daily sketch... 04 April

Keji morning... new ATC

Keji morning, 2.5" x 3.5", watercolour on watercolour board.

I'm not too thrilled with this one, but they can't all be fabulous, can they? The eagle in the sky wasn't s'posed to be there, but morphed out of a drip of dark grey paint that happened at the very last moment. I had fun doing the wet-in-wet washes for sky and water.

Last Light, Petit Passage... a new ATC

Trying to catch up on my ATC project, I made this last night and finished it up this morning.

Last Light, Petit Passage, ATC 2.5"x3.5", watercolour on watercolour board.

celtic whale #2

Celtic Whales #2

watercolour, ink, and metallic gel pen

ATC size, 3.5" x 2.5"

today's sketches : still lifes (lives? ;) )

Taking a break from the raven today, I did two quick watercolour sketches, with items from this week's artwork from life scavenger hunt at www.wetcanvas.com.

tulips and fence - finished

I spent another hour or so today on this and I think I'll call it done.

work in progress: apples and pot

An update on the apples: I have about seven layers of glaze down for the background, and have started building the apples and pot. I find watercolour painting convenient with my schedule because I can sneak up to my desk for 10 minutes at a time, long enough to lay down a wash, and then leave it to dry.

work in progress: tulips and fence

Taking a break from the apples while layers of glaze dry, I've been working on this last evening and this morning.

I did the line drawing last night, while hurling insults at Tracy Barlow and Charlie Stubbs on Coronation Street (okay, I confess... I don't watch much TV, but I am hooked on Corrie).


This morning, I transferred the drawing to my watercolour sketchbook and began by masking out the brach and tulips with masking fluid, so I could work on the fence. After I'm satisfied with the fence, I'll peel the mask off and do the twig and tulips. I'm trying something new with this painting: I am mixing all my colours from the three primaries (primary cyan, primary magenta, and primary lemon yellow) and black. You can see my mixed palette in the photo below.

today's sketch: strawberry mug

more work on the apples

I worked on the apples last night after I got the kids to bed. Bobby was at the annual $100 buddies poker game, so I knew I had a few hours.
I traced the value sketch on a piece of tracing paper, then used the tracing paper as carbon paper to transfer the basic line drawing to a watercolour board. You can see the board circled in blue, with the top edge of the apples and pot masked off with greenish-blue masking fluid. I got a layer of paint down for the background, but didn't get a shot of it as the lighting wasn't great for photos.
The pad of paper you see is cheap watercolour paper. I'm using it here to plan what colours will go where in the painting. I drew a quick sketch of the outlines of the apples and pot, and used that to test the paints colours on.
The earphones on top of my colour wheel are also an important piece of art equipment! Last night I was playing an old Dave Matthews Band CD. I hadn't listened to it for a while, and it took me back a few years.

two more from my marathon

Ho Ho Ho.