Daily Doodle

I have started keeping an open sketchbook on my desk at work. During the day when I need a mental break or an idea hits me can sketch right away. For some reason pulling my sketchbook out from the cabinet behind me was a big deal. Now I sketch something every day. Here are a couple.

Factory Man

Here is a quickie charcoal. I pulled out two images from my reference file cabinet and worked away. Around 18" x 14".

Godzilla

I am working on a Godzilla charcoal for my son. I even have some models to work from. You can see them in the upper right corner.

Mount Woman

I had a lot of fun with this one. I penciled the woman's head and breasts. After that I just started inking and let me pen take me where it wants. This is 11" x 14" on bristol board. Done with a 3 x 0 rapidograph pen.

Quirky

Here is another piece I had planned for an upcoming fashion based show. I tried to get a Klimt like pattern going. I guess the idea was better than the end result. I'm not that thrilled with this piece. Oh well, they can't all be winers.

This was done with a rapidograph pen and a water color wash. I have been using bristol board because it takes the pen & ink so well. But it is not the greatest for watercolor. I am working on a new piece on bristol board then I am going to try hot pressed watercolor paper.

Mr. Ballet

Here is a quick one I did, for fun. What I was trying to do is loosen up my line work. Successful in that I think.

Hick

Here is the finished piece.

Hick - WIP

It's been a long time since I did a pen & ink. It's like being home again. Think there is something meditative about hours of hatching. This is 10" x 14". I started with a bamboo dip pen then went over to a number 1 rapid-o-graph pen. When I am done I will give it a water color wash. My next piece I don't want to be so outliney. But I am happy with this one so far. I got the picture from an LL Bean catalogue. I just changed it a little.

Catch Anything?

I finished this a couple of weeks ago. Just got around to photographing it. It is a conte crayon on Canson Mi-tients paper.It's around 18" x 24"

Doodles

Here are a few doodles from my sketchbook. I did them straight out in ink.

I'm back

It has been a while. I have been in an art funk for a while. The other day I took out my sketch book and started doodling again. It was GREAT! I'm going to start working in this direction again. I did some test work with different pens then added a watercolor wash.

I have a fountain pen that I like a lot, but the ink wasn't waterproof. (upper right image). I tried dip pens with waterproof ink, but it slowed me down with all the dipping. I like to work loose and quick.

On to more testing...

Sea Gulls

Here are a couple of Sea Gulls. First is a combo of watercolor and charcoal. Second straight up watercolor. Stand by for some more in the sea gull series.

Acrylics

Here are a couple of acrylic paintings I have been experimenting with. I guess they came out okay. This is new ground for me so I am a little insecure about the results.

Stone Steps

This is charcoal and pastel on Mi-Tients canson paper. 22" x 18". I posted it over at wetcanvas and got some good advice. This image is the revised version. I added a little more depth with darker values and got rid of the outlines around the stones.

Sketch book

Just finished off a sketch book. I think this one was five years in the making. Due to my lack of consistency in sketching and also having 5 or 6 sketch books going at the same time. Here are the last two. Both in conte crayon. The first is a tree at Candlewood lake. The second is the Hershey Golf Club.

Barn and Wall

Here is a charcoal piece with pastel highlights. I started this outside and finished at home.

Done

It's finally done. I think it came out pretty good. Now for some charcoal work.

Slow Going

Man, this piece is going slow. I'm having a difficult time getting into it. I'm only working like 10 to 15 minutes a night on this. I like what I have done so far but just am not enjoying the work on this one.

Landscapes

Had my watercolor class last night. We worked on landscapes. A lot harder than I thought. First we did cloud studies.



Then I tried to push the colors. I guess I pushed too hard.



Next we tried resist. A liquid mask. You put it down, do the sky wash then lift the resist and you have some pretty clouds.

Mine weren't very pretty. I didn't do well with the resist. I need more practice.






Next I tried to add some tress to the sky. Again, not very pretty.



But I didn't give up and tried another one. This didn't come out too bad. I was surprise how difficult this was. I've have not tried a watercolor landscape before. It's obvious I need a lot of practice. Next week I will work from a photo and do a complete picture.

Watercolor Mess

I went to Plymouth Massachusetts over the weekend with my family. Two days and one night. We took 151 pictures! My eleven year old son wanted to carry the camera. I think he took a photo of every inch of the Mayflower II. I also took a bunch of reference photos for future art pieces.

Normally on vacation I bring my sketchbook and at night when everyone has gone to sleep I do a bunch of sketches. This time I decided to try an abstract watercolor. I soon got nowhere fast. I didn't start with a plan or an idea. I was hoping one would come to me as I worked. No such luck. People may think abstract painting are easy, but I disagree. My hat is off to those who are good at abstract painting.

Here is my mess of an abstract.