Plein Air….Beaches and Boats

Mid-February in the Ohio Valley has me daydreaming of warmer days!



Brought my moleskine out to the beach one day last summer!   Watercoloring in this environment is a lot harder than I thought it would be…..Sand is always shifting and winds are always blowing.



Had a nice meal at a beach-side pub one afternoon. Then I ran out of time to really get my watercolor on.



Hung out at a marina another morning before it got too hot.



On this outing, I stepped back to try and capture all the boats under a covered dock.



Apparently I only saw the left side of boats on this drawing day.



And last, the great lawn of a popular local restaurant with all these fun chairs.

Beach….Six

I’ve done about as much as I can with my skill level.  I can see that the right girl’s chin area was “over-colorized”….I’ve made it muddy.  But by the time I got to the left girl, it’s not so muddy.  That’s progress!  Haha





The difference between this picture and the first one is I’ve gone in with my markers and straightened my edges.  I also, used markers in the polka-dots.  Just looks better that way. 


If I was giving this away…I would work on those hands more.  But for now…for me….they’re ok…enough.





Looking at these together [like this] is a bit embarrassing.  But then again….how else will I learn?


Thanks for baring with me thru all.this.learning!

Beach….Five

So, I went in and gave her some hair.  Softened that forehead a bit, but I think it could use more softening.





Looking at the picture next to the drawing I can see that I have that upper lip in the wrong place.  It’s curling up toward the inside, (like you would if you were sneering).  This girl doesn’t sneer so it’s best if I fix that.





Drew in the missing eye and the hair of the right figure.  Had to adjust those eyes some….make them a bit bigger.





It’s getting towards completion.  I expanded out the mouth of the girl on the left.  Possibly it will need to go out more.  I also need to adjust the ribcage on her as well.  Doesn’t look right from here. 


The easy stuff is done.  Now, it’s onto the hands.  Not sure if I’m mentally up to that yet….may have to google search “5th grade art” to find something fun and play for awhile.

Beach….Four

Gave up on the right face for the time being and moved over to the next figure.





Almost a complete profile…but not quite.  Interesting angles in this shot.





Will have to play around with that nose…up close it doesn’t look hooked, but standing back it does.  Ugh!





Seeing these images here, I can see a bunch of things that need to be tweaked:

• left girls collarbone
• left girls nose
• left girls forehead (un-bulgicize it)
• right girls eyes (yea…yea…she’s missing an eye too)

Beach….Three

So, I’m sketching along….and omitting the shadows as best as I can.





I was liking the figure portion….but pretty disappointed in the face portion.





Then I received a tip….get some acetate paper and make a grid over the face.
I copied the grid over the face on a copier….then took the acetate with the grid and placed it over the problem areas. 





Boy, were my dimensions off.  Way too small.  This grid really helped.  I was surprised to see how much I had to expand on everything.  The nose, mouth, eyes, forehead.  All of it!





It’s better now….a little more in proportion.  Still needs much adjusting.  Glad I have a new trick up my sleeve!

Beach….Two

This is getting fun!  I really like the way this sketch is going. 





I guess because I haven’t made any assumptions.  You know, assumptions about where the eyes are placed….the nose….





I can take my directions from the picture itself and use COLOR.  By using the color in this way, I’m able to shape the face.  It’s a bit like sculpting, but with pencil.  Hard to explain, but the color/shadowing is a bit more pliable.





I was able to see some light in the right eye.   Not so much in the left.  But something will need to be done here…because they don’t match up!  Haha





Tried to de-wonkicize that arm….Will probably need a more experienced eye to help me there. 

Beach...one

Since, I was still in color-sketch mode and I haven’t received the promised jpg’s from my daughter’s friend to sketch yet.  I had to go looking for something “cute” to draw in my own collection.





Contoured these girls out first.   Then started sketching.





The above sketch looks like it’s taking shape the way it should.  That arm is still a little wonky….will be working on that more.





I’m doing something that I’ve never done before…..sketching-in as I go….Notice, I did not pencil in the eyes yet….I also have laid no graphite down on the face interior.  Highly unusual for me….but may help in the long run.  Hopefully less erasing!…..hopefully

It’s about time….

Fin-A-Lly….finally Spring Break time!!  What a l.o.n.g. winter this has been.  But we survived!  And now it’s time for some much needed rest and beach time.  No big plans once there, just going with the flow.   My favorite way to vacate.  How about you?

Have a nice week yourself.  I’ll see you on the other side.

Bench Monday…..in a drawing

Had to hurry to complete this drawing so that I could post it on Monday, which fits the Bench Monday theme that so many photographers/bloggers participate in. I’ve never done it, but it sure is inspiring to see all the pictures others post on Flickr or different blogs.

There was a lot of shadows on the original picture, so I had to improvise some of the calf and kneecap positions on the drawing. I just tried to make it look real.

Using my Creative License I decided that this girl really needed a skirt. This picture on flickr was the inspiration for the skirt. I either needed to draw in a skirt, or continue drawing more leg since I had a lot more space to fill…..the skirt won, since it would be a make-believe leg above the knee anyway.

See what I mean??

This was a good drawing to use those wonderful Watercolor Pencils. With all the texture in the sand, the waves in the water and the clouds in the sky, I thought this would be a good time to put some watercolor pencil practice in. Didn’t try to duplicate exactly, just made it recognizable. I used my favorite Faber-Castell Pitt XS pen to outline the figure. I thought that may help keep the watercolors in their place. It worked.

This picture is not the best quality, it’s looks a little pixilated at the sketching portion. Ah well.

This was a lot of fun to draw! I love to do a bit of sketching then add another art media (markers or watercolor) to the drawing. Someday, I may do an ENTIRE drawing as graphite sketch…..but….don’t hold your breathe, it may be awhile.

A Bird at the Beach….

Back from vacation. Nope, didn’t do half of what I planned. Never do! I only took about 12 pictures. Sometimes you got it, sometimes you don’t! The picture above is the view of the back yard of the townhouse where we stay (every year). The front yard has the Gulf across the street. We probably spend more time out back than we do beach side. More to do out back.

On the drive down, I drew another Bird. She’s a bit different since she’s facing foward. I added a little word bubble to the page where she gets to talk. Since, you know how birds like to talk!

Proceeded to copy a journal entry from last month onto my moleskine and write it out in that “slow journaling” way.

“People are unbelievably Beautiful- I see it especially when they are helping others, sharing! Man- the media has done a number on our perceptions. The thing is, is people don’t know how cool they are. Not talking about the manipulative here- just ppl going about their business each day. Why don’t I see this more often? I think I see it more when I can stop the judgments of too fat, too skinny, too bald, too hairy, too uneven, too sloppy. Granted the too sloppy I don’t see as beautiful b/c it is in their power to control that. I like it when people do the Best with the Hand God Dealt them.”

On the last Sunday in July, I found myself at Panera Bread killing some time. I wasn’t inspired to draw at the time, but felt more inclined to write. So, out came my composition book and my trusty Bic. After ramblin’ on and on about the mundane, I slowed down, sat back and watched the people around me. The strongest statement for me up there is “ the media has done a number on our perceptions”. They have a way of getting our attention, whether what they say is true or not.

Anyway…..it’s always fun to put a little drawing to a journal entry. Trust me, not all my entries are so poetic!!

How about you? Are you comfortable putting your journal entries onto your Art Journal pages? If I’m stuck, I can always find a good quote or two to use instead.

Downtime

Did you know that 71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. Yep, just a little more than 2/3rd’s. Good thing I know how to swim.

The writing used on these pictures is my own handwriting which I made into a font. It’s real simple to have your own font made. Just go to Your Fonts site, download their forms, write each letter out, then scan and upload your form. The font generator will create a .ttf file for you that you can load into your font folder on your pc. Oh, and it’s FREE! How cool is that?

Happy Fathers Day!

Some people come into your life……And your never the same!!!

Fathers teach their daughters that they are lovable and they teach their sons to be men!

My daughter took this picture a few years ago. I am always amazed at the eye she has for composition. Since this is one of my favorite pictures I thought I’d try drawing it. What a learning curve this was, whew!

Every year……gotta have my Beach time!! This is when I get to have some really good talks with my Dad! I’m pretty happy with the drawing here…..I know it’s not exactly what the picture shows, but it works…enough! I used watercolor pencils for everything but the outlines. Unfortunately at the time I didn’t have a good blue watercolor pencil, so I used markers on the sky. The thing about markers vs. watercolor pencils is there is not as much color flexibility to the markers. The highlighting and shading are much more difficult unless you have a huge color-variety stash and knowledge of such things.

I am NOT HAPPY, with this part of the drawing! I used the Faber-Castell pitt brush pen and had no idea it would show these streaks! Next time, I’ll have to use a marker that’s more opaque. Like the Copic Markers! Or a similar off-brand.

And Another big Happy Father’s Day to my main man! He’s my rock! Love this man!!

Digital Elements used for this Layout found at Scrapgirls.