Three More Draw Your Day Pages

Sunday was easy to journal with illustrating our favorite restaurant.  Monday wasn't so much since I didn't do anything but watch TV.  In fact I just didn't feel up to doing anything to include sketching.  Yesterday I actually left the house and joined up with my sketching group at the monthly Library Tuesday meetup.  Our time was just sketching what we had with us as practice capturing various shapes, setting up mini still life if people chose to, or working from photos on their phones.  I chose to take several items out of my sketching bag and set up as a mini still life arrangement.

KG sketchbook / Mixed watercolor brands (Holbein, DS and Qor)/Micron 01

Practice with Ellipses

These sketches are practice with ellipses (which I still struggle with) starting with the medicine bottle sketched in the Handbook sketchbook with Mars Lumograph 2B pencil.

This next one was worked in the Fabriano Venezia..........only two more pages and I'm done with this sketchbook.........FINALLY!!  

2017 Inktober - Days 16 through 21

Day 16 - New miniature bear

UPDATE:  With Color added 10/29/17

Day 17 - Lone Oak Cemetery in Leesburg, FL.  Went on a sketchcrawl and we were to combine what we saw in reality plus adding a little creativity to it to fit the Halloween time of year.

The eagle carving was worked in my small S&B Beta journal with Edison pen and Lexy Gray.

This is the one I did to fit the sketchcrawl theme as mentioned above.

Day 18 - Started out as a loosening up continuous line sketch but I did end up lifting my pen off the surface a few times.  Still a looser sketch compared to what I've been doing.

Day 19 - Semi continuous line sketch

Day 20 - While watching TV (dvds)

Day 21 - Sitting up on a table top in my sunroom

Doodling Fall Arrangement

Yesterday I was sitting and doodling while waiting for my youngest to return from a job interview.

I'm still working on quick sketching trying to keep things loose and still with pen and ink only (no pencil).  It's not that I don't believe in using pencil because I definitely do but I like working these ink only exercises to help in gaining more confidence.

Worked in the Handbook with Pilot Falcon and Lexington Grey ink.

Corked Bottle and Grapes

This finishes up my Stillman & Birn Delta journal :-)

I'm showing a smaller version that shows how I finished off the 2-page spread.  QoR watercolors were used after a line drawing using a Micron 02.  Also used a white gel pen in some areas removing some of the black ink lines and adding a few halos around some parts.  The whites on the grapes are actually white of the paper.....I remembered to leave those :-)

Monkey in a Cup

This was a lot of fun to sketch and paint. 

Only 2 pages left before filling another sketchbook.  These pages are in the Delta journal :-)

Still Life Models

Lately I have been picking up a few items I can arrange in still life set-ups.  I've also included a set of frogs which were a gift to me by my Sissy, Darlene.

Fantastic Course on Craftsy - Steven Reddy

I have been a big fan of Steven Reddy's work using ink and watercolor for some time....first discovering him on flickr.  And for the longest time I so wished I could see him in action as he composes his still life setups and how he goes about working complicated scenes with multiple items (he loves the challenge of cluttered scenes). 

Lo and Behold.......... my wish came true :-)  I received an email alerting me that Craftsy was offering a course by Steven Reddy and I immediately jumped on it.  What a fantastic course beautifully presented and extremely informative.  By far my favorite of the courses I've taken to date :-)

Craftsy - Steven Reddy - Dynamic Detail in Pen, Ink, and Watercolor

 

Now I'm hoping he can offer another course showing how he goes about working landscapes and buildings !!!!!

The one item I didn't have on hand was India Ink he uses so I had to improvise by using Noodler's Black ink.  I'm really curious to see how the India Ink differs when added to water for making up different value solutions.  The Noodler's ink settles quickly to the bottom of the water with one having to stir or shake it several times throughout the process to obtain the value in which the solution was created to achieve.  In any event, I still ended up with a water proof diluted ink mix and made it work for these exercises.

Glass Study

I've been sketching almost daily but a bit behind in posting to my blog (so what's new you ask?? lol). 
This first is practicing glass in graphite.  Worked in the Handbook using only a mechanical pencil 05 (Twist Erase) and tortillion to blend/shade.

Working in pencil helps me gain a little confidence figuring if I can do it in graphite, I can feel better about trying in color.

After working the pencil sketch, I decided to try my hand at a small glass vase using pen and ink plus watercolor.  Sketched in the S&B Alpha journal using a Micron for the black ink work and Stabilo pen for the dark pink.  Opera and Quin Rose were used to paint the carnations.

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.

 

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 :-))

Woodland Treasures

This is one of those sketches that just developed as I went along.  I worked on it off and on last night as I listened to and watched TV. 

First I started out with the top left pine cone.  Then added the one to the right and then the one in the foreground.  They looked kind of lonely so I added the acorns.  Still not quite satisfied, I sketched the large hickory nut in its casing and then added the two nuts to the right.

I debated adding shadows and decided against it and added the pine needles as filler. 

This made for a nice relaxing evening taking my time sketching and allowing it to develop itself.

Autumn Holiday Card Idea

I love this time of year with the autumn colors and thought I would work on a still life using those colors that might work out as a holiday card.

Worked in the Beta journal using the Platinum Carbon with Black ink followed by Daniel Smith watercolors.

And here's one card idea I've worked out using the illustration and Photoshop Elements.

It's Raining Hickory Nuts

All around us are Hickory Trees....primarily towards the back of our house.  There are at least three different varieties possibly four.  (I thought there were only two when I worked the first page in my journal; however, Terry came across others.)

One is a Shag bark Hickory, Pignut, Red, and possibly a King Nut.   The squirrels scarf up the Shag Bark Hickory.and we think it's because they have a thinner shell and sweeter meat.  They are the easiest for us to crack open too without the insides obliterating into crumbs.  The Pignut are bitter and the others are in between.

This time of year you don't dare stand outside for any length of time out of fear of getting hit in the head by a falling nut.  Our dogs have had near misses the last few days and I'd hate to think what one might do to the smallest if hit in the head.  Throughout the day and evening, we hear them hitting the roof and awning.  Sometimes they hit so hard that it sounds like a small caliber gun shot.  Some hit so hard and loud that it startles us and our dogs.

While out picking up Hickory nuts, Terry also found we have at least one Walnut tree.  Probably a black Walnut.  He's going to scout around some more to see if others are around the property.  I'm sure the squirrels are scarfing them up too as we are not finding many on the ground.

These were done in the Zeta Journal.  Although I touched here and there with a Pilot Prera pen, I wouldn't really call these pen and ink.  A #8 Round was used painting wet in wet.

Daniel Smith watercolors:  Appetite Green, Sap Green, Green Gold, Bt Umber, Raw Umber and Paynes Gray and Lunar Black.   A little Fr Ultra plus Bt Umber for the shadows.

Note:  A few segment lines were made using brush tip and watercolor but then went to bruising with a small brush handle.

 

Playing in Color Again

To loosen up a bit after all the tedious hatching with pen and ink, I worked these two color sketches. 

Both done in the Stillman & Birn Zeta 5 x 8 journal; Daniel Smith watercolors.

I'm not sure how I feel a day after with the leaves but when I completed it, I wrote it off as a glouper or less than desirable.  Today all that stands out are the colors which brighten the day.

The second is from imagination where I just played a bit with grayed colors and then the contrast of the pot.  I was pretty amazed by the results of the pot with the texture.  I worked it wet in wet, dropped little beads of color, waited until almost dry and then sprayed water over it.  Then as that was drying stippled with brush tip color here and there again.