Dall Sheep

This is taken from a picture in a hunting magazine.  I wanted to do a quick sketch of his horns. I note that the left side of  the drawing has a sheen on the horn and eye making it look lighter than it is.  Done in my moleskin journal in graphite 4B.

Hiking Shoe

Looking for something to sketch, while the wind blows, it snows and is totally wicked weather outside, I noticed my hiking shoe by the door.  I had thought while I was up north on vacation I would be able to take a few walks in the woods.  On this day with high winds and snow, there were times when I couldn't see very far outside the window.  Drawing done in graphite in my moleskin journal.  I worked on getting the very dark areas down and I think it helped to give the shoe more 3 dimensional look. Need to work on textures.

Grass Seeds

While on vacation over the Thanksgiving holiday I did a few quick sketches.  The cottage we rented was nice but the weather was cold and windy.  I only got to draw outside one day.  I picked the seed head of this grass plant as it was a day of 25+mph wind gust and around freezing.  The left side is drawn with a Pigma Micron pen 01 in black and the right side is drawn with Derewert Drawing Pencils in my moleskin journal.  I have given up using watercolors in this journal as the paper is too thin. I like how the pencils worked on this paper.

Fall Fruit

Pomegranates always make me think of fall.  They are so cheap this time of year.  I remember my girlfriend introducing me to them when I was in college.  I do eat some of the seeds, but after a while I end up spitting them out. I am not sure if this is a berry or something else with its' tough skin and paper like divisions. 
I lightly sketched this out in graphite and painted in with my current watercolor pallet in my Stillman and Birn Delta 7x7 Sketchbook.

Rose Completed

I liked sketching this rose.  I was hesitant in doing the background as I liked how the rose was looking without it.  I believe that both ways looked nice. This is for my visit to autumn class.  It is the last lesson, but I plan on doing about 3 more sketches.  I will then bind them together to make a nice book.  This is done on Arches Aquarelle 140 pound cold press watercolor paper with my current pallet. The rose was sketched in graphite prior to application of color and journaling. This took about an additional 40 minutes.

Faded Rose

Started this for my fall sketches.  I hope to finish it tomorrow.  A fading rose signals end of summer and the changing of the season.  I like how it looks so far. I hope the background and leaves turn out well.  Started with a pencil sketch on Arches Aquarelle nautural 140 pound watercolor paper and my current pallet. The rose is painted with Perylene Red, Carbazole Violet, Burnt Umber, Quinacridone Rose, Raw Sienna, and Scarlet Pyrrol.

Golden Afternoon

In September my husband and I went up north to see the colors.  The trees were about 50% in color.  Two weeks later the wind and rains ravaged the leaves and the season was done.

I am taking an imaginary visit class of autumn and when I saw the picture of golden leaves overhead I knew I had to sketch it.

The sketch is done on Arches Aquarelle 140 pound cold press watercolor paper cut to 7-1/2" x 7" with my current watercolor pallet.

Autumn Reds

I had fun doing these sketches.  I have seen this type of mushroom before in the woods, beautiful but deadly.  I like to pick rose hips for herbal teas and they are so pretty and healthy.  One of my favorite trees is the Hawthorne Tree.   I love the red fruits that the birds and animals eat and the 2" thrones on its branches.  Sketched with my Pigma micron pen in black and painted with my current watercolor pallet on Arches Aquarelle 140 pound cold press paper.

Horse Chestnuts

I use to collect the nuts from horse chestnut trees when I was young.  I loved their smooth skin with the wood grain lines on them.  Seeing them hanging in their pod I just had to sketch them.  This is on 7-1/2" x 7" Arches Aquarell 140 pound cold press watercolor paper using my current pallet of watercolors.

Fall Reds

Working on getting different shades of reds with my pallet.  I found some of the color mixes interesting. Perylene Green made some interesting  purples and Azo Green made some nice orange-reds.  This has been fun, but now I need to sketch some fall scenes.

Another Fall Color Swatch-Rust

 Working on color swatches again for fall colors.  For my base colors I used Burnt Sienna, Burnt Umber, Quin. Burnt Orange, Indian Red, Raw Sienna and Transparent Pyrrol Orange.  Dropping other colors in and at the end of the strip rubbing the color on top to see what the results would. be.  I think I have some interesting colors here to use in my fall sketches.

Capturing Fall Colors

I am making several fall sketches for the virtual class I am taking with Laure Ferlita virtual visit to autumn.

It was fun working with the various colors on my pallet to see how they would interact with each other. Trying to capture the colors of leaves during fall can be a challenge.

Fall

I love the fall.  The cool crisp air, trees changing into beautiful colors and the smells.  The air seems more alive in fall, it is hard to explain that after the heat of summer the air changes and seems to have more energy.  The colors break up all the greens of summer and notifies me that summer is over.  I like the play of the reds, oranges and yellows against the blue sky.  The smell of burning leaves.  They remind me of childhood when we use to burn the leaves at the curb.  I sketched this leaf on Arches Aquarel 140 pound paper with pencil and watercolor paint.

Fall Vegetables

I love all the different shapes, color and sizes of winter squash.  This is sketched on 140 pound natural Arches Aquarel watercolor paper.  I lightly sketched the basic squash shapes, the wash tub and lightly sketched a border in pencil.  I like how the pumpkin turned  out.  It looks like its falling out of the picture.

Palm Trees

While on vacation in Florida I decided to try my hand at drawing palm trees.  This tree is near my parents' home.  I liked the fact that the dead branches had been trimmed and was curious why the brown sheaths were left in as well as the palm nuts.  The squirrels love to eat the nuts and tend to make a mess of them.  This tree is taller that drawn.  I wanted to show the details at the top and was unable to show the height (about 25 feet).  Drawn in my Stillman and Brin Sketchbook (7x7), with my Lami Safari extra fine point pen in Noodlers Lexington Gray ink, and my current watercolor pallet.

Painting For All

Painting with my grand nephew in his watercolor book.  When I was young I hated watercolors because the colors ran, the paper wrinkled, and the colors wouldn't stay put.  Now I still fight them sometimes, but they are more fun.

MagnoliaTree Seed Pod

Went for a walk with my father and came up to an area where the sidewalk was covered with these seed pods.  When I was coming up to them I thought they were pine cones.  This sketch was done in my 7x7 Stillman & Birn delta series journal with my Lami Safari extra fine point pen and Noodlers Lexington Gray ink.  I plan on adding color and text hopefully later today.

Eggplant Botanical

I have been wanting to draw the little eggplant growing in our garden.  I have never grown eggplant before and my husband picked up this one just to see how it would grow.  The fruit grows into 6 inch long globes of deep purple with white stripes. Only 2 globes grew at a time with the other globes waiting to grow until we picked  the ripe ones. I was going to draw the whole plant, but the fruit became so heavy that the plant toppled over and is now lying on its side, so I opted for the drawing of the leaves.  I haven't finished the whole page as I plan on drawing an eggplant dish either Eggplant Parmesan or other dish with it recipe on the other page.  Moleskin watercolor journal 5x8 with Noodler's Lexington gray ink Lami Safari pen and Smith and Daniel watercolors.

Sketch in ink of Buck

Decided to do a quick sketch of a buck whose picture was on the cover of the Woods-N-Water News.  I should have started out smaller.  Drawing is in my Only Sketch Book by Bee Paper Co.9x6 with a Pelikano Junior pen and Private Reserve Copper Burst ink.

New Journal

Started the first page in my new journal.  It is the delta series 7"x7" from Stillman & Birn Sketchbook that I received from Goulet Pen Company.  The sketch is in Noodlers Lexington Gray ink with a Safari Lami extra fine point pen. The watercolors paints are from my still current palate that is mainly Daniel Smith with a few Windsor and Newton colors.  The shells I collected from Florida on the Atlantic side.  The tube shaped one is from my Mom who collected it from the Canaveral National Seashore.  She told me that it was the only area that these shells could be found on.  I need to get use to how this paper works.  It is smoother and allows the ink to go on smoothly.  I hope to make this a title page when I am through.

Garden

Our garden went wild this year.  We added two 4x4 raised beds so we could grow more of our own food.  Without telling me my husband bought a zucchini  and an eggplant.
I had never grown tomatillos before and didn't realize how tall and prolific they are.  I was planning on two, but when they sprouted they didn't look healthy so I planned them without thinning to just two plants.  A week later they were over a foot tall so I ended up with 4 of them.  They are now over 6 feet tall.
The watermelon is sneaking a peek of sunshine on the right and the zucchini is growing around the tomatillos. Our tomato plants reached the overhang of our home and grew back to the ground. The wax beans and eggplant did very well.  Our cucumbers were growing very well and over the top of the deck railing, onto the step etc., but just before I decided to paint the garden they started to die.  I hope to put in one more raised garden plot next year so everything isn't growing on top of each other.. I did the right side outside while sketching and painted the left a few days later inside.  I stopped painting because of rain.  I feel the right side turned out much better.
This is drawn in my new moleskin watercolor sketchbook 5x8 with a ballpoint pen and watercolor paint.

Museum Night-Asian Gallery

I got a chance to go to the DIA (Detroit Institute of Art) last night.  On Friday nights and Sunday afternoons the museum places drawing stations in different galleries for patrons to draw.  The bench/easel with paper and a pencil are provided.  The Asian gallery was for adults only and the Medieval gallery was for adults and children.  Some of the sketchers are from the university. It is inspiring to see some of their work.  Some of them will work on a sketch over time.  I don't get to go very often so I only do what I can in a hour or so.  This sketch took an hour.  I didn't work longer on it as I wanted to see the Picasso and Matisse exhibit.  It is a statue of Brahma-Shiva-Vishnu, made of granite by an unknown artist in the late 900's or early 1000's. Brahma is known as the creator, Vishnu as the preserver and Shiva as the transformer or destroyer. You can't see the one side of the statue in my sketch and I don't know which one is which, but I think that this might be Vishnu with Shiva face and hand showing on the one side.

Tea Time

I have seen several sketches of teapots, cups, and specialty teas from other artist and decided to try one of my own. I started to sketch with my Pelikano pen with the copper burst ink, but changed my mind as the ink was going on either too thick or thin.  Later I found out the ink wasn't waterproof, so I am glad I stopped using it.  This is in my new moleskin watercolor journal.  The cup would have been very nice if the ink hadn't been used.  Oh well, that is how we learn.

Quick Sketching the Human Form

I am trying to improve my ability to quickly sketch the human form.  I did several one minute sketches followed by a few two minute sketches and then finally this one of 5 minutes. I used the site Croquis Cafe , it has a weekly model that takes a different pose for each sketch.  It is also free which makes it nice.
Quick sketching doesn't give one the chance to take measurements, which is perfect when trying to journal a scene quickly, before everyone moves.  Done in graphite in my 9" x 6" Bee Paper the Only Sketch Book you will ever need.

Anatomy of the Arm

I decided to draw the arm and shoulder complex  using just the muscles and bones. I found the site Posemaniacs.com very helpful.  The site has models in different poses that you can rotate for a 360 degree view.   I used the same pose to show the arm from the front, side, and back. The models on this site are all muscle and bone with no skin.  The site also has models that are hyper super muscle on top of muscle for practice in fantasy drawings. 
I started to use my color pencils to color in the muscles and show the direction, but I didn't like the way the colors worked out.  I think I will try water color next. I need to work with my color pencils too so I will play with them and see what I can do.

The Male Form

Haven't been sketching as much, but am trying to get back into the grove.  Finished the antibiotics, rested, drank plenty of fluids and I am ready to sketch.  Today I worked on sketching the male torso and extremities.  I drew this one in my moleskin journal in graphite. The model is from  Figure & Gesture Drawing Tool .  I did 5 more on a yellow pad of paper also in graphie using a model from Croquis Cafe.  I liked the definition of the muscles and the shadow lines.

Sketching Faces Again

 Decided to try sketching people again.  I did the woman from Figure & Gesture Drawing Tool 
I liked her hair and distant look.  I need to go darker in my drawings to get more contrast. The drawing took about 10 minutes.  The drawing below is from a photo of a hockey player that was looking up.  I liked the angle and the intense look. It was hard to get his nose to show up as this angle the light had his nose lite up with very little shadow.  Both are in graphite in my moleskin sketch journal. 

Still Life Bottle with stopper

 I have been wanting to draw this olive oil bottle for awhile.  I like the old type of rubber stopper on top.  I haven't had much time lately and had been sick.  I decided to do a quick sketch in my moleskin journal with Cretacolor Monolith 4B pencil.  A few tomatoes entered the scene.
I plan on doing a more detailed sketch soon.

Nose

Decided to do a quick sketch of my nose since I hadn't had time to do a portrait.  Hope to get two more drawing of myself with different expressions this week.  This is done in graphite in my little moleskin journal I keep in my purse.

Attempted Smile

This self portrait didn't turn out well.  Trying to have a light smile and relaxed eyes, so I wouldn't look like I was in a staring match, didn't work too well.  I have googly eyes that are staring into the mirror.  My hair is behaving more today.  I think I need to take a picture and then try to draw it to see a natural smile.  Oh, it was worth a try.

Zucchini in the Garden

Zucchini blossoms and zucchini are growing like crazy in our garden. I decided to do a quick sketch and add color while I was in the garden.  The problem I had was getting blinded by the bright sunlight, and then a cloud covered the sun making it impossible for me to see the flowers well. I also realized that I didn't have a yellow on my one paint dot card so I had to grab my other one.  Won't make that mistake again. The only blossom I didn't get is an open one.  They open in the morning and I did this sketch in mid afternoon. so none were left. My moleskin sketch book really doesn't like getting wet as the orange color bled to the next page.

Groovy Portrait

Decided to play a colored background and painted some wavy vertical color lines in watercolor and drew my portrait with copper burst ink with my fountain pen.  I look almost angry or worried in this portrait.  It is very humid again today so my hair again is doing whatever it wants.  Parts of my hair are going straight, others curl in whatever direction they want which is usually in any other direction that the rest of my hair isn't going. Mouth is crooked in this portrait, but I did better making the eyes equal.  Have to think what I will do next.

Portrait Month

I have been following several artist on Facebook's Artists' Journal Site.  One artist, Jonas Ericson has been posting portrait sketches every day of himself with different backgrounds, emphasis on different parts of the face, and colors.  I have been so inspired my his postings that I decided I would give it a try during August.  I want to make the sketches loose with minimal line work.  I took a little too long and was too detailed in this sketch, but I hope by the end of the month to get more comfortable with drawing myself.  I feel I did fine in this sketch on the left side, but got carried away on the right elongating my face to the side.  I did the sketch lightly with a 2B pencil and then used watercolor to add color.

Sunflower

Artist Joanne Boon Thomas has a really nice video on U Tube on painting a sunflower in watercolor.  Mine didn't turn out 100 percent, but I am happy with my first attempt.  Watercolors are tricky.  They can dry out, run into an area you don't want, bloom in unexpected ways and make mud just to name a few.  It was scary and fun at the same time, but a good lesson on negative painting.  I am going to try again and see if I can improve on my technique.

Giraffe

I have tried to draw animals before, but some move around more and faster than others.  The chipmunks in our yard don't stand still for more than a few seconds.  These giraffes didn't move much at all.  I had to draw a neck and head over a few times, but the body pretty much stayed put.  These are baby giraffes.  I wish I had an adult so I could see the differences. I didn't finish the one sketch as I was getting very hot in the sun.  Drawn with a 4B mechanical pencil in my Stratmore visual journal.  I may add a touch of color later. I decided to all color.  My camera didn't pick up the green of the grass and made it somewhat yellow.  Oh well...

Garden Bound

 When I found out the Arches watercolor paper would crack and fall apart if I folded it and bound it into signatures, I knew I needed to find a different way to put my journal together. I cut all my pages in half (7"x7") and used them to sketch out the different assignments and figured I would have them bound with a spiral binding afterwards.  It was very hard for the lady in Kinkos but she was finally able to get the holes to line up.  It didn't help that the pages are all warped from the watercolor.  (They are now becoming flatter since they were bound.)  The cover is crescent board in black with gold lettering with Gellyroll Pen from Sakura. I drew the bamboo in dashes to simulate an embroidery technique in Japan called Sashiko.  I hope to do another journal this way, but I think I should get the paper bound first.

Pallet from Japanese Garden

Decided to do a sketch of my watercolor pallet that I used in the Japanese garden sketches.  I am going to include it in my journal when I bind it. I found it fun to do and a nice reference for later. Done on Arches 140 pound cold press watercolor paper and Daniel and Smith watercolor paint.  I also included my water brush, watercolor pencil I used to sketch the outlines, bamboo pen, and stick erasure.

Vegtables-graphite

 Sitting on the deck this morning I decided to draw our garden.  It is beginning to ripen.  On our deck we decided to pot up a tomato called the Black Krim.  It is growing crazily and this one is almost ripe.  The eggplant is growing and is heavy with eggplants.  They are small ones only growing 4" lone, this one is almost ready. They are stripped in purple and white.  I may try a sketch in watercolor next week.  Now to look for new recipes. drawn in moleskin journal using 4B Creatacolor graphite wood less pencil.

Japanese Bridge

This is my last sketch for my Japanese garden journal.  I like the way the water turned out and yet think it might be too green.  In the picture the water is green but maybe not a vibrant.  I also like how my background turned out.  The plants close by having more detail than those that are more distant.  Painted on 140 pound cold pressed watercolor paper using Danial and Smith watercolor paints.  Now I need to bind them together.