Brown Paper Drawings #1 & #2

Even though my vision is poor, I had the bright idea to make a brown paper book. Pencil lines disappear on this paper. Ink lines are questionable. Colors are chosen by what is printed on the pencil. Fun times.

That is the most stupid owl I have ever seen. It is an insult to all owls. Sadly, I will admit the drawing is mine.

More tree practice. I'm actually getting a little more comfortable with trees.

Old Planner with New Sketches #1

Planners are a waste for me because I never use them. Sometimes I'll write in birthdays and maybe one or two dates, but then they only take up space.

They make great scratch pads for quick notes, doodles, practice sketches, or playing with ideas!

These were all done in very poor lighting using the wrong eye glasses. In fact, I could barely see what I was doing. There are more scans coming, and I plan to keep scribbling under the same conditions in my unused planners.

A Very Wet Bird

It was weird drawing all the blades of grass in the last drawing, but drawing all the feathers on this wet bird was going overboard. It's actually easier for me to see the ink lines than to paint the color.

It's supposed to be a male White-Rumped Shama.

Based on a photo from the Art Journal section at WetCanvas Weekly Inspiration Pictures thread.

A Bird, a Rabbit, and a Meerkat

The Art Journal section at WetCanvas has a Weekly Inspiration Pictures thread each week with photos from which to choose. These drawings were based on photos from two of the threads.

I'm Back !

I wandered away, but now I'm back. I haven't done artwork since I left, but I tried some the other day.

My eyes are really bad now, but I'm getting medical help, and things have improved. Old age is delightful. If you notice anything out of whack, not to worry. If a scan is too light or too dark, I can't fix it. If the colors are wrong, too bad. Most look the same to me. I did not forget to erase any pencil guidelines -- I could not find most after they were drawn. If I keep this up, at least it should be interesting.

Images based on photographs from the WetCanvas Image Library.

Pastel #8 - Birds of a Feather

More messing around with pastels.

Pastel #7

More birds from the WetCanvas! March Pastel Strokes.

Some of the colors are off, but it's raining outside, and this is close enough, though the bills are much more yellow.

For my seventh pastel, I'm okay with it. I have a pad of Strathmore 400 pastel paper, so I thought I'd give it a try. With my inexperience with pastels, it didn't make much difference to me. My focus is learning to work with the pastel layers and colors. Ditto when I use oils and watercolors.

Pastel #6

This one was for the WetCanvas! March Pastel Strokes. Among the choices this month were some wonderful bird photos, and I put two together.

8"x10", Canson Mi-Teintes smooth side.

Just WC Practice

I haven't been practicing enough with my watercolors lately, so I made up some birds and painted them in my little, folded sketchbook. The are done with Lukas watercolors. Nice paint.

Doodles 04

With the idea of practicing bird shapes, I was bored after the second one. At least it's easier for me to do half-way decent line drawings of birds than it was a year ago.

Two different inks were used in the same model of fountain pens and points. The interior was done using Noodler's Black, and it was fine, though I always let it dry several hours between sessions and before adding the colored pencil. I'm sure it's dry sooner, but my attention span takes me elsewhere. The frame was done using Platinum Carbon Black, and the line is thicker, plus it feathered and blobbed where I hesitated or stopped.

My preferences:
Moleskine Sketchbook: Noodler's Bulletproof Black
Moleskine Watercolor Book: Platinum Carbon Black

Doodles 02

My attention span is around two minutes now, but I managed to sketch this rooster. Inking the lines took two days. Yup, lousy attention span. Two more days for coloring, but filling in the lines with colored pencil is almost mindless yet enjoyable.

EDM #125 - Draw a Bird

Birds are fun to paint, and I should do more. They're great practice for both drawing and watercolor. Besides, they're cute!

EDM #116 - Draw Something Green

The scanner just doesn't do as good a job as my camera, but I'm lazy tonight. At least you can see the birdie is green.

Seagull

Just practicing with ink. Only one more page left in my first Moleskine sketchbook.

From a photo found in the WetCanvas! Image Library.

EDM #67 - Draw Motherhood

A mother duck with her ducklings is a nice example of motherhood. It's always fun watching films of ducklings being caringly herded around.

Scribbles

Some scribbles from my Raffine sketchbook. I like watercolor on this paper, though I found out the hard way that color will lift easily if I'm not careful. The colors seem to be brighter than in my small Moleskine.

Practicing random brush strokes and paint/water combinations doesn't seem to work for me. I need to work on actual drawings, so I'll spend more time drawing and painting.

Egrets

Saw these in some photos and found them amusing. It was time for more practice with ink and shading, and I think I'm improving.

Based on photos by droll13 at WetCanvas!.

Junco

Another birdie has been subjected to my practicing with paints. My dyslexia was in full force for most of this one and managed to interfere with sequence, angles, and light-dark positions. At least I no longer blame gremlins for the mischief.

Based on a photo from The Nature Nook on flickr.

EDM #61 - Draw a Grouping

Yeah, everything is made up, but it is a grouping of two or more similar things. Silly and fun.

Starting a Postcard Collection

Instead of having to quickly paint a postcard when needed, maybe painting a few to have on hand would be convenient. Previously they were done as jokes, and that's so much easier than trying to do something nice. Here's my first attempt.