#30x30DirectWatercolor2018… Part Three

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Here I am fully one third of my way through the month and I’ve finally given up on perfection. I’ve started to “lean in” as the contemporary lingo says.

I love a few in this group but one of them in particular got away from me… it’s a real dog! (wink-wink)

I wanted to try something that had both wide swaths of color along with fine detail. This bottle had both.

Woof! Done from a photo on Sktchy.

Lesson One from Wil Freeborn’s book Learn to Paint in Watercolor with 50 Paintings. Who knew doughnuts would be such great subjects!

Out with my plein air group… just starting to get comfortable balancing my sketchbook, paints, and water jar without getting soaked… done that before.

Lesson Fifteen from the same Wil Freeborn book. I think this technique would be great to capture the Adirondacks across Lake Champlain.

More on Friday… until then have a great day and a wonderful Independence Day to all of us in the States!

#30x30DirectWatercolor2018

#30x30DirectWatercolor2018… Part Two

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After my first very uncomfortable 5 days of the Direct Watercolor challenge (see the previous post) I started to find my balance and decided to relax and just see what I could achieve without needing to create something “finished”.

The white iris is my first attempt at negative painting.

People! Thank goodness for Anne-Laure Jacquart’s YouTube video.

Yet more people practice… this time watching Trevor Waugh’s YouTube videos.

I have a few toys to model for me when I don’t know what else to paint or when it’s late as it was this night.

More negative and positive painting practice. I love this little jar, and yes… the jar has no e in saccharine, and no… saccharine is not better for me.

Committing to daily practice was key… and understanding that it was truly “practice” allowed me to start enjoying my painting time.

I hope you’ll come back Wednesday when the adventure continues.

#30x30DirectWatercolor2018

#30x30DirectWatercolor2018… Part One

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I just finished a daily painting challenge for the month of June. This was all spearheaded by Marc Taro Holmes and the point was to create a daily watercolor without relying on an initial pen or pencil sketch for guidance.

Whew! Often I felt as if I was walking a tightrope without a net and at times I needed to talk myself through the fear just to start! I’d sit there with a loaded brush hesitant to touch the page.

But begin I did. These would never be considered among my finest work but I knew I’d never get to my goal without practice. I’m going to show you my month’s work in chronological order.

June 1st – Sktchy portrait

Poppies from my side garden, painted in plein air.

Our black kitty and her favorite spot.

Both of our cats as models.

As I wrote above… I was really missing having my pen lines to guide me. I think this marks the end of my whining and the start of me getting my brain thinking of seeing volumes instead of lines.

I’ll post the next batch on Monday… hope to see you then!

#30x30DirectWatercolor2018

A Chance for Redemption

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Last October I drew a portrait of a Sktchy muse, Ania H. , for the InkTober 2017 challenge. After finishing I stepped back and noticed how far off I had gotten with my proportions, her eye in particular.

Today I was challenged to revisit a portrait and redraw it using the same reference image. Finally… a chance for artistic redemption!

After daily portrait practice, not only can I see facial proportions better but I can translate them onto the page.

I love seeing them side by side!

It’s all about her eye isn’t it.

Three Favorites

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There are times when inspiration just isn’t to be found and you’re at a loss for an interesting subject. I know this intimately and I believe every artist goes through this at one time or another.

The essential question is how to escape the vortex. My tried and true models are always available to draw… I have three. My feet (slippered, socks, or bare), my hand (or hands), and my face (either a mirrored self portrait, from a photo, or from my imagination). Any one of these can spark an illustration and memories.

March was a month of reflection… but at least I wasn’t at a loss for a model.

Three Named Winter Storms

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I know I’ve snickered at the Weather Channel’s recent habit of naming our winter storms but that hasn’t stopped me from documenting them in my sketchbook.

Here in New Hampshire, Riley arrived before Quinn. (Skylar was documented with written journaling and no drawings.)

I’ve been drawing from photos people upload to the Sktchy app I’ve referred to before. When the snow’s falling and you can’t or don’t want to go out it’s wonderful to pick an interesting photo and just play!

I thought we were finished with the winter thing as Toby, Uma, Violet and Wilbur went elsewhere, but I was mistaken. Along came Xanto. It didn’t fizzle out as I had hoped and instead inundated us with nearly an inch of rime ice.

Yes, Xanto got his own page!

Let’s keep our fingers crossed that I won’t need to document either Yvonne or Zoey.

I’m ready for Spring!

IFJM2018 Starts Today

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Yes, you’ve heard me talk about it before, IFJM – International Fake Journal Month. And yes, I’m doing it again.

I’ll be posting my pages on my dedicated Fake Journal blog, SkylarkKarma.wordpress.com. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to post daily although that’s my preference. Please click on over and join me there, I’d love to have you along on my April adventure into fakery.

I’ll still be posting here too as I have many more sketches and drawings to share.

Promise! ……. Pinky promise!

#IFJM2018

Favorite February Portraits

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March has been packed and I realize I haven’t posted my favorite portraits I drew from Sktchy! No big commentary ahead… just a few quick notes.

I love portraits, especially when I can draw hands too… it’s a double challenge.

In this portrait I used watercolor pencils… steep learning curve but so much fun when faced with a model with pink and purple hair. It turned out better than I thought it would… I shut that inner critic up!

I’m also trying to work on figure proportions… now I want pink and black striped socks.

… and see… there’s a portrait in there too!