I have a couple of images with letters in their titles today. Above is another of my Artist Trading Cards (ATC) done with watercolor on cold press watercolor paper. I am not sure what these flowers are, they were growing on a medium sized bush in the Houghton's Pond area in The Blue Hills Reservation last year. I loved the color of the flowers so made several reference photographs.
They were fun to paint. Actually that is not entirely true, I have sort of a love hate relationship with watercolor. I am usually happy with my final results but don't always enjoy the process, and tend to put off starting a painting until I give myself an extra push. Usually the motivation is that I need something for the Bog so I had better get at it. Mind you I know ahead of time that a drawing will end up as a watercolor, after all I am using watercolor paper, but I seem to need that extra push to actually get to the painting.
Next group of letters is the EDM (Everyday Matters) drawing above. This drawing was done for Item number 275: Draw a tube of toothpaste. My tube is almost empty so was a bit more of a challenge then I think a brand new tube would be. It was fun to try and show the bends and shadows on this one.
Above is a pen and ink drawing from a WetCanvas forum challenge photo. I downloaded the photograph months ago, and to be honest I am not even sure at this point which forum the photo was posted in (Colored Pencil, Pen and Ink or Drawing). It was posted as one of either a weekly or monthly challenge to members to draw.
For you purists out there I just drew this in my sketchbook with ink, no pencil references/guides at all. Not too bad, though the bowl isn't totally round and the basil is a bit ragged. The veggies look like the ingredients for an Italian eggplant dish, yummy if you like eggplant (which I don't). Drawn with a micron 01 pen. I have decided that I need to do more pen only studies since I have reach a point with my drawing skills that this is feasible. Meaning what I draw will be recognizable, instead of a mess of corrections.
I am really working on another major piece, meaning it is going to take hours and hours of work to finish, and did all the images I am posting today as breaks between working on it. My wrist gets a bit sore otherwise as it is a stipple work of the border design I posted in the last blog entry. It is coming along well so far, but is slow going, I will probably post an update next Tuesday.
One last image, this photograph was made last Monday prior to some cold (below freezing) weather moving in and bringing a change from sunny days to cloudy ones with spatters of rain. Actually though we all enjoyed the warmth of over a week ago, this weather is more typical March weather and better for the forests, we need the rain, and it is really much too early for everything to think it is spring and bloom. But isn't this forsythia cheerful, esp against a blue sky.
That blossom painting is lovely, the background really makes the colours stand out.
ReplyDeleteAnn thanks, I am finding I like the dark backgrounds, but I admit they are so much easier to do when the painting isn't very large. I use layers of different colored paints to create them, sometimes I think I spend more time on the backgrounds than I do on the foreground.
ReplyDeleteThe toothpaste and the plate with vegetables are really well done - and great edm work! Your painting is lovely, too, it doesn't show that you don't like working with watercolors :)!
ReplyDeleteThanks, it isn't so much that I don't like watercolors as it is that I am not comfortable with paint, any paint actually. I am probably reliving some of the terrible watercolors I produced when I was much younger, working small helps
ReplyDeleteLovely work Kathleen - and I'm inspired to try to sketch a tube of toothpaste my son has just finished, but failed to actually throw in the bin. Is that just my kids?
ReplyDeleteSue, LOL I have no idea I have never lived with kids but from what I have heard from friends they are totally typical.
ReplyDeleteLove your drawings and sketches as always =) Nowadays it's not easy to roll the tube of toothpaste like that since they are plastics ^^
ReplyDeleteAlex, thanks for your comments, your right in the old days this would have been far more rolled, instead of just a couple of bends.
ReplyDeleteYou did an excellent job with the toothpaste tube!
ReplyDeleteAll of these turned out wonderfully, but I especially like the ATC. It has so much depth! Well done! And love that photograph!
ReplyDeleteRaena and Cathy thanks, I am working on my watercolor skills and I feel that these small cards are the perfect way for me to do so.
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