Friday's Quick Sketches

 

These first two sketches are 30 seconds drawn with the left hand which was suggested by another artist friend, Stephie.  

 This last little sketch is drawn with the right hand in five minutes.  I didn't get very far as I was trying for more accuracy. 

Abbie, Sketches & Quick Gestures Sketches

 A quick sketch this morning focusing on the shape of Abbie's nose.   More practice needed as I am going too heavy, too dark, too detailed, too quickly. 

Sketches of Abbie drawn on 01-21-13 showing different positions and different settings.

More 30 and 60 second gesture sketches done this morning.  Most of these are drawn without taking my eye off the photo, except for quick glances, so these could be called contour as well as gesture sketches. 

30 Second & One Minute Gesture Sketches

These are gesture sketches using the timer and athletic photos at The Drawing Script.   One of our friends, Teresa, from paintingfriends.com gave us the link to the website. 

Keep Paints Moist - Recipe

A comment was left on this blog wondering about the recipe for keeping paintings moist.  This information is copied from paintingfriends.com and not sure where the original information is from. I hope there isn't a copyright involved. 

the supplies needed are:
water
oxgall
glycerin (or honey)
gum arabic

the over all idea is:
1/2 total amount water
and the remaining one half, to be broken in equal 1/3 parts

so a 6 oz sprayer bottle would have the following amounts...

3 oz water
1 oz glycerin
1 oz oxgall
1oz gum arabic

put in sprayer bottle and spray paints before using and during week, if not being used...

the tricky part is, to figure amounts if not easily equal...

one gal shared her breakdown for a 4 oz bottle..

2 oz water
4tsp of all the remaining...

water is always 1/2 of the total amount...

Chatter

At paintingfriends.com, Cindi shared a recipe for keeping watercolor paints moist.  Well, I had all the ingredients and was going to mix an 8 oz. bottle.  Silly me, I kept getting mixed up on the measurements and ended up with part of a 2-litre bottle full and not sure whether the mixture is even correct except it does contain oxgall, glycerin, gum arabic and water.  Will see how well the paints retain their moisture.  I especially wanted this for quin. gold and quin. burnt orange since they dry rather flaky.  Hopefully, this will resolve that issue.  Will have to see if the paints dry well on the paper though. 

No Time To Paint? Take 15!

The objective of the exercise is to sketch or paint whenever one has 15-20 minutes to lay in paint. 

I was trying to paint white objects and have colorful shadows without spending a lot of time as far as sketching accuracy. 

Catch Up Time

Today, it is just chatter just to let you know I came hope from the hospital late yesterday after a bout with the flu.  Better except for the coughing and the big ouches that come with every cough.  For those of you that have this you will know exactly what I mean. 

I am wishing each of you good health, santize even more while this stuff is going around.  Yes, I'm a bit  more paranoid about germs than before ha ha. 

15 Minute Sketches

 Patches

Pencil and Ink Over Pencil

I've started the new year off with sketching thanks to a new thread at paintingfriends.com (PF) which is "No Time?? Take 15!"  The first photo is the pencil sketch done in 15 min.  The second is ink over the pencil, also done in 15 minutes. 

The initial goal of the thread at PF is based on the fact that not everyone has an hour or an afternoon to paint or draw, so take 15 min. to do just a portion.  The other goal for me is to practice quick sketches.  

I tried holding the pencil cupped in my hand using the thumb and forefinger (and other fingers for balance) to guide the pencil but soon found I was back holding it in a writing position.  

Happy New Year

2013 New Year's Day



Wishing each of you the best of 2013 and hope it begins with something special and continues throughout the year.   The morning is foggy and a bit dreary here but look at those wonderful colors in the photo.  A few minutes ago I saw a hawk land in a tree and other birds flying about.  A beautiful day to be alive.