The Granddaughters

While still fresh with all the people practice I've done this past week, I decided to try more formal drawings of my two granddaughters.

My favorite part in drawing both ladies was the hair and their smiles :-)

As I critique my own results, I find I need more work in the shading.  Shading to me makes or breaks achieving likeness in people as it helps shape the face giving it the uniqueness of the individual (if that makes sense).

This first is my 15 year old granddaughter, Madison.  This one was a bit tricky due to the angle of her head and getting the facial features angled correctly with the face.

And this is the youngest (age 12), Morgan.  She was a little easier for me to do for some reason.  I didn't have to do as much erasing as I did with Madison's.  

Revisit to Sketching Supplies and Kits

I think part of the love of sketching is not just filling sketchbooks and journals but also collecting various supplies and putting together a variety of kits one can use for going out sketching and painting.  It's almost like an addiction for me and I'm always surfing the net for new ideas..........lol.

I have several related posts under the key word (sketch kits) 

1)  This first photo shows only a sampler of the various sketchbooks and journals I use.  From back to forward and left to right.......

Sennelier Accordion sketchbook / Stillman and Birn spiral Beta; Sewn Hardback Delta; spiral Epsilon; and Sewn Hardback Alpha / Strathmore Tinted Sketchbooks; Global Handbook; Moleskine; Handmade Leather Journal / Itoya Presentation Folders with clear sleeves to slide your work down into / Langton Spiral Watercolor Pad; Handmade Journal; Visual Journal by Strathmore / Handsewn Hardback Journal; Spiral Handmade Journal; Handmade Accordion Journal

2)  Traveling Kit using a passport neck carrier.  Perfect for a small sketchbook, small palette, pens, pencil, eraser, tissue tucked down inside, putty eraser, and a waterbrush.

3)  Accruasee Strap- On Sketch Caddie:  Small palette, waterbrush, pens/pencils, putty eraser, tissue.  This sketch caddie has an elastic strap that wraps around the front cover of a sketchbook.

4)  Collection of pre-made palettes and those customized using old children's paint kits, crayon tins, and Altoid tin boxes.  With the pre-made palettes, I often customize them as well using empty half and full pans if the cases do not have molded pan inserts (like the Winsor & Newton Pocket Palette).

5)  One of my favorites - Lihit Lab Pen Case:  Left inside carries my pens and pencils.  The middle flap where you can add additional pens, I use to hang a small portrait Stillman and Birn journal, and behind the middle flap, I have tissue, q-tips, and a paper stump on the left and palette, travel brushes and putty eraser on the right.

6)  One of my day to day handbags (current link as of 07/25/2022) I carry everywhere (my purse).  I always have pens, pencil, eraser, small tissue, waterbrush, customized thin palette and small journal with me at all times.  Inside the zippered compartment I can fit a 5 x 7 journal, small wallet, bottle of IB, and other small items I might need.  The back is where I carry my cell phone.

Keys and camera are attached to the outside with carabiner hooks......accessible at all times.

7)  Another favorite is this canvas tool bag purchased from Harbor Freight for about $10.  I take this one if I don't have a long distance walk ahead of me (I prefer something with a shoulder strap for any walking I might have to do).  I carry the green Lihit Lab Pen case full of sketching gear (as shown above), coffee and water on either side, large Journal, heavy duty cardboard with clips I can use for a mini lap table, white plexiglass sheet (about 8 x 10) I use as a mixing surface, collapsible water bowl, smaller journal on outside pocket, nylon bag with pens and brushes, a larger folding palette, folded paper towels, tissue, hand cleaner, small mister bottle........and still have plenty of room for more stuff if needed.

94 Out of 100 One Week One Hundred Challenge

Here are more I've worked today to include two while sitting at a presentation on Altered Books at our local Library.

This one I made into an exercise for full body......just for a change from all the upper body/head sketches I've worked so far.

 These three worked while watching TV for a little while this afternoon.

At 4 pm I had a presentation at the Library to attend on Altered Books.  While sitting there, I sketched two ladies sitting across from where I was sitting.  This one is worked in a small Beta sketchbooks with a mechanical pencil.  While I was sketching, another lady was doing the same thing :-)

These are other ladies at the presentation I sketched from photos once I returned home.

I am now down to the last six to complete this challenge.   I feel really great that I'm sticking with this and not giving up.  AND, although I still have a lot of room to improve, I'm feeling really good about working with facial features now where before I would try to avoid them.  

Nice Doos!

Yesterday our sketching group met up for lunch at a place called Eatons Beach Sandbar and Grill in Weirsdale, FL.

The restaurant sits on a large lake with a beach area that reminds you of a beach along the coast. 

It was super windy yesterday as well as a bit on the nippy side.  One of the gals decided to take a selfie with me in it while outside and our hair was nearly standing on end.  As my way of showing my appreciation for her posting that photo for all to see, I decided to sketch it.........ROFL

Two more towards my 100 for the week.  Only 18 go to.

One Week 100 People Continued

So far so good...........

Although I am enjoying it this time around, I'm about done with people for awhile.........lol.

I'm spending every spare moment to work on these and it's getting easier and easier with facial features (although I still prefer working with the back of heads.......much easier and quicker.)

Only 20 more to go!

I'm bouncing back and forth between 6B Pencil and 6B Compressed Charcoal

2018 One Week 100 People Challenge

Last year I didn't complete this challenge.  I ended up stopping after 50 people.  The problem was I had already spent a couple weeks working with people gestures so when this challenge came around, I was pretty burnt out sketching people.

This year's challenge started yesterday and I didn't learn about it until this morning.  Determined I'm going to work it this year, I immediately set myself in motion and worked two days into one to catch up.

I have three days to complete the challenge working 20 a day and I think I can do this.

Now the one thing I do question............the challenge is called "One Week 100 People" and I'm wondering when a week went from seven days to five???  Maybe they should rename the challenge to reflect the correct amount of days they allow for this.

The first two pages are using the Carbon Stick brush tool.  Then I switched to the 6B Compressed (both under Charcoal Brush Set).  I think I prefer the 6B as it's not as fuzzy looking.  But it was a nice experiment using two different brush tools to compare working the same subject.

My Sketching Me Sketching

Using Procreate, I worked this next sketch from a photo one of my friends took during one of our sketch outings.

This one was very time consuming to complete but it was fun and relaxing.  I wanted to capture proportions correctly and what better way to achieve that?  :-)

Procreate brush tools:  Inking - Studio Pen / Painting - Water Brush / Elements - Cloud

Feeding the Birds

It's been an all nighter with legs and feet cramping when trying to lay down so I sat up and sketched. 

Procreate - 6B graphite tool

From photos taken during our most recent sketch outing at Lake Sumter.  This is a compilation of several photos of this young boy feeding the fish  and a large turtle, only to attracted the seagulls.  I think they ended up with most of the food being tossed.

March Challenge - Recipe - Baked Apple

For this month's challenge, my "sister" in the UK and I are to illustrate a favorite recipe.  I chose my low carb / low sugar baked apple dish.

Worked in a large Stillman and Birn Beta sketchbook using Microns and watercolor.

End of February 2018 Sketches

Found I have fallen behind again in posting here on my blog.  Here are the last few days of February sketches completed.

Top left is experimenting with Camera Lucida and trying to mix a cinnamon color.  Strathmore Visual Watercolor journal.

Top right is an updated Micron and Fountain Pen comparison chart.

Bottom left and Bottom right are Procreate sketches from our outing to Trout Lake Nature Center.

Another from the Trout Lake Nature Center

This is one from the case of moths and butterflies.  I believe it's called a White-lined Spinx.  This particular one just jumped out at me due to the contrast in colors and pattern.  Although it's not showing here, some have areas of pink.  Maybe this one didn't because it was dried.  Another reason I like this particular moth is that I've seen them often around the house.  I just think they are so neat and amazed by the size I've seen.

Decided this time to hold off adding ink.  I might add it later.

Stillman & Birn Beta 3.5 x 5.5 journal

The scan is showing the lighter color a bit more yellow than it should.  The pigment used is Buff Titanium (Daniel Smith) and is more of a light tan or dark off white.  Other colors used are Bt Umber, Bt Sienna, and touch of Paynes Gray.

Sketchcrawl at Trout Lake Nature Center 02/22/18

Yesterday there were eight of us who met up at the Trout Lake Nature Center.......seven sketchers and one of the ladies' husband.

It was quite a warm sunny day reaching 86 (according to my car temp gauge) when we left around 1 p.m. 

The nature center has two buildings with bones, skulls, stuffed animals from gators to the smallest of turtles.  There were cases of moths and butterflies as well.

This center holds educational classes for school kids and while we were there, a bus load of youngsters were there for lunch, walking the trails, and going through the museum.

Outside are A-framed wired structures ...... one with a live turtle and not sure what other critters were there.

There are several trails you can walk, one of which takes you out a board walk to the lake.  It was a gorgeous day!

This is a page from my large Stillman & Birn Beta journal where I worked a few illustrations.  The left two were worked watercolor first with pen and ink last and those on the right were worked my normal way of ink first followed by watercolor.

I could probably fill a complete journal with all the things there that grabbed my attention :-)  A place I plan to return to.

Tribute to Mote-Morris House in Leesburg

We learned this week that another historical landmark may be demolished. 

We lost an Orange Packing Plant last year with the College buying the property and leveling the packing plant for their use.  This other is the Mote Morris House that is 125 years old and owned by the City of Leesburg renting out to the Chamber of Commerce.  Unfortunately bringing it down will not be by choice.  A fire broke out causing significant structural damage.  As of this writing they are not sure if a vagrant set the fire or if it was due to some other cause (arson, electrical?).  A few weeks ago a vagrant was caught and chased off trying to light a fire (to keep warm I guess) on the gazebo that sits on the property.

Here is a sketch I just finished today as a tribute to a building several in our sketching group hold dear and for one reason as mentioned below.

Labeling Spiral Journals and Sketchbooks

It used to be all I ever worked in were spiral sketchbooks/journals (once I stepped away from single sheets and placing in Itoya presentation folders).  Then I was introduced to the hard bound journals like Stillman and Birn or even hand-sewn journals we can make.

I kept going back and forth as to which I prefer and I'm at a point now that it's a true toss up.  Sometimes spirals can be difficult to lay completely flat for scanning but then I've also had problems with hard bounds as well.

Some people feel you can't work a two-page spread but I have and to me looks fine even with the spiral in between the pages.

What I determined was the biggest positive for hard bounds was the fact you had a spine you could write contents on so you could see at a glance on a book shelf what they contained (time period covered, subject, etc.). 

I like spirals because they are often lighter in weight.  Mentally they also give me permission to not treat the journal as some priceless book I can't use for fear of messing up the pages.  If a page is that poorly messed up, you can tear it out without leaving any trace you've done that........lol.

The problem is, of course, with a bookshelf of spirals, you have to take them all down just to flip open to see what's in them or you pull off the shelf to see what you might have written on the front cover.  If you have several (like I do), that can be horribly time consuming.

Here's my solution to that :-)  You can use the round key ring labels but I used what I have on hand and to me these work out beautifully.  And you can color code if you wish depending on brand or type of journals you're using.  Or color code by subject, etc.


Couple other ideas:

One friend of mine takes stiff paper (watercolor paper as an example) and wraps it around folding the ends inside front and back cover.  That creates a spine you can write the contents on.  Unfortunately, I don't have paper laying around that I could use for that or large enough for some of my spirals.

I've also tried sticking a pen through in between the spirals and trying to write on the edge of the pages with very little luck. 

Trying Out AutoSketch on Note8 Phone

A dear friend of mine uses AutoSketch on his Note8 all the time.  I thought now that I have a Note8 that I would try the free version out of this app with the stylus pen.

Not sure I'll use the phone app often as the stylus pen is a bit tiny and awkward for me to use.  At least at this point.  Probably in time I might get used to it but only time and usage will tell.

I found the app very limited and not real user friendly.  Unlike Procreate, I couldn't find very much on how to use the app on the mobile phone.  What videos I found were on larger tablets and the interface appears different.  And maybe the videos cover the paid version whereas I'm not going to pay for an app unless I understand how to use it or if the features are those I like and one can easily use.  So far that's not the case for me with this free version.  It took forever for me just to locate how to undo or erase or make the pencil tool size larger or smaller. 

With all that said, I did manage this simple little sketch from memory of what I did the other day after seeing our little hummer friend at the feeder again this morning.

Another Whimsical Illustration for Group Flyers

Just playing around with various illustrations for our sketching group, I came up with another to add as eye candy on flyers.

Using Procreate, I originally worked this.  After a couple of days I decided it needed some more work.........especially some shading.  Then I had to add the sunglasses.........lol

Due to the fact I work each component on layers, I can keep the shadow under the car or untick and not use it.  And the sunglasses is the same deal........I can include them or not depending on my mood :-)

One of the ways I thought of using this is as follows.......as if the car is pulling a trailer (Trekkers)

Couple Quick Sketches

Yesterday and today both we saw our little hummer friend.  That's encouraging and hope he/she sticks around.  Would be nice to see more but thankful for the one after all this time not having them around.

Quick pencil sketch in Paper Blanks journal. 

And this is just a very rough sketch of something we laugh at several times a day, every day.

Miya, our little yorki-poo, likes going out with Terry every time he sits out front.  He sits while she sunbathes a few feet away.  And every time she goes out, she has to take something with her........mostly a toy.  Once in awhile she'll take her bone out but that's another story with her behavior that cracks us up.

This illustration shows what she does when Terry stands at the front door calling her to come out with him.  She runs to grab a toy (most often sitting in the middle of the floor in the living room by the foyer/front door) but instead of turning to go outside, she always continues on through the living room......through the kitchen.......through the dining room......back to the foyer and out the front door.

You have to wonder what goes through their minds or what makes them do what they do sometimes.

Subject Approached Two Different Ways

This is a statue I decided to try two different methods in sketching just for my own comparison.  Which do I like better?   Hard to say honestly as I like each for different reasons.

One of the reasons I love sketching is for spontaneity and liveliness they often portray (mine don't always but I do strive for that look).  Not so stiff looking or formal when spending a lot of time working on a sketch.  I tend to overwork when I spend a lot of time.  I keep seeing things that might look better and then find to my eyes they often look over-worked.  And a lot depends too on the subject.

I enjoy using Procreate but like using a single sheet of watercolor paper, I tend to labor over what I'm working on........often spending several hours on one piece.  Using a sketchbook mentally gives me permission to sketch loosely and quickly if I so choose.  Other means for some reason I feel I have to keep striving for perfection which I never reach..........and that's OK (as I keep trying to remind myself.......lol).

The left to me is more spontaneous.  The statue to my eyes appears rough and weather worn whereas the one on the right is smooth and doesn't quite portray it's been sitting outside for any length of time except for maybe the green I placed for moss or mold.  Although the face on the right is more true to life looking than the quick sketch.

I like the brown leaves in the right example but then the more I think about it, I also like the green grassy area of the left example.

The other thing I like best about the left is it has better contrast between lights and darks on the statue itself.

And I haven't quite made up my mind with the backgrounds.  I like the suggestive look of the background on the left as I don't feel it competes with the statue itself.  In some ways I feel the background on the right competes.  But it's all in the eyes of the beholder.  Everyone is different and even I tend to change how I see things from day to day depending on my mood (lol.)

FINALLY a Hummingbird!

Since we moved to Florida, we've not had much luck seeing hummingbirds.  We had scores of them back in West Virginia and I've missed having them around.

This year we thought maybe to place the feeder in the front yard rather than the back.  We also put the feeder out early after researching and reading mid to late February or early March would be a good time.

Within the first 24 hours of setting up a feeder, Terry heard a humming while sitting out reading his book.  The little guy quickly tested out the feeder and flew off.  A few days later Terry saw one again but didn't stay around very long.

Today I FINALLY had the opportunity to see one and this time he or she sat for quite awhile on the feeder taking his fill of nectar.  I had plenty of time to observe and even take photos through the window before he flew off.

Here's my recording of today's sighting.  I'm using pigments I don't normally use by Daniel Smith.  A light and darker green........the darker having quite a bit of sediment in it leaving a texture on the paper.  Something similar to the lunar pigments.  The Greens I used were Rich Green and Green App.  Then I used some Sap Green with Dioxide Purple to darken some areas.  I finished it off with watercolor pencils for some added darker bluish green tones.

This time I chose not to use pen and ink.

Beta 3.5 x 5.5 journal

Lake Sumter Landing Sketchcrawl Continued

This goes along with the post I shared yesterday from our sketchcrawl Monday at Lake Sumter Landing.  Started out with light pencil sketch and finally finished using Lamy Safari and a bit of color.

Beta journal