This is my latest painting, which I used as the image for my Christmas cards this year. I painted it in watercolor first, and then went over it with colored pencil. I wanted something really bright and bold, and I think that I got what I was going for even though it isn’t blatantly Christmas themed.
If you scroll down you can see two work in progress photos plus my printed cards that I got in the mail the other day. Opening up my package made all my hard work seem worth it. I ordered my cards with red envelopes. I am really happy with the quality, although I wish I had the option to have 5 x 7 cards printed.
This is after I finished the watercolor and had just started on the colored pencil.
I worked from top left to lower right and used a piece of paper towel to rest my hand on to avoid smudging the colored pencil.
I sketched these leftover plums the other day after baking one of my favorite fruit desserts, plum crumb (recipe below). It has been a really long time since I ever sketched something in colored pencil for practice. I felt rusty and I want to start sketching using colored pencils more often. Here, I used four different Prismacolor pencils: magenta, tuscan red, indigo blue and yellow ochre.
Plum Crumb
Toss 4 cups quartered fresh plums with: ½ cup brown sugar, 3 tablespoons flour, 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Arrange in an 11 x 7 baking dish.
Crumble together and spread over plums: 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon nutmeg, 1 beaten egg.
Then drizzle 1 stick of melted butter over the top and bake at 375° F for 45 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly.
This is my submission for the July VPO which is on the Island of Jersey. I usually don’t wait so long before submitting my painting, and I finished just in time. I started this picture earlier on in the month, but didn’t get around to finishing it until yesterday. I painted in watercolor first, and then went over it with the colored pencils. Finally, I used the colorless blender to brighten up the colors and smooth them out a bit. Since I was working on watercolor paper, I couldn’t hide the tooth of the paper, but I’ve always liked this effect because it allows me to get really bright colors. I wasn’t trying to be especially realistic with the colors and was going for something happy and sunny instead.
This scene is based on a photo I took on a small private beach in Maine that I found while taking a walk along the coast. I made one sketch beforehand, rearranged the rocks just a bit, and changed the colors. Blue is my favorite color, can you tell?
I hope everyone has a peaceful and relaxing Christmas with your families. I am planning on having a nice one myself. I will be back next week with my review of 2010 and my 2011 Art Goals.
I am just starting to feel semi-decent again after being sick (read: invalid) for the past week. I haven’t had a bad cold for a few years so I guess I was due for one!
I only had the desire to start drawing again yesterday. I started off only wanting to do a “quick sketch” of a scene I was thinking of for the Virtual Paintout, but then I ended up spending a lot longer on it than I had thought I would. I think it is too depressing with that ominous tree and all, so I will move onto something else that I will spend more time on. The hard thing about this month’s Virtual Paintout (set in County Clare, Ireland) is that the landscape is so beautiful that it is hard to decide what to paint.
I finished my submission for the Virtual Paintout (set in Rio de Janeiro) just in time. I skipped October and I didn’t want to miss this month as well. Instead of doing something really detailed and time consuming, this is more of a sketch made up of lots of lines. I really enjoy participating in the VPO, partly because I would never be able to actually visit some of these places in real life and this gives me a chance to get a taste of what it would be like. Rio de Janeiro, for example, is a beautiful city but a very dangerous place right now. It’s really a shame.
I also used this drawing to form a part of this handmade calendar. Although I already bought a 2011 desk calendar that I will use for my appointments and such, I wanted a “year at a glance” type of calendar as well. I also thought it would be perfect for my new (freecycled) bulletin board that I got last week. When I get sick of the picture, I figure I can just change it out for a new one.
I’ve only been to New York City a handful of times, and only once in the past ten years, despite living only a few hours away. I guess I’m just more of a country person. I’ve never been to Central Park as far as I remember, but I think I would like to visit if I had the chance. In this piece, I tried not to get too detailed and I wanted it to have a soft feeling. I also worked a little bit larger than I normally do. I meant it as more of a sketch, really. Because it wouldn’t fit on my scanner, I had to take a picture of it. I tried to correct the contrast a bit, but I wasn’t able to get it to match the original fully.
Unfortunately, I do not have reliable internet access at the moment and have to use wifi hotspots to do my blogging. Luckily I saved a screenshot of Google street view so I was able to work on this drawing offline. If you leave me a comment it may take me some time to approve it as I have comment moderation turned on.
Keep your old work. You did it. There are virtues and there are faults in it for your to study. You can learn more from yourself than you can from anyone else. -Robert Henri in The Art Spirit
I found my old, old sketchbook the other day when I was cleaning out through boxes of stuff. This is the sketchbook that I had from 1997 through 1999. It is really shocking to me how I thought that certain things were good when I made them, but now when I look at them I am more embarrassed than anything else! Even my handwriting is so different. I remember drawing this picture from a little resin charm that was attached to a pair of pants from American Eagle Outfitters. I was really pleased with it at the time and even now I like the drawing because it is so bold and colorful. Do you ever go back and review your older work? Do you show it to other people?
Something to check out:
I really liked this “mini podcast” from Michael Nobbs about how to avoid “ideas exhaustion,” or rather, when you can’t get anything done because of all the ideas floating into your head. I can really relate to this! Also he has a new microMagazine Getting Your Important Work Done, which is a email newsletter you can sign up for that goes out every two weeks. It is very interesting, and has helpful tips and links.
This month I’m posting my Virtual Paintout submission a bit later than I normally do. In fact, I almost skipped participating altogether because of a lot of other things I had going on this particular month with various classes and commitments. I’m glad I did it though, and I had fun making this drawing.
It was pouring rain last weekend and I made this drawing while listening to A Prairie Home Companion on the radio. I missed doing something in colored pencil, so I decided to change it up a bit this time around. My elbow was killing me the next day though. Next time I decide to do anything in colored pencil, I am going to pace myself and spend a few days working on it.
