I pulled a couple suggestions out of my jar tonight - they were "landscape" and "box/chest". Seemed like a fine combination (displacement), so I drew the cute little painted box first, then felt it should be in a canyon/desert landscape. Pen and colored pencil, approx. 5 1/2" x 8". I can't say I've been anywhere near a desert lately, but the earth tone color scheme of rocks, dirt and shrubbery appeals to me anywhere.
Finally, the tulips are starting to appear in this soggy rain-drenched spring. I just love the bright red-orange with yellow edging of these, so pretty... and surprisingly hard to reproduce, color-wise. Watercolor and water-soluble pencil, approx. 4 1/2" x 5". Hopefully the sun will come out some more, and I can sketch a little outside at some point!
Inspired by this incredible c. 1903 Art Nouveau goblet, 20 minutes was barely time to capture its potential as a fairy tale book title page, or something similar. Pen, watercolor, and water soluble pencil, approx. 5 1/2" x 8". It needs a story to go with it, wouldn't you agree? I'm very agreeable to any sort of story suggestions, or comments, if someone is so inclined.
Fun little 20 minute sketch of one of my ink bottles tonight, done in watercolor only - no pencil or pen used! Approx. 4 1/2" x 4 1/2". I wanted to capture these rich blacks, and I had a swell time combining blue, browns, purple, green and yellow ochre to get the "black" color.
This sort of realism is definitely my comfort zone. These sketchbooks are great - trying all sorts of new and different things (like I have in the past week, especially). I try to remain open to commissions of all kinds, I guess! I know I am not the only artist out there who enjoys several different styles, and I'll keep playing as long as I can.
Happy May Day! In the 15th century, the nobles would go out for a ride "a-Maying", all dressed in green. If you didn't wear green, you were the time period's equivalent of a loser! Today I did see the lovely bright spring green on all the trees fully in bud. Even though I was so inspired, I ran out of time for the color portion of my sketch.
I did another gridded design (pencil and pen, approx 5 1/2" x 6"). I have hopes of it becoming an embroidery pattern in the near future, perhaps as a companion piece to the "Summer Wreath" from the other day. I love lilies so incorporated those, as well as some summery feminine touches like the full brimmed hat, a pair of gloves, and a necklace. The color might be another 20 minutes to do, but the stitching will take a few days, at least.
Really in the mood to use some bright color today. This little sketch is a glorified doodle, with a big "V" and a few random items I felt like painting in 20 minutes (pen and watercolor, approx. 3 1/2" x 4").
Several months into this sketching project now, I am coming to some definite opinions on my art supplies (a good thing). I really like a small and very springy synthetic brush for tiny detail work, like these dots and lines. With everything else I paint though, the natural hair brushes are preferred all around. I guess that's the same conclusion most watercolor artists come to, but I finally feel like I've had enough practice to agree. I can elaborate on my views of the differences between them, but unless you are in the market to buy a new brush, you probably don't have an interest in that.
Back to picking topics out of a jar tonight... I picked "words/lettering" and "architectural details". There's lots of ways I could have combined those two subjects, but I have never tried drawing a picture with words, though I've seen numerous examples of it (some cliched, and some amazing). This was a lot of fun to do in 20 minutes! I sketched in pencil first, just for a rough outline. Then using colored gel pens, wrote stream-of-consciousness words about the architecture and other trivia (approx. 5 1/2" x 6"). If I could do more calligraphy-style lettering in a future project, that would really be lovely.
