Paints Pens-N-Pencils

Not tea cups like Liz Steel draws, but great practice in finding and losing edges.

     Liz Steel's class Sketching Now Edges began this past week. Our first sketching assignment is a pair of shoes. We practiced using line to define hard edges and then color for surface edges defined by color changes and values. The second part was for an outside object. I found a metal sculpture in a center square of a shopping mall. It was hot out, 98 deg, and humid, so I worked fast and the glare on the metal made it hard to see the edges. I am still not comfortable working out on location, but I am working on it.

This summer two bullfrogs decided to take up residence in our pond. When I went out to the pond today, to check on our fish, one of the frogs was sitting on a rock sunbathing. I went back into the house to get my supplies and carefully set up as close to him as I could to sketch him. He was so accommodating and stayed still for about 20 minutes while I sketched. As I was adding watercolor to him in my sketch, I heard a loud splash and looked up... he was gone. I guess he had had enough..

As seen in InStyle magazine. Since I can't or wouldn't spend the money on them, at least I can draw them!

I planted a couple of these yesterday!...Grow babies grow!!!

A lone ranger amidst a cluster of rose bushes!

It spoke to me and said "sketch me", So I did.

I love taking walks in the park in my neighborhood and seeing all the early spring flowers just displaying all their beauty in the full sun. I can't even come close to capturing it with my sketch.

Sketchbook Skool Stretching class has begun! The first teacher Jonathan Twingley's warm up exercise is to create a inkblot between two pages and then doodle. Here, my ink blots did not come out as strong as I would have liked, but I doodled on the pages and the first to come out was a Walrus then the Dandelion. Who knew!

Sometimes you just need to doodle!

While on a walk through my neighborhood, I look down to see the remnents of this past fall when the air was crisp and the leaves crunched under your feet. Now, all soggy and squished from the weight of winter snow, the Honey Locust seed pod emerges. The leaves all shades of brown and gray laying in wait, as if to declare " hey, time for spring clean up!"

I came home from work to a beautiful sunny day 72 degrees. I went out on our deck and decided to sketch the tree in from of me. Although it is still "winter" and the tree is bare, it has the buds starting on it, showing signs of spring, YEAH!!!. This is a red maple. It has bright red/orange leaves in the fall. I used my new Noodler's Ahab flex pen and DeAtramentis black ink. I went straight to ink and love the expressive lines I can get with the pen. Normally I would do a minimal setup but, today I went straight to pen. Enjoyed the process!!!

I got a collection of DeAtramentis Document Inks from The Goulet Pen Company and decided to test them out. Here I tested the DeAtramentis Document Inks for sketching and painting. In my Noodler's Ahab pens, the ink flows very nicely and dries quickly. This in important since I use them with watercolors. The inks mixed very well together allowing you to make custom colors like I did for the purple and brown. I am using my Sillman & Birn Beta sketchbook. Painting with the inks worked out very well in that they flow smoothly from the brush and you can add water to thin or feather the color while it is still wet on the paper. The inks are permanent when dry on paper. The only water colors use in the sketch above are in the colors of the Ahab pens and the shadows. All the rest of the colors are the Inks. I also used the inks with a dip pen and love the flow from the tip. Using a dip pen makes it super easy change colors.  Getting these Inks is a challenge since they a

So after going through the Sketchbook Skool classes, Liz Steel's Sketching Now course, and recently reading Danny Gregory's new book, Art Before Breakfast, I have finally embraced letting go of perfection and just have fun drawing. It is hard to let go of wanting to include every detail accurately and paint the colors perfectly when I sketch. So today, I brave ignoring "the monkey" and sketch my breakfast. I forged on quickly creating this sketch as fast as I could not concerning myself with perfection. And then have the nerve to post it. Liberating to say the least! I will be embracing this new way of working and see where my art with the "a" goes. I also got to try out my new M. Graham watercolors and De Atrementis document black ink. Both were fabulous and I will have to play around some more with these as Liz teaches "getting to know your materials"

EDM #242 - draw a figurine or tzatche This talking stick sits on my desk at work. A momento from a training class The 7 Habits - by Franklin Covey. not much talkin' goin' on, just drawin'!

I got my copy!!!

The task at hand was to make a detailed drawing on location. Since the weather didn't cooperate, I sketched our fireplace. I can believe I drew all the bricks.

The assignment is to get out and do a sketch in public.Well, here is my "Urban Sketch" from my home office window of my neighbors pine tree. We got 7"+ snow fall overnight. It started our as rain snow mix yesterday and proceeded to dump on us. So is has not been optimal to get out and sketch, or for that matter, to get out. I will be drawing from the comfort of my home, waiting for the plows to come by.

Still Life 1. Slowing down and observing, Draw and apple as you eat it. It is a hard thing to do once you bite into the apple, to stop and draw it. You want to keep eating it. Definitely a practice in patience.