Bookmark, pen and ink and a dwg. start

Haven't seemed to be very productive in past few of days. I did manage to do the above pen and ink sketch of a braid of garlic. Just drew it with one of my technical pens and am fairly happy with how it came out. At least it looks like a garlic braid to me.

Did manage to work on a new heart bookmark. It is actually a replacement for the bookmark I posted in my last update, I had a moment of inattention and when I came to, I realized I had punched the hole for the tassel braid at the bottom of the bookmark instead of the top. So started over, even though this one will be too late for Valentines day. Ah well such is life, and I wasn't totally happy with the other one any way so I guess it isn't the worst that could happen.

I prefer the hearts drawn on this one to the other, but am not sure about the background. I realized I didn't like the little circles with the hearts, or maybe it was the all over grey color that didn't appeal, whatever I decided to try something different. Simple lines that said they needed some further decoration. The only problem is I think the background is now overpowering the hearts. Maybe I will try for a third, don't they say third time is the charm?

While I was coloring this bookmark with my colored pencils I did notice that the temperature in the room seems to affect how well the pencils will lay down color, the warmer it is the easier it is to apply the color. The other evening it was cool in the apt. and I seemed to have to really use pressure to apply any color, today (with sun coming in the windows) the apt. temp is higher and the color seemed to just flow on without that much pressure. Something to think about, but not something I can totally control, oddly enough it was the Polychromes which are oil based that seem the most affected.

I have two in-process projects, one is a new watercolor that also has some ink work on it, and the 2nd is this drawing of a chipmunk. I have drawn this reference photo before in my sketchbook, but this one is on good paper (Stonehenge) and I will take my time with it. So far just the outline of the chipmunk, and some work on the fence posts.

One thing I have been doing is spending time on the WetCanvas Watercolor forum and reading about mixing colors with watercolor paint, what colors are basic and that Artist grade is usually better than student grade. Oh yes that my portable watercolor box probably contains student grade pans. I now have a list of colors that I need to think about purchasing if I am really going to continue to explore watercolor. Also on my next visit to the Library I may look to see if they have any books on watercolor painting.

From a walk the other day, this tree with snow on its branches. Our weather has been consistently cold so we haven't had much melting from the snow storm last week. This photograph was made a couple of days after the storm and you can still see the snow on the branches, haven't been out so am not sure if I would still see snow this way, it is certainly still on the ground.

That it is for today, a bit more text than art, but I think all of go through such cycles, anyway comments are welcome.

Watercolor Still Life and stuff

Above is my watercolor version of a Wetcanvas Pen and Ink Forum Feb. challenge photograph. My last update included by quick pen and ink version. I am pretty happy with this watercolor version, esp the onions on the left.

Done entirely with Winsor Newton watercolors, no pencil, no pen and ink, well except for the signature. The actual painted area isn't that large, only about 6.5 x 5.5. Painted on cold press 120lb Canson watercolor paper. This is new territory for me, and one I am not entirely comfortable with but feel it is a good move. There are going to be more watercolor paintings in my future.

Since valentines day is only a week away I thought it might be fun to make a bookmark with hearts. So far this is what I have accomplished, pen and ink with colored pencil. I used a variety of pencil manufactures and several different reds and pinks.

Background is ink circles, it is faster to do then stipple but gives me a grayed surface which I sometimes want. Over that I added some white colored pencil to add some texture. I don't feel quite done with hearts just yet, something is sitting just out of sight, so will have to play around with this theme again.

Above is another of the Feb. Wetcanvas challenge photographs done in pen and ink, just a quick sketch of this Bird of Paradise flower with a tree in the background. I see lots of errors as I didn't draw it in pencil first just went for the ink. Done with the 00 Technical pen in a sketchbook.

I love Bird of Paradise flowers, when I was in High School I had a friend whose family actually had a potted Bird of Paradise that would bloom for them in the middle of winter. For years I wanted a plant of my own, but was never able to get any of the seeds I could get my hands on to grow. I should mention that we were living in CT. no where near the the tropical environment that is the native home of these flowers/plants.

This photograph is from the other day, as I was on my way home I saw this little bird sitting in the bushes outside a neighbors house, not sure of the species, but I was surprised to see it out and about in the falling snow. It's feathers were all fluffed to help keep it warm, even though the day wasn't that cold.

That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome.

Ink Work, more Still Life's

I hope you aren't getting bored by all the still life's I have been drawing as above is another one. Had some fruit on hand along with this wooden bowl so thought it would make a good subject. I don't spend a lot of time on these just getting straight to it with my technical pens, mostly the 00 (.30) though occasionally a larger nib.

Often I do one pencil version and then an ink version, I didn't bother with the pencil version of this set up.

For the above I just drew outlines of a couple pieces of fruit in various positions, not an actual arraignment, just something I put on paper. My plan was to scan it into Photoshop and then play.

So above is the outlined fruit in the black and white image with color added in Photoshop. I am much happier with these pears than the ones I did a week or two ago. For one thing the color is more accurate, Bosc pears are more brown than yellow/green. I am also trying to use more shades of color on each object to add the illusion of depth.

I don't spend a lot of time on these, partly because I want them to have a slightly unfinished look. For me that is one of the problems with computer graphics, colors are often too uniform without the shading you see in real life or in non-computerized paintings.

Another drawing from WetCanvas monthly challenge photographs. The above image is from one of February's selected photos. It was a quick study and I am not totally thrilled with it, though there are parts that I like.

I rather like this photograph so am spending more time with it by attempting to translate it as a watercolor. So far no ink, I am just using paint. With my method of working it is a bit slow going so I don't have a finished painting to post today.

The above photograph is from yesterday. The weather reports yesterday were all about the snow storm we are supposed to be getting tomorrow (6 to 10 inches) and nothing about the snow that was falling out of the sky for most of the day. It didn't amount to much, just a couple of inches but still... It was a fairly warm day (temp around 32 degrees) so the snow was wet and sticky. This photograph shows a neighbors tree and bushes with their decoration of snow. I know it doesn't look it, but this is a color photograph, just most of the color was leached out by the grey conditions.

That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome.