sktchy 30 faces/30 days

Accidentally posted this draft from a while ago yesterday ... Since it's here: I participated in the Sktchy app (only available on Apple devices, but they have a FB page and you can join challenges and get the reference photos via email) 30 Faces/30 Days challenge in January, when I was living with my mom. To keep it simple (and even so I only made it about halfway through the month!) I used only a mechanical pencil.

I found it very engrossing!

oak leaf sketch

A simple motif. Painted on lightweight sketchbook paper. Might try on watercolor paper where wet- in- wet might yield some good effects.

value studies

A page of small value studies. I find these, more than anything else, help me simplify a complicated or detailed subject.
Also just fun to do when I have no other ideas!

pine cones

Picked up this little branch on my bike ride. The symmetry appealed to me.
Still struggling to find the right balance in rendering the pine cone: I don't want to pick out every light edge; I need to get a little looser, freer.

winter birds

Ok. Not there yet ... but I do love the subject.
Back to the drawing table ...
I am thinking maybe going bigger--this is 6x8--might help: more room for colors to run, more space around branches...

winter themes

Beginning to explore some winter subjects.
I have several lovely photos of birds in snow that I took in my yard.
I have to work on a few things to pull them off: 1) making a variety of soft grays, and 2) maintaining soft edges for snow drifts and trees/twigs in the background.
In this particular case I think the paper, which was not conducive to bleeding, was a hindrance. Better paper next time.

(oops, just notice, after posting, that I forgot to paint his feet!)

sketchbook pages

Been picking up things on my bike ride-- leaves, pine cones. Beginning to try to draw them.

another workshop day

Another street view. Tried for fewer brushstrokes ...
If you look up Alvaro Castagnet's watercolors, you'll see his horizon line, or where the house hits the pavement, is very dark, with indeterminate details made with negative painting and adding shapes with lighter opaque colors. It's painterly and convincing, and not easy!
You'll see I left out the horizon!

alvaro castagnet workshop

Took a workshop last week.
The second day we went out to paint some Cape May streets a la Alvaro.
Normally I'd spend a good hour drawing an architectural subject; these I spent about 5 minutes on, then rushed in with big wet washes.
They're a mess but it felt kinda liberating.
Alvaro's comment,"Too many brushstrokes " was on the mark!

ps That mess in the sky on the bottom isn't calligraphy--it's supposed to be birds!

Magnolia wip

Working on an 11x15 magnolia painting trying to apply Birgit O'Connor's method. But it seems I skipped over one of the early important steps: evaluating the composition for drama. This may turn out all right, but it probably won't have that stunning element Birgit's have.

birgit o'connor rhodo

Finished, for now. I cannot work on this any longer!
I might darken the stamen shadows, but I already overworked them and the stamens, so maybe it's best not to draw attention to them!

another wip

... from one of Birgit O'Connor's online classes.
Struggling a bit with this one--confused by my own drawing!
I do like her classes. They are pricey, but she does offer sales, and you have lifetime access.
I wouldn't approach everything I paint in this way, but I am thinking of some subjects that might work well. And, I'm getting comfortable with half sheets!

autumn marsh

The neutral tint is much more forgiving than color!

value studies

These are fun and relaxing to do: not much drawing, one color ... Should have been more careful and kept the path of the water lighter.

color chart

Spent time this weekend setting up a palette for next week's Alvaro Castagnet workshop and made a color chart as several of the colors he requested--lots of warm reds, e.g. Mayan orange, pyrrol red--aren't on my palette.
(18 of the colors are his recommendations; I added 2: azo green and dioxizine violet.)
I got into the habit of avoiding warm reds, using burnt sienna instead, because all the ones I tried seemed pretty opaque and didn't make nice purples.
But these make some lovely mixes!

birgit o'connor class: calla lilies

That's a lot of green paint!

chalfonte side porch

A small sketch, about 8x10, so not very detailed. But I think I might scale it up ... after practicing overhanging branches and dappled shadows.

cape may point dunes

A subject I normally wouldn't tackle: feathery light-colored things in front of dark things.
I think if I did it again I'd try to be more daring in my color choices.