Yoga Girl….One

After Christmas…..I was itching to draw again….to draw figures.  I’ve been doing a lot of marker work lately.



I found this yogi on instagram (KrisenPro)…..and I got started.
My goal is:

• To NOT pull out my colored pencils (until the very end)
• To ONLY use watercolors and w/c pencils.  Yikes!

I knew I needed to do a background….since that’s the next level.  I thought a mandala would work nicely. But I had one problem, my compass could only draw a 9” circle max.  Ugh!!  After a youtube search, I rigged my own compass.



I just made a bunch of concentric circles of varying widths.



After I took the compass point padding away, I lost my center for the mandala.  So, I had to re-establish it with the green dot.



This has been very fun to do….I get to combine two of my favorite drawing styles…..photo-realistic Figures and Marker Doodling



I started out coloring in the design with sharpies….but the ink in the sharpies looked dull.  I had to pull out my liquid India Ink and switch to Faber-Castell black markers since they have india ink in them.



Here is a reference for the size of the picture (22 x 30).  I’m kind of surprised I’m going big again, had initially wanted to only do half this size.



Detail work.



More detail work.



I had to complete the background first….now I can continue on with the figure.  That background has a huge influence on the colors used for the girl.

Danaus plexippus…aka….Butterfly

Since I’ve always been fond of butterflies and I really, really wanted to draw one and not “screw it up”. 



I pulled out my watercolor pencil set.  Ahhh, these pencils are just fun!    I didn’t think I could pull off a realistic type of fly.  So I decided to color outside of the box.



Originally I had wanted to make the latin name pop out in white.

Image from here

Aren’t these guys just the prettiest creatures?  As a kid,  I witnessed a huge monarch butterfly swarm on a Saturday morning right outside my bedroom window.  So, I did the logical thing and ran after them.  I was able to catch two.  I released them into my room and had 2 pet butterflies for a day.  I think my Dad found out and convinced me to release the butterflies before they died.  Possibly if I had butterfly food at home I could’ve kept them!  Haha



I saw a very creative journal page on flickr that inspired the background for this page.   Because plain ‘ole white just wasn’t doing it for me.



I really enjoy drawing this way….you know where you take a real image and then whimsy-size it! 

A dancing Zany Bird

These Zany birds are addictive, what can I say?  I just had to draw another one.



I seem to like to draw ballerinas.  I get to add another one to my collection.



This is a better look at her pose.  Decided against drawing ballet slippers, after all those little bird feet need to breathe.



It starts to get busy fast once I start coloring in the background. In the picture below, I wanted to show the birds reflection in the mirror behind her.  Would’ve been easier in photoshop.



I’d like to introduce Zamora Zany……She’s had butterflies all day due to anticipating the Try-Outs.  But once the music starts the butterfiles leave her alone.  It’s just her, the music and the dance.  She loves losing herself this way.  It’s just plain fun to move!

A bird named Zack Zany

I’ve been uninspired to draw any birds lately, which made me sad.  Cuz I like these little guys.  As I was looking thru my Sketchbook project drawings, I spotted this picture, which I am extremely fond of.  Then it hit me!!  I’ll  draw a bird sketching a person.



Anytime I draw a Zen bird, it is rewarding!!  Seriously…..look at all the doodling possibilities.  Endless!



This guy is very similar to Leo, seen in this post.



Having found my subject, I got to play with the background.  What better way to play than with all that color?



Zack-the-Zany Bird……. He seems to draw attention to himself just by going out!  He’s gotten used to it by now, but he would prefer it if birds got to know him a little better before they judged him (either good or bad). 

Kind of hard for this guy to blend in, don’t ya think?  But then again, we weren’t made to blend in we were made to Stand Out.  Zack was just plain F.U.N. to draw!  Love him!  Possibly a whole Zany family is in the making, who knows?

Water Doodle….Nombre Deux

I took a drafting class when I was newly married and had lots of time on my hands.  I had to purchase some really good materials for the class and this was one of them.  A very exact compass, which uses actual lead, no pencils get clipped onto this puppy.



After making numerous semi-circles and stenciled flowers I was ready to ENHANCE.



This reminded someone (who shall remain un-named) of those spirograph designs.  I had to laugh, because by-golly he was right.  It does look like a spirograph design.  Just took me 100 times longer to create though.



Just a close-up view of the work-in-progress. 



I had to bring some RED in, it looked a little dingy without some pop.



This one may be a little too-precise.  I think I like the first one better.  That’s the thing about art, you just got keep trying different things.  Amazing how two similar pieces will not have the same curb-appeal, amazing!

Water Doodle….Numero Uno

It all started when I showed my daughter’s friend my Flickr Favorites while on vacation.  This young lady was so cute, she liked so many pictures she saw on my Flickr Favorite Photostream.  She has seen all.of.my.work, so she’s got a good sense of what I can do and what I like.  She spotted this picture from Margaret Storer-Roche and turned to me and said, “Wow, you should do something like this”.  I looked at it and thought “Yeah, I should….that’d be fun”.

So, I grabbed my favorite floral stencils.  Then picked out some primary colors from my watercolor pencil stash and went to work.



I like the look of watercolors with black and white uniform patterns included. 



Referred to my Doodle Directory many times for ideas while filling in this part.



Had an idea to zentangle up the inside of the Rainbow rings…..but I’ve since scratched that thought.



Must practice more with those watercolor pencils….wanted to have a lot of blue in that lower-right flower,
this isn’t exactly the look I was after.  Ahhh well!



This was a blast to make!!  A bLaSt!!  Free-handed the leaves and the lower blue flowers.  I have to admit, I am more drawn to the precise-ness of the stencils though.

To make one for yourself all you need is:

• A compass
• Good Black fine point permanent marker
• Watercolor pencils
• A stencil or two
• Your Imagination

Journal Jots…..

Who are these people that get their “great ideas” in the shower?  I’d like to meet one, just one……I have never had an original thought in the shower….ever!  Usually my original thoughts happen while I’m busy doing something else…..like  w.o.r.k.i.n.g….  Which was what happened to me here.  The above is my draft for my next drawing.  Since, I’m done with the Sketchbook project, I’m a little lost….don’t know where I should focus my energy next.  Ahhhh well!

 

So, once I got home, I thought I’d give that draft a chance.



As usual, I start my drawings in the contour mode.  Once I have it to the coloring book stage……then….the…fun…begins!!!



Armed with my DOODLE  DIRECTORY, I picked a few patterns that I thought would show up well in a black-white-gray color scheme.



Had to capture a picture in this stage, because if I totally flub the next step, this post would’ve ended here.



This part worked….Thank God.   I used watercolor pencils and just wanted to give the journal color. 



Joyce-the-Journaler……..She’s been journaling almost all her life.  It began as a way to control her tongue, but it’s morphed into a place where she can work out her thoughts.  She writes whatever comes into her pretty-little-head, sometimes what she writes makes sense and sometimes not so much.  But it’s a habit now, and if she hasn’t written for a few days, she feels a little dis-combobulated.

Santa Bird in a Sketchbook

                    Background Quilt made in 2005, click here for full view.

Well, he’s not in the SKETCHBOOK yet, but he’s on his way!!  He’s been a little preoccupied with helping me decorate my house, do a little lot of shopping, some organizing and various other holiday activities.  This is the month where blogging will be decided for me…….Do I blog or do I help my family?  Do I blog or do I shop for loved ones?  Do I blog or do I visit?  So, if you don’t see me around here much, it’s because of those other duties.  Plus, my well is a little dry….I have no new ideas….none… zilch….zippo!!  Ugh!  But Hey, don’t you just love those holiday colors????   All those reds and greens….. my all-time favorite colors!!



My Santa started out like this….really quite ordinary….and yes, a little boring!



Oops!  Actually, here is the bare-bones Santa…..this is how he really started.  If you’d like to color him in, you can download the drawing HERE.   I’d love to see your finished version, please come back and leave your link below.



It was fun to add some patterns to his clothes!!  A little ‘tangle here and a little tangle there!!  I miss my markers when I’m sketching, what can I say?



Sam the Singing Santa…..He plays this role every single year…..Wouldn’t miss it, even if you paid him to stay away.  He is the jolliest one in his family, that’s why he gets to wear the outfit.  His younger cousins absolutely couldn’t believe their sleepy little eyes when they saw him that first Christmas morning.  They were completely shocked when he’d pull out the very toy they had written on their list which was mailed to the North Pole….There was just one older cousin that thought he sounded awfully familiar. 

My next big challenge is to get this house decorated in time for Christmas.   Click HERE to see how I did it last year.  May change things up a bit, which makes it more interesting!

I have a confession:  I’m finding that I don’t enjoy decorating the tree like I used to…. I’m a little bored with it….but I love pulling out and decorating with all the other Holiday knick-knacks!!  Now, those are FUN!!  How about you?