These little buckets of flowers on our deck have been soaking up the sunshine the last few days. Their bright saturated colors were enjoyable to paint (watercolor, 5 1/2" x 8"). I love purples, but they are not easy colors to mix! Fun 20 minute challenge here.
Inspired by some "old-school" architecture here (watercolor, 5 1/2" x 8"). Painting this delightful paradox: natural objects taken and fashioned into something orderly and purposeful by humans, yet they remain in a natural setting. Another excuse for me to use a nice earth tone color palette, too!
This little guy hopped across our path one day and was so well hidden in the leaves I had a better time finding him in my photo! Sketching and painting wildlife is real interesting; the close inspection makes you aware of their patterns, shapes, textures and other nuances. Even the smallest details of creation are amazing in their complexity. Watercolor, 5 1/2" x 8".
Pizza seems like the perfect subject for a Friday night 20 minute sketching session. No kind of pizza beats New York-style thin crust, in my opinion... unfortunately for me it seems hard to come by in Western NY. Until we find the perfect local pizza joint, we'll just enjoy the searching! This sketch is (blue) pen, 5" x 7".
This little pear was just lopsided enough to balance for my sketch (water soluble crayon, 5 1/2" x 7 1/2"). I love sketching fruits and veggies; they are classic and simple every time, yet interesting and different each time as well. Surprisingly I used very little actual green color here, simply lots of blending of blues, yellows, oranges and browns. Another fun experiment for me to use my water-soluble "grown-up" crayons too - with wet paper to start, and without the watercolor paint this time. They allow me the comfort zone of colored pencils, but with more saturation as well the option to blend as liquid, which is neat! I am a big fan, Caran D'ache Neocolor II!
Any advice or meditation can become a good jumping off point for a little bit of abstraction. There are many small enjoyable moments in this sketch for me, and it's just so relaxing drawing colorful combinations like this. Colored pencil, 5 1/2" x 8 1/2".
Walked a short nature hike today to take some pictures, and saw some small wildlife including this awesome and huge (at least 5" wingspan) dragonfly. I think he might be a male "Swamp Darner Dragonfly" after just a bit of quick internet research, which makes sense since we were near a swamp. Since my photo barely does him justice, I just couldn't resist painting him. His eyes were such an amazing iridescent turquoise! Pen and watercolor, approx. 5 1/2" x 8".
