Far Fur! Challenge #44 - a Moose

More homework from Kate Johnson's watercolor texture class - fur. Far fur and close fur. I really like moose. Even though this one doesn't have a rack, it's still a moose. This was done with a 'travel' water color set on fake moleskin paper. Painted while overlooking the ocean from a camp (aka cabin) on Chebeague Island, Maine.

#119 Rocks!

This one is NOT based on a photo at all but straight from my head. I think I'm finally getting the hang of the watercolor painting thing. Yay!

When we travel outside of Maine, I miss seeing rocks. (unless we're in New Hampshire)

EDM #77 Something cold

The water here is VERY cold. This is Smalls Falls near Farmington, Maine. The painting was originally done for Kate Johnson's watercolor texture class. I'm including the reference photo and the reworked version of the painting.

EDM #18 - the view from a window

Another assignment from week 2 of Kate Johnson's watercolor texture class. This was a bark closeup. These trees are what I see out our back sliding glass door.

#15 A tree

I'm taking Kate Johnson's on-line watercolor textures class and last week we did foliage. Here is a tree from the north end of Cape Breton Island Nova Scotia - painted and its photo.

Improbable rock formations

This has been my favorite exercise from the Keys to Creative Drawing so far. If there's one thing Maine has besides trees, it's rocks. Gosh I love rocks. It never ceases to amaze me how many different shapes and sizes they come in. They're all over the place, as if they were sprinkled from above. I wonder if anyone has waxed poetic over rocks......

More Doodling

More exercises from Bert Dodson Keys to Creative Drawing. I'm addicted. My Micron pen ran out of ink last night.

I've printed copies of these to color. Stay tuned.

EDM #117 - Something Round (ish)

One of the exercises in The Creative License (by Danny Gregory) is to draw a bagel. Not just the way you think it is, but really look at it and pretend your pen is following the surface of the bagel. Include onion flecks and seeds and whatever else is there. He said not to just start dotting randomly all over, but to really draw the things they way they are and where they are. I had to laugh because I would have just dotted all over the place if he hadn't said not to.

It's not a perfectly round bagel, but it does have rounded edges so here it is.

In spite of the fact that a micron pen doesn't really do light lines, I'm pretty pleased with it. And I get to have a bagel for breakfast tomorrow to boot.

EDM #26 Draw whatever you want (or a veggie)

I got several books for my birthday and decided to read 2 of them at once: The Creative License by Danny Gregory and Keys to Drawing with Imagination by Bert Dodson. Both books have exercises in them so I'm alternating between the two.

These are from the Bert Dodson book: Make 6 random doodles then noodle the interiors any way you want.

All these were done with a micron pen. They took forever but I love doodling and so I didn't mind. My hand sure is tired though.

EDM 17 & 36 Part 2 - drawing in public and instruments

Piano lid prop, sax mouthpiece cover, cymbals. Two versions.

An alto sax and a tenor sax.

Saxophones are hard to draw.

Black Micron .01 pen in itty bitty book.

EDM 36 & 17 Drawing instruments in public

Back of folding chair.

Side of bass and papier mache cheshire cat. Never finished the cat - the trumpet player kept standing in front of it. I love that cat.

Bass (with hole from falling sculpture).

Bottom of bass.

Side of bass.

Done with a micron .01 black pen in a 2-1/2" x 4" travel sketchbook at a jazz jam session.

It seems as though small paper is more inspiring than large paper. Large being 9" x 12".

EDM 100 A landscape

Another drawing based on a friend's Northport Island pictures. This one I aim to do in watercolor too. Not real happy with the perspective on the building in front, but that's OK.

Did this one with the 0\.35 Rapidograph, which I've run out of ink already. Still having problems with foreground details. This was icy water again. I pretended it was snow.

#42 Something I'm thankful for

A friend of mine went to Northport Island and took some photos, which she shared with me. This is a sketch of one of the photos done with Rapidograph with nib 0\.35

The foreground is cracked up ice and snow. I wasn't quite sure how to depict it and so kind of doodled it. I'm not sure if I get tired half way through drawings or what, but I often do this with difficult areas.

Oh yeah - I'm very thankful I live in Maine.

#37 A Key

This is the first use of a rapidograph, the 0/.35 nib. I have inky fingers (never squeeze the ink bottle) but other than that I enjoyed using the pen very much.

A clock

Here is a drawing of our tide clock. There is a lot more writing on it but I couldn't see it from where I was sitting. So I was torn - should I go get the clock and draw everything that's on it or only draw what I can see?

I opted to only draw what I could see to force myself to remain in the habit of really looking carefully and only drawing what I see. Usually I attempt to include things I know are there, even if I don't really see them - this is especially so with landscapes.

Also I recalled Susan Hosken's question about symmetry with a light bulb she drew - should she leave it or re-draw it. That discussion helped me leave this drawing a bit skewed. In fact, it sort of seems as though the tide is coming in and pushing on it a bit....

#104 Salt Shaker

This is the salt shaker I have at work. I don't use pepper so no pepper shaker to draw, although some day I may draw our peppermill home.

#55 Doorknob, Plain

Very plain. But, it does look like a doorknob!

I'm still in the midst of black and white (and one other color) month, although I don't seem to be using an additional color.

A Power Plug

What more is there to say?

EDM #60 A vehicle or part of it

Today, on my way to a jazz jam session (where I had planned to do some sketching, including my first attempt at sketching a person), my truck died. While waiting for my husband to come get me I sat inside it and sketched. This was with my mittens on, holding the pen the way I hold a paintbrush.

If you look close you'll see I even drew the top of the sketchbook - it's at the bottom of the steering wheel.

My husband's comment on this drawing was "It needs more style". When asked to explain he said it would be better if I made everything too long or too short or skewed so the mistakes in detail wouldn't be so noticeable. Interesting comment. I'd been thinking there were too many details and I might have been better off concentrating on darks and lights. But, darks and lights work out better with charcoal and this was done with an extra fine point gel pen. Besides, the interior of my truck is black so it would have been darks and not-quite-so-dark darks.

So, no jazz jamming for me this weekend. Fortunately there's another one in a different place next weekend.

EDM 101 Soap

If I don't tell you it's a bar of ZEST then you won't know the color is off in the painting (too blue) and even more off in the scan (too purple). So let's just call it Zets soap.

Additionally, a friend of mine challenged me to incorporate 'Just Do It' in all artistic endeavors for the month as a way of helping me overcome advanced procrastination. If you look carefully you'll find it on the box.

Drawn in pencil then watercolored.

EDM 51 TV

Here is our TV, minus the Christmas ornaments that are still on top of it. Drawn in pencil.

Nothing like MASH reruns late at night.

Challenge #89. A button. Three versions.

Button #1 is done in ball point pen. I got the shading backwards - it was lighter down the center.

Button #2 is using a Faber Castell Art Pen.

Button #3 is pencil sketched then watercolors - trying out a nifty little travel set.