about people. 

My favorite on this is how the color mingled on the dog. 

A little step by step with the first in graphite using a mechanical pencil.  Second is where I took pen and ink to the hummingbird only and dabbing my kneaded eraser over the lines of the leaves pushing them back a bit further.

I could have painted the leaves but my page is about the hummingbird so I've decided not to.  There is a slight blue to signify the little down feathers closes to the body and I feared painting the leaves would take away from that.

This page is about my fixing one of my Pilot Preras where I was having a time with it skipping.  Upon close examination, I found the tines were off so after viewing a video on how to re-align the tines, I decided to give it a go.  And it worked!!  In fact I worked this page with the fixed pen.

And this page represents one of our all time favorite snacks.....Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Peppers

All were done in my Stillman & Birn Zeta journal.

Daily Sketches Jan 3, 4th, and 5th

Here are my most recent over the last few days............

This first one was testing my Pilot Prera after fixing the tines on my fountain pen.  The ink wasn't flowing very well and found the tines were off a bit (not lined up).  It helped.

Also tried something a little different for texture on the bear............pre-wetting with water and dabbing color with a Q-tip.

 

This next is working a page of flowers in a bouquet Terry brought me a few days ago to brighten my mood :-)

 

   

And today's sketch is working with a different graphite pencil - Derwent Graphic 9B.  The sketch was done following a photo shared by a member in a facebook group I'm in.  Thank you Connie :-)

 

 

All were worked in the Stillman & Birn Zeta journal book.

 

My Little Birthday Bear Buddy

Here is another entry in my new Stillman & Birn Zeta spiral playing with a still life.

Started out setting up my little still life with the cup and the bear and then added the fountain pen.  Wasn't satisfied so added the ruler and the micron pen.  I felt there was still something missing so I stuck my putty eraser over near the cup as well.  I never go far from my putty eraser due to the smudges I always seem to end up with from the side of my hand.  I tend to work right to left and I'm right handed.

After I finished with the pen and ink and watercolor, I wanted to add the wording but was stuck for what I wanted to say and how I wanted to place it.  So I waited till this morning after having a good night's sleep and it came to me.

One of my many 2014 goals is to learn better page design to include headings now and then. 

At first I was going to put in a square frame around the illustration but then decided to use the wording to help balance everything.  I am actually happy with this :-))

Putting Elements Together

An idea picked up from Brenda Swenson, I decided to introduce the concept within a group I'm in as a joint project.  The idea is to have several individual elements and put them together in various ways.....basically using the thumbnail concept working out composition, pleasing vignettes, etc.

Here is a page of quick sketches I worked in my Zeta 6 x 8 sketchbook with water soluble ink, washing it out and applying a little watercolor after the ink wash dried.  I chose not to confine my illustrations inside of rectangles or boxes but instead free-standing.

Bringing In the New Year 2014

New Year and fresh Zeta sketchbook.....

This is how I celebrated bringing in the new year.  Hubby online chatting with his children and me sketching and painting :-))