Great Blue Heron

My friend, Jeff, takes the most incredible nature shots and does not mind if I pull down his pictures on social media and use them to paint. This is a great blue heron. I enjoyed setting up the drawing, especially the neck. As much time as I spent trying to capture the curve, weight, and relationship of the neck and head of the flamingos at the Como zoo this summer, I never quite got it. While these are two different birds, there are similarities in the head and neck areas.

#180 - Great Blue Heron - 8" x 10" - on paper

What I like best is the portion of the neck at the top of the "S" curve towards the middle.

Since this one was on paper, my next one needs to be on hardboard. Also, I was making great progress on my painting of Ella, but I went too far with it several days ago. I gessoed out the parts which were annoyed me and put it aside to rest for a day or two. 

Groupings

My drawing practice has taken a back seat to acrylic and watercolor painting. I am still drawing, but most days I do one drawing in the evening before bedtime. As much as I love cats,  using one cat or part of a cat day after day is not helping me, so I decided to do another 30 day or so drawing challenge. The theme is "groupings". I want to push myself to start drawing more than one object so that I have to work harder on the negative space and relationships between things. I'm not going to get all fancy with this. Mostly, I'm just going to draw something which catches my eye in the house. I'm also not going to post all of my drawings. The first night, I drew toothbrushes and the toothbrush holder.

Here is the one from Sunday. It's a partial drawing of a figurine. I have two of these from my Grandmother. This was a one-shot drawing without any warm up.

The spacing of the buckets isn't quite right, but that's why I want to practice with more complicated subjects.

Me And My Paint Brush

I noticed something when I was working on my most recent painting. I haven't been mixing paint on my palette as much as I have been layering it. Why does this matter? It's the reason my grays aren't always as neutral as I want and mostly end up being bluer. What I noticed today is that I start with an area of blue on the palette and mixed it up into my brush, next up is red, and lastly yellow. This is what I normally do, although I do loop back to to adjust the color, as needed. That means my brush is pre-loaded with more blue, which comes out when I paint. I also noticed that I mostly look at the pool of color on the palette versus what is on my brush. That's been changing changing a bit as I stop to consider values and check them against the gray scale and value finder tool. It's easier to do that with the brush. Today when I did that, I noticed this thin line of blue paint sitting above the paint on the lower part of the brush.

After two years, today, it suddenly occurred to me that it's a better to focus on the end of your paint brush rather than the color you mixed on your palette since I am painting with the brush. 

This is why I keep this blog. I find this stuff fascinating and I feel like I'm just scratching the surface. This blog gives me a place to document this journey and still keep my friends. If I went into this level of detail with most people I know, I fear that they would start to slowly back away whenever they saw me!

I Am Not Sure I Like It, But It Does Draw Me In

This started as a 4-value painting. I added some background to the left side, which was lighter and helped define this edge of the cat. Once I did that, it kept evolving. I am not sure what to think. From a good viewing distance, it draws me in somehow, but the eyes don't line up right and I can't decide if the nose/lips/chin works or not. When I was in 4-value land, this area was all the darkest dark, so I didn't have to worry about it originally.

#178 - Value Cat - 5" x 7" - paper - alternative palette

When I was getting near the end, I was pleased with my color-mixing. I wanted grayish greens and yellows for the eyes and I wanted a dark "white" for the cat's ruff under his chin. Until recently, I would have painted this far too light and far too white, because I either could not see or understand that the white part of a cat is not always white and it's not always a light color. It's all about the values. I have a feeling when I'm done with the watercolor class, my conclusion will that it's all about controlling the water. Of course, these are over-simplifications, but it seems if I keep one simple concept in mind it gives me a foundation to branch out to tackle other aspects.

I also started my next painting and gave myself a new "challenge". For quite some time, I've only been painting on paper and it's time to change that. I am going to paint on hard board for every painting or every other painting until I've completed at least 4 pieces on hard board. When I look at the hard board, I think "I'm not ready". Also, I have been working on paper until I thought I could paint a good (which the internal critic changes to "perfect") painting of Ella, one of my elderly cats who has several health conditions.

Here is the start of the first one. I just decided to take the plunge and tackle a painting of Ella. The drawing turned out and the start is going well.

Watercolor Revisit

The last two Wednesdays new videos have dropped for the on-line watercolor course, but not yesterday.  Instead on Friday, there will be review material and the next set of new videos will drop next Wednesday. With a break from new material, I went back to watch one of the intro lessons and something clicked. It was a tiny insight into water, pigment, and using your brush. I decided to go back and do a spread of watery, juicy, and pasty mixes of all of my watercolors, not just the ones I'm using for the course. Here's what I started on last night.

I thought that I was getting it prior to this, but I wasn't. Last night when I was doing this, it felt like I was working with the water, pigment, and brush rather than fighting with them. It was a tiny step forward with this medium and it felt amazing! 

As time permits, I plan to go back and re-watch and re-read all of the material in this course.

This And That

While I do draw everyday, sometimes it's only one drawing. It's hard to find time to paint, keep up with my on-line watercolor class, and draw.

More and more, I am trying to tackle drawing more complicated things. Here is last night's sketch of the puma figurine I have. In the past, I've only draw parts of the puma like the face and chest or the back legs and back part of the body. For this sketch, I started at one end and worked my way around. Compare to the figurine, my puma needs to go on a diet and have a short session on a stretching rack. Still, I feel like I'm getting more meaning in my lines, including the angles and getting parts in the right place relative to each other. In addition, I did this sketch with no warm up.

Speaking of the online watercolor class, it is terrific. As a beginner, it's a bit overwhelming, but it's also a helpful foundation. Here is my homework painting from the picture which was provided. My colors, particularly in the background, are so dark (and pasty) you lose the transparency of the watercolor, but you have to start somewhere. Even though I have so much to learn, I like the idea that I could try and tackle a simple landscape in life.  I like how drawing or painting something you experienced or care about can store the experience in a tiny place in your heart, which you can unlock every time you look at your creation.

Sled Dog Howl

Way back in 2005, I went on a winter camping trip up north with friends where we also did dog-sledding. These dogs sure weren't house pets. They were working dogs and they were amazing. They also howled a lot. One would start and the rest would chime in. I wish I would have taken more pictures, since it was a really fun experience. I have two howling pictures. One was perfect to use for a painting.

Here is the start. For a  picture with such sharp contrast, I find it helpful to start with the lightest lights. When I get better at this value stuff I might change that in the future, but for now this is working well for me.

Here it is a little farther along.

Here is the final version.

#177 - Sled Dog Howl - 5" x 7" - paper - standard palette

Window Cat - Take 2

I tried this composition the first time back in July 2017. This was my second attempt.

#175 - Ella In Window - 8" x 8" on paper - alternative palette

Watercolor!

I am really enjoying Liz Steel's online course, Watercolour.  At the same time, I am trying to keep up with drawing and acrylic painting, which left very little blog time last week. 

Here is one of the first exercises from the course which involved doing a big swatch of your colors in a watery mix, a juicy mix, and a pasty mix. 

We were encouraged to stick with the colors we have, otherwise I would be making some changes!  I did two swatches of Quin Magenta. That's not true of the yellow swatches in the top right corner. Those are two different paint colors, but they are not very distinct from one another. Also, I have a black color and a very dark green, so I probably only need one really dark color.

In a different exercise, we tested the opacity of each color. It turns out the whitish color is the most opaque. I love the different things you can learn about color!

So Many Choices

After I finished this painting and was looking at it, I was struck by how many choices go into each and everything which is created. This is a complete scene so there were a lot more choices to be made.

I fought with this painting. I started it once and painted it over. I re-cropped the picture and tried again. On this second attempt, I worked on it from 01/10 to 01/14.

#174 - On The Move - 5" x 7" paper - standard palette

Cardinal In Woods

My numbering is a little out of sync. I had three drawings to paint. As I draw one out, I number it and put it in my journal. This morning, I picked up the third one. I started it this morning and finished it at lunch. For this one, I tried for smoother strokes overall, just to change things up.

#176 - Cardinal In Woods - 5" x 7" - paper

It always makes me  happy when I can mix a decent red!

It's A Good Start To The New Year

Last year, my household got caught up in being too busy. One side effect was that we got into the habit of eating out for dinner way too often. I like my home. I like my kitchen. We both like to cook. This is something that I wanted to change in 2018 and so far so good.

I am having fun tackling more complicated scenes. Since this a small painting, making the flower minuscule from what I usually tackle, I used a size 6 brush.

#173 - Koi in Pone With Water Lilies - 5" x 7" - paper - alt palette

Sometimes I like the picture better. Sometimes I like the original better. For this one, I like the original.

My Watercolors

I am taking an on-line watercolor class with Liz Steel. It starts on Wednesday. There were several warm up exercises including painting your palette. Here are the colors I selected.

I have acquired watercolors over the last 6 months, but haven't known where to start with them so I"m excited for the class. I goofed when I purchased several colors, but I'm going with them anyway. The pink color is Quin Magenta from Daniel Smith. I wanted the same one as my acrylic paint, but did not check the pigment so I purchased the wrong color. Paint names don't help. You have to look at the pigments! The bright green was purchased on a whim and it's not the type of shade that I wanted. Still when I was playing around with it, it made a gorgeous color when mixed with the color in the upper right hand corner. My last error was that I purchased Pyrrol Orange when I meant to purchase the transparent version of this color. The one I have is aggressive. Essentially, I am going to use the colors I have and see what happens. It's clear from the introductory information that it's not necessary to use the instructor's palette.

Second Time Syndrome

This is the second sheep painting. I think it's easier to stay in the world of values and shapes (and low expectations) the first time I try to paint a new type of object. The second time is usually more awkward and that happened with this painting. It felt like I was fighting with this painting, while the first sheep painting flowed off of my brush. 

#172 - Sheep and Lamb - 8"x 10" - paper - standard palette

This seems to happen in life. One place I especially notice it is in juggling. If a group of us try a new pattern, the first time it goes well you can guarantee that the next time after that it will go poorly. 

First Drawings Of 2018

While I have continued drawing every day since I took the online drawing class with Roz in May, I got away from having any focus these last several months. I want to get back to having goals and working to gain more skills. One giant area I want to focus on is how to show depth, volume, and weight in my drawings and of course, this also means tackling values and value shapes. When I draw, I mostly stick with the outer edges of the different pieces of whatever I am drawing. It's time to tackle the interior and that means I need to be willing to experiment and think about what works and what does not.

Yesterday, I played around and drew some peppers. They are great for practicing, since they have such interesting changes in their interior sections. I didn't focus so much on values. Rather, I wanted to play with hatching to show shape. On the section in the front, the side to side marks don't work and I'm not sure why. There is a distinct and I thought it would work to make marks like this. I don't have an intuitive sense for this at all, so it's time to experiment and also look on-line for other people's drawings to study.

Next up, I decided to just focus on the stem. After that, I drew the outside dimensions. I was going to go farther with this, but I really liked how it looked.