A Watercolor, ATC and Graphic Design

Today's update is kind of a hodgepodge. I was in Walmart the other evening and noticed that this local store (we have 2 within about 5 miles, different towns but..) has bolts of fabric again, surprise. Thinking I should check it out I wandered in that direction. Then I got distracted and never even checked out the fabric, not a big deal it is probably poor quality, but will do that on another visit. Anyway the path toward the fabric took me by the art supplies isle and I thought why not check that out first.

The supplies are mostly cheap student grade stuff but for some reason they were doing a close out on pads of paper so had reduced prices on all their Canson pads. I can only guess that they are getting in a new vendor and want to clear out the Canson paper to make shelf space. Anyway the prices were pretty good, paper keeps until I need it so I picked up a couple of pads.

One of the pads I picked up was labeled as Mix Media and is 11 x 14 inches 160gsi or 98lb in weight. I purchased the pad thinking it might be good paper to use to make some more of my own journals. Since I had never purchased this paper before I wanted to check out how acceptable it would be to use with watercolor so I painted the above.

Loose impressions of 2 plants I have in the apt. For the Spathiphyllum (peace lily) on the left I did a bit of inking first. The 2nd on the right is supposed to be some kind of fern and that one I just used the brush for. I did mix a new green and used that along with some other mixed greens that were already on my pallet.

I started keeping a very messy pallet when I belatedly realized that dried watercolor can be reactivated by adding water with no problems unlike gouache which seems to suffer a loss of quality. Now unless I am starting a new project that I will need completely different colors for I don't bother cleaning up the pallet between painting sessions.

Anyway the experiment was a success, the paper accepted the watercolor without excessive buckling so I think it would be a good choice for a blank journal. I wouldn't want to flood the paper with water, don't think it will stand up to that, but a combination of ink and fairly dry watercolor works. The paper has a fair amount of tooth so should also be fairly good with colored pencil. I think I made a good buy.

The two images above are a continuation of my toy theme. The top Teddy Bear is based on the one I did for the last update with the doll, though this guy is on a new ATC (Artist Trading Card). I added the flag (pennant) just to add some color and interest. The rug he is sitting on sort of looks like grass but then I have seen indoor carpets that also mimic grass so it isn't that much of a stretch.

The outlined rocking horse is also going to be a ATC, but the drawing I made was just a bit to large to copy directly over to a card so I scanned this image into Photoshop, shrunk it a bit and reprinted it out. I will use the reduced size image to transfer over to a blank ATC stock. Right now I plan on using colored pencil on this, but who know I may change my mind and make it a watercolor.

The drawing is based on some photographs I found of antique rocking horses, but isn't a copy of any of them as it combines some elements of my plastic(fiberglass?) horse with the antique wooden ones.

Late last fall one of my friends from the old Compuserve Crafts forum days created a new Facebook group for us. But the group needed a header so I spent some time yesterday in Photoshop to pull the above one together. Not totally thrilled with it, but it is better than nothing. I found myself remembering why I don't like the Text tool in Photoshop and am thinking I should really redo this in Illustrator where I would have better control. The quilt blocks are images exported from Corel Draw and my days of drafting quilt block patterns. The font wasn't my first choice, but I guess it works.

Just realized that my graphic design skills are getting a bit rusty. Oh if any readers are interested in joining (it is a closed group) e-mail me and I can give you contact information or an invite.

Last image a photograph of a blooming weeping cherry tree. There are actually a pair of these outside the Catholic Church Rectory that is across the street from the Library. I love weeping cherries, so even though it was raining a bit that day I made this photograph.

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

Watercolor, graphite and more toys

The above is small, about postcard size and started out with me playing around with a brush and trying to paint wet into wet. First I wet the paper then dropped in color and let it mix on the paper. I was using blue and yellow to start, then added some tube greens then mixed some more greens and added those in. Added more blues, you get the picture. Let the first session dry and then went in and added more greens, this time work wet onto dry, mixed up the brown and added some lines to suggest tree trunks and limbs. Then mixed the lighter brown and painted in the path.

Oddly I am fairly pleased with how this came out. Not working from anything except imagination, and there was no under drawing. Just play, but play can teach one a lot with this kind of media. Still need to do more of that as I am still discovering what colors I can mix with my new paints.

I was at the library the other day, sitting for a bit with a book I had taken off the shelves before packing up, taking out the books and walking home. This gentleman sat down at the other end of the table I was sitting at and I couldn't resist trying for a quick sketch.

I don't think he ever realized I was sketching him. Fairly quickly done, and quite sketchy, but I rather like the results. Loved the hat, you just don't see people in hats any more. Well except in winter and those are more caps than hats. Need to do more of this kind of drawing. Now that the weather is getting warmer I need to check out local parks.

More toys, this time a teddy bear and a doll with a ball. I think I could of done a better job with the bear, looking at it now the head seems a bit small, but I really like the doll. She is mostly drawn from my imagination, but to get the legs/feet more accurate I pulled out one of my dolls and posed her.

Hands could be better, but for the most part I am pleased with this. I guess all that figure drawing I was doing for these past couple of years is paying off, even if the figure is just a doll. Tried to pick colors that would contrast but still go together, also wanted to keep the pallet fairly limited so that I was repeating them, you know getting back to those Principles and Elements of design.

As a final image a tree that is just starting to bloom, don't know if this is a crab apple or some kind of ornamental cherry, whatever I love the white against the blue sky with the contrasting dark branches.

If I understand our next weeks weather forecast correctly there isn't much blue sky in my future. Rain today, tomorrow, cloudy Monday and Tuesday then more rain for the next four days. I am going to be soggy by the end of this pattern. Still rain this time of year is a good thing, leaves are just starting to come out on the trees and until they do the forest can become a tinder box on sunny dry days, should also help to keep the pollen count down. Does limit my photo opportunities though so I am not totally thrilled.

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

Nature Journal, a carving, and faces

Above is another of my catch up Nature Journal pages. This one is about a year old and is from a visit to Daniel Webster, Marshfield, MA on April 9, 2013. As I recall it was a good day for a visit, the water in the Panne was high, note how much of the tree truck is under water and there were several interesting duck visitors. On that day there were blue wing teal and this Northern Shoveler swimming also saw a pair of Mallard ducks mating and a pair of wood ducks.  Out in the fields there were blue birds and a hawk.

What the Shoveler was doing in MA I have no clue, they are mostly a Canadian and mid-western bird. This one must of gotten totally lost, and this poor male certainly wasn't going to find a mate in our local waters, hopefully he flew up to Canada and found more of his kind for company.

If you can make them out note how many turtles were hauled out on the tree stump (8) and there was one sitting on some floating reeds, that were part of the flotsam left after winter storms. How the one turtle got where it was on the tip of the stump I have no clue, I wouldn't have thought it possible for something that size (it was fairly large) to get itself in that position what with the stiff shell.

When I was in Chicago over Christmas, not this year but last year, I took a stroll around my sister's Chicago neighborhood photographing buildings of interest. One of the buildings had this carved panel next to one of its doorways. There is kind of a challenge in the WetCanvas Drawing forum to draw something architectural. While this isn't a building or a room it is architectural in that it is part of a building.

I don't recall which building it was on, obviously something that was built a long time ago as most modern buildings don't bother with carvings, hard to find the talent and even if you do the cost can get pretty steep. As I recall this building has been designated a Chicago Historical landmark so at least this carving is safe, though there was some damage (which I didn't show)

Done with graphite in my sketchbook, it deserves more time than I gave it, still I am relatively pleased with it.

Was out at the laundry-mat today and took my sketch book with me, above are some of the faces and sketches made while waiting for my clothes to wash. At least there were people in the laundry-mat, some days it is fairly empty.

Last photograph today is some more Daffodils, these are blooming in front of our Public Library. Made this the other day as today we had clouds and rain. Thankfully the hail and the thunder storms missed my area.

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