On the Fourth Day of Class...

On our fourth day of Beginning Drawing our instructor had us playing with watercolors. I made some valiant efforts to follow instructions and just throw some paint on the paper and see what happens to it – when it is wet and when it is dry. When I did all that I ended up with what looked like a gray mess with puddles of watercolor all over. So I used a wad of paper towel to lot some of it up. Wow! The gray went away and I had some really bright colors left. I let it dry for a while and added some more colors using another wad of paper towel to dab it around . Fascinating! And Fun.

Then I experimented with some masking fluid. Sort of drew a tree shape with it. Then I put down a wash that didn’t really go down as planned but I left it to dry. Then I peeled of the mask and added some color to my tree. It is a bit…uh…different but interesting.

Barstool Doodles

On my last trip to the North I decided to stay at a Holiday Inn that has a Pub. Of course I went to the Pub for dinner and decided to sit at the bar. While I waited for my meal to arrive I decided to doodle away at the bottles on the bar back counter. So, I whipped out my little 3”x5” sketch book and began. First, using pencil on a couple and then one in pen and ink.

Of course this is drawing in a very public place and since I was sitting next to the waitress station I was observed during my efforts. Even though I only had one person comment on my doodling. It was fun and I think if I practice some of Dave Rankin's techniques I could really develop a collection of people. As always - practice - practice - practice.

I used a 9B pencil for the pencil sketches and did not erase anything. When my drawing instructor saw them she said I should just use pen and ink since I don't erase anything.










I used a brown Pigma Micron 005 pen for the sketch below. It was an experiment with the scribble style of crosshatching.

I even made an attempt at capturing the likeness of one of the waitresses as she made trips to the service bar for here orders. Not as quick a sketch as I would have liked but it was a step in the direction of improvement.

"Fast Sketching Techniques" Reviewed

“Fast Sketching Techniques” David Rankin has clearly mastered the art of fast sketching and he presents his approach to this skill in a very easy to follow and interesting book. In his book he describes very affective ways to increase sketching speed as well as improving observation and recognition skills. He presents an approach and provides exercises to hone these skills, describing the tools and techniques required. I, a novice, found the book enlightening and inspiring. I felt the book provided an approach using pencil sketching that I could also apply to other media, like pen and ink or charcoal. Improving recognition skills using David’s exercises would improve sketching, drawing and painting techniques. It is a book well worth having.

Tribute to Emma

I thought I should post a tribute to Emma, our cat. She will be 19 in a couple of months, if she survives. Three years ago she was diagnosed with kidney failure and the our veterinarian said that she would only live 3 months unless we hydrated her subcutaneously each day, in which case she might last 6 months. We tried the hydration but it only made her life miserable. We decided to forgo the hydration for more quality time with Emma. We began mixing pumpkin pie filling with her canned cat food – a suggestion by our vet. It has made a difference – she is still here. About a month ago our vet came by the house and examined Emma and decided that she had suffered a minor stroke and was rendered blind. The vet said that she felt that Emma was on her last leg and would probably pass within the next four months. Of course the vet did qualify that by saying that this was Emma and she didn’t always do what was expected. Well, Emma is still here and aside from bumping into things from time to time she is getting along quite well. She will leave a very large hole in our lives when she finally does pass, so we intend to enjoy her as long as we have her. Below are a few sketches and experiments of Emma’s likeness.

A little watercolor and pen and ink experiments. More to come, if Emma will sit still long enough!