Favorite February Portraits

Posted on March 30, 2018 by Dana Burrell

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!

Another Go

Posted on February 15, 2018 by Dana Burrell

After I posted yesterday’s Chihuahua Valentine I had the urge to draw her again. I’m still using my watercolor pencils but this time she’s in my Strathmore 400 watercolor sketchbook.

Dogs… so much variety, so many shapes and sizes… I love drawing them!

(Shhhhh… don’t tell the cats.)

Be Mine!

Posted on February 14, 2018 by Dana Burrell

Hope your Valentine’s Day was as good as this little girl’s. She has a loving home and a Valentine of her very own!

Witness Protection Program

Posted on August 12, 2016 by Dana Burrell

I have more pages from my new favorite pocket sketchbook to share today.

It’s the Daler-Rowney Simply Pocket Sketchbook. I found it for $5 at Walmart and decided to give it a go. I consider it “Moleskine – Lite” since it looks and has all the elements of a Moleskine but with much thinner pages. The label shows all the particulars.

I don’t need the thicker pages… this is my pen n’ ink, people sketching, note taking, every day carry book. It’s great with all my black ink pens, but what if I felt like adding color?

Not an issue with standard colored pencils.

What about a scribble of watercolor pencils dissolved with the touch of a waterbrush?

No problem. The paper buckled a tiny bit but there was no bleedthrough. Granted, I didn’t flood the page.

I know this woman, we used to work for the same company years ago! I wonder if mutual friends will recognize her from my sketch.

… so much for the witness protection program.

Stillman & Birn

Posted on March 24, 2014 by Dana Burrell

For the last year or so I’ve been following the Stillman & Birn blog and entering each giveaway as they are posted but no luck until earlier this month! I’m so excited… I was one of the winners of the February giveaway! I was given a set of 12 Caran d’Ache Museum Aquarelle watercolor pencils and a choice of either a Beta or Zeta 8.5″ x 11″ sketchbook.

I’ve been using a Stillman & Birn Alpha sketchbook for the the majority of the pages seen on the blog lately and I love the white vellum pages. After searching the blog for other artists’ images, I decided to opt for the Beta. Same white pages but thicker and slightly more texture… it’s billed as cold pressed.

I hate to have more than one sketchbook going at a time… it’s one of my many quirks… so the Beta will just have to wait it’s turn, but it’ll definitely be next.

I’m also going to have fun playing with the watercolor pencils. This set of 12 has both a warm and cool of the three primaries, two greens, two earth colors, a gray and a black… it seems to be a perfect basic combination!

Thanks Stillman & Birn!

Dana Burrell… Art

… adventures in creativity.

Tag Archives: watercolor pencils