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.

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"

I think the cat is enjoying her new bed she got for Christmas! Sketching Now Foundations class with Liz Steel, lesson # 7.