Catching up from the Last Post

Trying to get back into some sketching, I worked these from photos provided to me by family.  They often do that knowing what I like to sketch or paint and will send photos as reference for me to work from.

Neal having to work in Puerto Rico sent me a picture of an iguana he saw crawling up a tree near where he was standing.

Travis sent a picture of this super red cardinal in a tree where he lives.

And then Tuesday, Terry took pictures of Morgan (youngest granddaughter) spending time with the birds at Leesburg Pet Center.  They specialize in hand fed birds from various breeders where you can handle and spend hands-on time with them.  

Morgan has a way with animals which include birds.  She found one she spent most of her time with and the bird took to her as if he'd known her for some time and bonded.  Extremely friendly.

This is a young Black Headed Cangue (which I'd never heard of before).  His adult feathers have not fully come in yet giving the scraggly look young birds can have as they continue to mature and change color.

A Break from Drawing - Something Totally Different

Darlene (sister-in-law) shared with me one of her latest adventures in Diamond Painting.  Because Terry likes to work pictures out of beads, she thought he might be interested in this.  He was intrigued and decided to get a couple of kits. 

After watching his "painting" develop, I thought I would give it a try as well and ordered a kit.  His two kits consists of round beads or diamonds or whatever they are called and mine ended up being the square ones.

This is the first one Terry completed:

And here is the one I just completed tonight.  The thing I really like about the square beads is the fact it reminds me of cross stitch......something I've always loved but didn't have the patience with the tedious change of colored threads.  Sticking these plastic bits to canvas is sooooooo much easier!!!

 

When you can't sleep....Draw....Lani at a Year Old

Last night I was lucky to sleep an hour so rather than tossing and turning, I got up and started drawing.

Lani (Alani) - turned a year old as of May 29th.  One of the sweetest dogs we've ever had and she's a Momma's girl.  

She's considered a Teddy Bear (Shih Tzu and Bichon Frise) with a rare genetic issue in this breed mix and for a small dog....hip dysplasia.  Her hips click as she walks/runs but so far it doesn't seem to bother her in the least.  Our vet said she could go a lifetime as she is now or we may be facing one of two surgeries, which we hope we don't have to put her through.  I guess time will tell.

This to me captures her overall demeanor.......a happy, playful, and loving little bundle of joy!

Still Playing Following Instructor Nathan Brown

So far this is what I've done as I go through course material and play with the various new brushes and techniques covered. 

I'm going back to previous drawing/illustrations I've created and seeing what I can do to give them a little artistic uplift.  The course also covers rules I tend to avoid like the plague like composition (why I prefer illustrating and journaling) but it's good to face them now and then.............I suppose...ha ha.   I did need something different as I was feeling rather stuck.  This offers a new challenge that may keep me busy for awhile practicing and experimenting, which I should do more of.

Course I'm taking:

Introducing the Procreate Watercolor Masterclass by Nathan Brown through DesignCut.

Brush Pack also purchased:

Master Watercolor Brushes Ultimate Edition by Nathan Brown also through DesignCut.

There are videos on Youtube under both the instructor's name and DesignCut for additional information.

New Course and Experimenting

At present, I am taking a new Procreate digital watercolor course and playing with some of what I'm learning from it.  The course is by Nathan Brown through DesignCuts.com.

Taking a previous digital pencil drawing done back in February, I've worked it two different ways. 

Original drawing:

Experiment #1:  Blending part of the bird into the background forcing the eyes to go to the head and adding just a touch of color to part if the bird only.  I'm not real crazy about this one but was fun to play and experiment a bit.

Experiment #2:  Full color to look more like a painting.  The results with this one I really like.  

1st Attempt - Sadie Sketch

This was a dual challenge for me ... Dealing with semi-curly fur AND depicting white fur.  

Sadie is a Maltipoo we picked up mid June.  We got her as a playmate for Lani since Miya is too old to be bothered by younger dogs.  It was a great move on our part as the two pups love one another.

We will put them in the kitchen to romp and play.  In the kitchen sits a large bowl we use when keeping Lola for Travis.  Sadie loves this bowl and will sit in it.  We're not sure if she finds this to be a fortress for brief timeouts from Lani's play or what.  Would love to know what goes on in the minds of animals sometimes.

2B pencil brush tool

Camphor Tree - Leaves and Berries

Earlier this year we had to remove a large Camphor tree we had growing in the backyard.  It provided a lot of shade which helped block the south-western sun from higher temperatures in the sunroom and kitchen.  Unfortunately, the roots of this tree and a Magnolia in the back have caused damage to our septic drain field so we had to have both taken down.  

The one major drawback to the Camphor tree was the leaves that would come down with storms as well as the berries being toxic to humans and pets.  Lani was notorious for mouthing or picking up everything from stones to mulch, which made us nervous every time we took her out back.  Now we have Sadie and like Lani, wants to pick everything up.  

We do miss the shade though as well as lower electric bills.

I worked this illustration first in my sketchbook.  Then worked it on the Ipad without blending and with blending just for the practice and variation.

More Wildlife Drawings

Still going through photos taken throughout the years for incentive and as reference material.  These are from outside living room window here in Florida.

BJD 2B pencil

Wildlife Drawings

Going back to 2011 and 2012 when we lived in WV, I decided to draw from some of my photos taken while living out away from towns or subdivisions.  The one thing we miss is all the wildlife we enjoyed watching day to day.  

Not feeling like messing with color, I chose to work all of these with the 2B pencil brush tool.

Mushrooms and Prayer Plant

All using Ipad to draw on, these are my latest drawings.

With the mushrooms, I wanted to use a different technique than I normally do, which is using the smudge tool to blend.  Instead I chose to use the eraser tool set with the same brush tool as I'm using to lay down color.  

The other thing I've been concentrating on are values so my drawings are done in black and white.  Then if I want to add color, I can do so using the layer blending color mode.  The concept came to me from Steven Reddy's method where he paints using ink for his values first and then goes over with watercolor.

 

With the prayer plant, I used the 2B pencil brush tool but used the Smudge tool and Gouache brush tool for blending.

The one major plus using the Ipad is being able to work on layers.  If I'm working along and really like the progress so far, I'll add another layer for additions in case I'm not happy with the new results needing to back-track.  I can just delete the layer and start again.

I also like using layers for different components and also for darks and lights.

In this example, I wasn't quite happy with the leaf markings.......some were not dark enough for my liking whereas the others were fine.  So, I duplicated the layer with the leaf markings, erased the ones I didn't want darker, set on multiply to blend with the initial layer and turned down the opacity until I was happy with the values.  My other option would have been selecting only those marks I needed darker and using Hue/Saturation/Brightness, I could have gone darker.  I prefer using the duplicate layer method when there are several areas scattered that I want to adjust.

After completed in black and white, I added two layers each set at the Color Blend Mode.  When I lay down color, it will only color areas from layers below that is black.

Thomas's Desert Rose

Years ago our neighbor, Thomas, gave us a piece of his Desert Rose.  Although he passed a couple years ago, he lives on in his gift to us.  With the beautiful weather, it's in full bloom.  This is as of yesterday's date.

Worked while Neal and Travis closed on their first home.  Was my way of keeping busy as I waited to hear how things went for them.

Latest Drawings from Mother's Day Bouquet

Days later, my flowers are still going strong to include the roses.  Here are two more drawings I've completed.

Each worked differently.  The lily was worked off the value drawing and then adding color layer with layer blending mode.  The rose was worked without a value layer using brush tools to color on separate layers for each component.

 

Mother's Day Gift 2022

For mother's day, the guys got me this beautiful bouquet of roses and lilies.  There were 12 of these multicolored roses with two full stems of lilies.  The fragrance from this arrangement is absolutely heavenly!

Rose Drawing...

Lilies Drawing...

The two placed together representing the bouquet...

 

Paige's Hibiscus plus a Bonus Drawing

I was going through past drawings and paintings when I came across some of the portraits I had worked.  I felt this desire to practice skin again but hadn't decided what I wanted to do yet............not until Paige sent me photos of a hibiscus her mother bought for her recently.

In one of her photos, this caught my attention right off and was perfect for what I was wanting to practice.

After I worked her foot, I proceeded to draw her hibiscus from one of the photos...

Paige's Magnolia Flower

Travis cut and gave Paige a magnolia flower yesterday and she sent several photos to share with me.  After looking over them several times, I considered drawing one but was a bit hesitant.  One of those times I look at something and find it intimidating like the center portion of the flower.  Plus I'm not crazy working with white flowers.

Giving more thought on it, I decided to make it a personal challenge BECAUSE I felt intimidated and glad I did.  I was able to work through the most challenging part of it by starting the center first.  I figured if it went all wrong, I didn't spend a lot of time on the entire flower only to be dissatisfied.

Here is the ending results.  Paige didn't know I was going to draw from the photos she sent but had hoped I might.  I had Travis critique my work close to it being finished.  Once he OK'd how things were going, I proceeded to finish and then send to Paige via text.

Pesky Pests

 As I sit at my desk swatting a gnat flying around my face, the idea came to me to sketch some of the major pests we have where we live.

With warmer weather, these pest are coming out in groves...especially the mosquitos and gnats.   The Palmetto bugs tend to try and get into the house when the weather turns cold or hitch hikes on our dogs when coming back inside.  The midges are not here yet but it's just a matter of time.  As for the red ants, we try to keep them under control.  We spray down into their ant hills or pour scalding hot water down the holes.  It helps for a short time until they move elsewhere with new ant hills popping up.  The one pest (not shown) that we do NOT look forward to are the love bugs.  They make a horrible mess on our vehicles.

Sketching with the Peppermint brush tool on Ipad.

First Rose of 2022 from Neighbor

Our neighbor cut and sent this rose over with Terry to give to me.  This one particular rose bush he has produces roses with a very strong fragrance.  The roses don't last very long but while they do, makes the room smell wonderful.

Using the same technique I used for the frog (starting with a flat color background using the Round brush tool), I ended up with this result.  Results are different to my eyes starting out with a flat color type brush versus my coloring in using my favorite brush tool (Gouache) which is transparent with some variation with each stroke put down on paper.  The round is a solid that does not react with pencil pressure whereas the Gouache does..........putting down darker color with more pressure.

**With a flat color foundation, the layer is totally opaque which would make it easy to add a background layer underneath without it bleeding through the layer with the rose and having to erase that for a clean look.

Process using the Round Brush Tool:

As an experiment, I wanted to see the difference by working my rose with each brush.  I used the exact same color swatch with each brush tool.  When working with the Gouache brush tool, I do not put a lot of pressure on my apple pencil as I like building my color from light to dark.  This example is with my normal pressure (which is hard to explain except I don't apply much pressure).

Notice the difference between the two brush tools in application using the same color swatch.  

This next example shows what it would take by duplicating the original color layer using the Gouache brush tool versus a one time layer of color using the Round brush tool.  If I were to lift my apple pencil up and back down using the Gouache brush tool, the color would darken.......just like glazing in watercolor.

Closeup of the two side by side.  Although not a great deal of difference, I still see some variation or "life" in the one with four layers stacked using the Gouache brush tool.  For me, I like that.

The only difference between them is the foundation layer of basic color.

For added comparison, I worked these simple shapes without darks and highlights.

Frog Out Front

This little guy was on the wall right outside our front door late evening.  Using Procreate, I worked this with tools shown on the demo sheets.

The background was an afterthought using the Spires brush tool found under Organic using both brush tool to put down areas of the texture and using the same under the eraser to remove some areas.  Then added a few lines blending them out trying to mimic the texture of the wall.

Another brush tool mentioned on demo sheets was the BeeJayDel Textures - Scales.  On its own layer, I used it very lightly to add to the detail I put down by hand.  It's very subtle. 

Although three greens are shown on the color key on the demo sheets, I basically only used two......the middle and dark values. 

Small Sampling of What I've Been Up To

It's been awhile since I posted to my blog, but, I've been keeping busy with my drawing.

Most of the work I've been doing has been drawing on the Ipad.  Digital offers me the opportunity to blend like oil painting (which I cannot use to fumes).  I love the different techniques and challenges .... always learning something new.

Earlier this year I concentrated on my miniature bear, Opal.

The following is only a small sampling of what I've accomplished.

 

 

These sketches are from the current Nintendo game family has been playing.

For weeks we've been caring for Travis's dog and this was following weeks dealing with a bladder stone and infection and then recovering from surgery.  Lola was eyeballing Terry's sandwich and the look on her face was priceless.  An expression I wanted to capture in a drawing for Travis.

Looking through my photos for an idea to draw, I came across a mobile phone photo of this Mantis.  What grabbed my attention was the color of the shadow.

Recently, Madison shared with me her trying to save bumblebees that came out during their warm spell followed by another winter cold snap making them lethargic.  She was afraid they would die and tried keeping them warm and safe.  She's not afraid of bees allowing them to crawl on her.  This is her finger with one and she's yet to be stung.  Not something I would do ........ lol.

Practicing Folds

Blending Technique I use in Procreate where I put down some color and push/pull the color out:

Couple of journal sketches with Pen and Ink: