Meetings and Sketching

If I were to have paper and pencil in every meeting I attend, I shall be sure to have lots to post to this blog.

Make note to self :-

Carry a little sketchbook  at all times…

There was a piece of paper on the table, and a pencil on the floor when I walked into the room for a staff meeting last week. Pencil and paper go together like a horse and carriage, right?

My keys, right in front of me were the obvious subjects.

For once I enjoyed a meeting and was – almost- sorry it was over I’m just not a meeting kinda person and find myself slipping off into daydream world after 5 minutes.

Unless I draw, or keep my hands busy!

Maybe I should carry the Scavenger Hunt lists with me in my new little sketchbook-in-the-bag strategy.

hmmmmm

Back at Scavenger Hunts

These hunts over at Wetcanvas remain a challenge and a great way to keep on drawing regularly. I just need to make the time to do it. You know what it can be like sometimes when you have this ‘thing’ in you head that it takes long to do or is an effort and the window of time that I have is not enough…..hogwash all of it. That is just the point of a Hunt. The sketches are supposed to be quick. Something that I can do in my lunch hour. I have no excuses. No good ones anyway.

 

But after that little rant at myself….I do have a couple to share.

This one I did  just after Christmas.  A lacy snowflake….what was I thinking? I mean all those little holes? Take it from me : if you do want to make quick sketches, don’t choose lace…

 

 

I was looking through my one sketchbook, filled with Scavenger Hunt drawings only. What surprised me was the enjoyment, delight and fun I had. With every turn of the  page I was confronted with something that was loaded with memories. That is the neatest thing about these hunt sketchbooks – they are filled with ordinary everyday objects. A veritable treasure trove of memories. Like this snowflake ornament. A Christmas gift from a friend in Europe. We’ve been exchanging little Christmas items for a couple decades now, and this one is immortalised in my sketchbook! ( Maybe next time I should try drawing this on on a dark background….)

 

Here is one I did today. You would think that after doing a drawing full of holes I would think twice before I draw something full of little stars, right? I must be a slow learner or something…

 

 

I did both of these in ArtRage with ink pen and water colour. Different papers though. Although you cannot see it at the resolution here, the bottom one has a nice rough texture. Yummy!

 

I’ll be back with more soon. Really. Watch me!

Really?

I mean really? Did I last post here 11 months ago? How did that happen? At least I have drawn since then! ;) Not as much as I would have liked to, that is true, but still...
Anyhow after a very busy fall, we finally came to the Christmas season and I was so ready for doing something else and refreshing. I was poking around in threads over at Wetcanvas and decided to check out their image library for a reference for a fun play-with-fabric idea that I have. And then this image of a kitty just stole my heart and demanded that I 'do something' with it.
So I broke out my ArtRage art programme (that sounds dramatic but you get the idea) on the computer and got busy.....aaaahhhhh that is just what I needed.

But let me show you some pictures of what and how. I posted this within one of the groups I belong to on Facebook. A bunch of artists I have known for many years, but I thought some other folks may be interested to see this too.

The pictures shown here are all 'Work in Progress' pictures !

 First off my desktop while I'm working. It shows the piece I'm working on in the center. The reference picture is pinned to the left. The rest of the goodies is explained below.

Bottom left corner :

A closer look at the toolbox



and the right hand side of my workspace:

 

A closer look at what is on the right -

 

 

And a closer look at my 'box of pencils' These are the colours (about one third visible to you) that I have selected to work with on this project. This custom set of colours are saved with my picture and becomes available as I open up the file to work on it. It is like having a cup with selected colour pencils sitting on my desk. I can name the colours as I like. Several which you cannot see are labelled 'nose' and 'eye' for example.

 



I start work by laying in a block of colour, most suited to the final fur colours, in this case a grey with a touch of green. I then change my pencil to a harder lead (see the preset in the second image above) and start adding many layers of 'fur' strokes in various colours to build up the fur.

 

The image below is a little blurry, the strokes don't show so well but the colours do

 

For the eye, I burnished the colour to get a glass like effect. On paper I would use a burnishing pencil or a light colour pencil, but in ArtRage I use the palette knife to 'smear blend' the colours to get the desired effect. The paper grain remains visible too. The darkest colour around the eye (still incomplete here) is build up out of consecutive layers of colours (dark red green blue brown and a wash of black)

 

 

I added several colours in many lights layers to build up the nose. Here still a ways away from being finished.

In ArtRage you have the option to 'hide' any of the bits and pieces on the desktop at any time while working. So if you're not using a tool or preset, you can move it off the desk. Below I have only the piece I'm working on and the reference picture on the desk. I also zoomed right in so I can see the details of what I'm doing (my eyes really appreciate this feature!) And of course the pencil in my hand that I'm drawing with. The click of a button brings all the other tools back for me, making it super easy change colours and even tools if I need to. ArtRage is very intuitive and working in it with colour pencil is little different from working on paper with pencils.

 

 

At the time of posting this, the cat is awaiting final tweaking, but I don't think it will change that much. I'm quite pleased with how it turned out.

And now of course I want to dive back in and draw some more...but first I need to clean the house! ;-) Drawing always works better in a clean environment!

Ps I used Ashampoo's 'Snap 4' to capture and label the screen shots for this post. The current version is 'Snap 6'

And a quick edit on December 30, to add the final image! Whoot!

More Drawings

 

We are running a mini scavenger hunt here on the base with a bunch of (very talented) young people. My Lemon Squeezer also fitted a category there and then this ‘bottle’ for the Wetcanvas hunt fitted the ‘something that smells good’ for the local hunt

Two for the price of one.

This afternoon I took a  handful of items, piled them onto the table and we (the talented group of young persons mentioned above) proceeded to draw these. hehehehe what was I thinking with the items I chose? Well I know what I was thinking, but I also realized how long it has been since I’ve sat down and just sketched something like this! Much to long indeed. It was fun and really got me working to get it right. Not perfect, but I was pleased. Only I really need a large piece of paper and a fat stick of charcoal. And then some soft pastels too. And all of these needed items are currently too many miles to the north of me….sigh….

Sketching again...

It's been a bit quiet again on the sketching front for me. Just not enough hours in the day. It gets depressing some times...

We picked this ball of lichen up under a tree in the forest. I should love to see this under a microscope. Must be fascinating. I tried to just capture the 'feel' of the 'plant' instead of drawing every little detail. maybe one day I'll sit down and draw it exactly as it is. In ink. That will be worth the effort I'm sure.

The latest hunt just started today over at Wetcanvas today, and here is my first (and I hope not last!) contribution. Great list of goodies to draw once more. The blue 'true light' bulb in the lamp gave this the lovely blue shadow. I like that!

Pretty little flower

Back home the flowers will all be dead by now, but down here in California, this little viola is looking as sprightly as ever on the table outside. It’s friendly little face greeted me when I came back from a –short- walk with a friend.

I doubt I’ll get more done for this hunt though, tomorrow a new one starts up. It has been FUN doing it again!

On a Roll…

I’m really on a roll now, but I guess I should be working on that doggie portrait too. I just find these little sketches so much fun. Half the fun is finding something to suite the ‘requirement’ and having it ready for that quick sketch during lunch break!

I need to find the name of the town where I picked the leaf up. (at the gas station) and my spelling of Hershey's Kiss…oh my I must have been more tired than I realized last night