Today I have 3 smallish drawings that I have finished this week. Above are 3 gourds, two ornamental and the third is the type that can be decorated with designs similar to what I created for my drawing. Again these are all on hot press watercolor paper.
Someone on Flickr (where I also post images of my art) asked where I get my paper. I have never found hot press paper at a chain art/craft store such as Michaels or AC Moore. I have seen only cold press paper which has a rough surface. Hot press paper has a smooth surface excellent for pen or colored pencil work, though it absorbs water readily with minimal warping. I am lucky that I have a nearby Art Supply Store that carries hot press paper, and I would assume that any quality art store would have it on hand. For those who don't have access to a full service art store it can be ordered online from Dick Blick. I use Arches 140 wt. which can be purchased in various sized blocks. It can also be purchased by the sheet which is how I usually purchase it. There are several other manufactures of hot press paper, so if you can't get Arches but can get a different mfg. I would say that you should try it to see how it works for you.
Above is a drawing of four hot peppers, 2 red, and 2 green. I placed them on a blue table with a toned grey background. Again I am working with realistic outlines and random fills. The colors for the peppers are semi realistic. Image size for these two vegetable images are my usual 4 x 4 inches.
Below is another of my animal drawings.
The squirrel's pose is from a photograph I took a while ago. The squirrel is hunched over looking intently at something below him. I used a slightly larger image area for this guy, 5 x 5 inches. On this one I didn't want to add a lot of background images to distract from the squirrel and without something the image looked a bit bare. Color was supposed to add that something, so I added with watercolor washes. The squirrel is grey with just a bit of light brown on the face and tail, the tree branches I used a grey green contrasting with the blue sky. I could have done a better job on the sky wash, but otherwise I am happy with it.
One last comment for any readers who will be in the Boston area between now and August. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts has just opened a Chihuly glass exhibit. The official opening is April 10 and the exhibit will be on view until August 7th. I hope to be able to get to the museum to see this which has not only some of his latest works on view but some of his earliest. I love glass and always have so this should be amazing. The good news is that you don't need tickets, the exhibit is part of general admission to the museum.
That is it for today. Per usual comments are welcome.
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