More Sketchbook Skool and Urban Sketching

The addition of the online course, Sketchbook Skool has really kept me hopping the last month. It is not just the time sketching, it is keeping up with the incredible community of students and faculty from all over the world. Of course I could just do my assignments and not spend all the time online keeping up with others work and comments but the atmosphere and excitement of communicating with so many of similar interest and die hard attitude is hard to resist.

The instructor for the second week was Koesje Koerne and she encouraged everyone to get outside and sketch on location. My Garden Center Sketch from the last post was one of the assignments for her and shortly after another occasion to do some urban sketching came up. on the way to my haircut I had a flat tire so I sketched while my husband changed it for me. This was fountain pen and watercolor.

The second assignment that week was to do a slow layered colored pencil drawing. Here is my sketch. I always think Pears look like people and that Golden Pear does remind me of a reclining figure!

As we were starting the third week with Prashant Miranda I decided to do a little synopsis of the highlights of each weeks classes while also practicing the washes that Prashant demonstrated. I will have to finish the last three after the six week semester is over.

Our next assignment from Prashant was to paint the sky at different times of the day for the week.

I also did a sketch trip in Downtown Tulsa with a friend and did a little more urban sketching.

We started at the Phoenix Coffee Shop and I did a sketch of a girl sitting by the window reading one of the Phoenix journals that are available for use in the coffee shop.

 Fountain pen and watercolor.

Then we walked across the street and did some sketching in Centennial Park. It was the Saturday before Easter and while we were sketching Easter eggs were planted all around us. We looked up and children were running down the hill straight towards us for the hunt.

Brown pen and watercolor.

Later, I sketched Margaret with a colored pencil.

The second assigment from Prashant to paint watercolor skies at different times and conditions for the week had to be postponed because I was getting ready to go out of town with some friends for the weekend.

I decided to make a little folding journal from Cathy Johnson's video,
http://artistsjournalworkshop.blogspot.com/2014/04/make-super-quick-no-sew-folding-journal.html

It turned out very nice with 90 lb hot press watercolor paper and covers of mat board with origami paper. I made several as gifts for friends.

I decided I would try to sketch during the weekend and get some practice with on location sketching.






I did the sketches with an Ahab fountain pen and Lexington gray ink and hope to add some watercolor soon. Here is the Friday we left for Lawrence, Kansas with my luggage, a walk in the park, shopping, lunch and pizza with some wine back at the Bed and Breakfast.

Second day, and walks around Lawrence, lunch and music, spinning, knitting and relaxing.

Sunday morning I tried to do some sketching before my first cup of coffee. That was a mistake but fun anyway!

We had a wonderful dinner at Mariscos and then I did some small sketches that ended with a spinning wheel packed in the car for the trip home. It was a great weekend and worth getting behind on my homework for.

When I returned home Purrlie Cat had been sick and so I missed most of that weeks class. I will have a chance to go back to it after the six weeks are over.

The fifth week was Roz Stendahl on drawing animals. What an amazing class! She had so much wonderful information and was so giving of her time.

I decided to sketch Purrlie with a Safari fountain pen and brown ink.

My other available animal model Laddie was next. Rotring Art Pen and watercolor.

Then she asked us to sketch our sketching kit and set out to draw some more live animals.

She suggested we spend the week trying out a tool that we had bought but not used much or at all. How did she know that I has purchased a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen and had not sketched with it al all because I knew it was going to be hard to get comfortable with?

So I made a commitment to give it a fair trial.

By that time Purrlie was feeling better and I set out to practice with the brush pen while trying to keep up with her movements. I was right, getting control of the new tool and keeping up with her at the same time was a challenge.

The sketches are rough but I thought the pen could be interesting if I could get the hang of it so I kept trying.

and trying...

more Purrlie Cat, I can't really say how the petite Purrlie got so curvy in the bottom sketch.

More quick gesture sketches,

and more.

Then Mack,

and my feet.

By this time I am making some progress with the Brush pen. It may never be my favorite sketch tool but there are an amazing variety of strokes that it will make from very black and thick to an airy dry brush.

Then back to Laddie and Purrlie with a little colored pencil added,

and finally a little playing around late one afternoon with the backyard birds and squirrels.

It has been a busy 5 weeks and now I am anxious to get started on the last weeks lessons with Tommy Kane. It should be fun!

Just when I thought I had pushed, pulled and challenged myself out of my comfort zone

I was challenged to do it all with my non dominant hand.

I have really enjoyed Sketchbook Skool so much that even though my summer is really busy I decided to sign up for the second semester starting July 4. Cathy Johnson is going to be one of the instructors in the second semester and I always find her inspirational.

Just hoping I have a chance to catch up with Prashant Miranda and Jane LaFozio's class before then.
www.sketchbookskool.com

Sketchbook Skool

I have several sketches to share today. I suppose one of the biggest reasons I've been a little more productive lately is because I'm participating in an online sketching course, Sketchbook Skool. There is a different instructor every week and WE are currently in the second week of class. Even so, I have been doing a lot of practicing with different tools and techniques since I last posted. Most of the sketches are in a Stillman and Birn journal with Zeta paper unless otherwise noted.

I've also been thinking of new tapestry designs and that has been a motivator to get into shape with my drawing skills. I have a small tapestry that I usually take to shows and the new cartoon, Hands On follows. I have an idea swimming around for another larger tapestry but I haven't started to commit it to paper yet.

Hands On, tapestry cartoon in pencil and ink. The paper is a tinted watercolor sheet which should hold up well as a cartoon. Approximent size is about 14.25 x 12.25  inches.

Still working from my shell collection, I drew this with a dip pen and black ink, then used some walnut ink to add some tones. Working with a dip pen is a challenge!

Here is a drawing of the new dip pen. i think this is the first one I tried. Also a challenge, notice the smeared signature!

This drawing was done outside with a sample of some beautiful new ink and the dip pen. I also used a new nib JG 303 that will make marks from very thin to almost painterly. This was an even bigger challenge because I had a difficult time with the ink flow but I do like the effect and I want to practice some more with this nib.

Right before Sketchbook Skool started I did this breakfast sketch of tart cherry preserves on a bagel with ink and then watercolor. The first instructor Danny Gregory has a wonderful video on youtube about sketching his breakfast and the tart cherry preserves were inspiring to me.

Some of the first assignments for SS were to start with a watercolor wash, use gouache to create the basic shapes of the subject and then finish with a contour drawing in ink. It had been a long time since I worked with gouache and it was enjoyable and I like the result. The two shells were painted in as shapes over the watercolor and before the ink drawing.

I prepainted a couple of pages with watercolor wash and then tried to find subjects to fit the wash. Wine Goes with Everything was drawn with ink over watercolor and ended with a bit of white pastel pencil.

Laddie at the Gate was done in the same manner as the previous sketch with the addition of a little watercolor and gouache after the drawing was done with ink.

Next, I tried a sketch of Mack's old truck, done in a black copic multiliner. This time I used some colored pencil to add some color. Some of the pencil work was done with Kohinor Magic pencils. These are pretty fun to play with, each pencil has a multitude of colors in a mosaic pattern lead. The colors change randomly as you sketch although you can control it some by turning the pencil. This was the first time I have tried them but it won't be the last.

I have been working up to sketching on location outside so I decided to practice a little in my own yard first. Here is a sketch done in fountain pen with Lexington Gray ink while I was sitting outside enjoying some Spring sun.

Here is the same sketch after adding some watercolor. Very enjoyable sketch!

That same evening I tried using a fountain pen with a bent nib that allows quite a range of line widths to sketch another fountain pen.

The next day a quick outside sketch again of the front of the studio building with some colored pencil for some tone.

Last , my first on location sketch of the season, a garden center in Tulsa. This was sketched quickly in blue sharpie pen and the watercolor was added after.

Hoping to do more of this kind of thing soon and will try to go out on the 19th of April for the World Wide Sketchcrawl.

Almost forgot this one. Working with those Magic pencils again with my cat Purrlie ( Pearl) in my lap. Then Mack snapped a picture of us on my phone and I used it as a guide for the Purrlie and Me sketch below. The Magic pencils are really fun for some loose, quick sketches!

A Little Further Behind Than I Thought

Oh my, I didn't realize that I hadn't even posted the rest of the February sketches yet.

I had some fun in February with the Olympics by doing some quick sketches from the televised games and then refining with ink and watercolor afterwards.

I was using some Holbein watercolors in a pan set that I acquired on Ebay a couple of months ago.

Here is a close up of the second in the series, the first was in an earlier post.

The sketches were done on the 9th of February but the watercolor was added on the 14th.

Here is the last one to be painted so far. These were fun to do and also challenging at the same time.

This is one of the first sketches that hasn't been painted yet, just pencil and ink so far.

I like the composition on this one so I'm hoping to find some time to paint it soon.

I started following along with the free Strathmore online art workshops in March. The first one is Back to Basics so I have been doing some pencil sketches. Here is the link
http://www.strathmoreartist.com/artist-studio/groups/workshop-1-2014/forum/

This one is lead by Earnest Ward and he has many helpful videos and also supplemental material on his blog.

I started working with one of my favorite old shells which is actually a horn shell that can be blown.

The emphasis here was on line and contour but I ended up with a little shading.

A close up of the second attempt ...

and the third.

These are all drawn with HB graphite and mechanical pencils and an Ebony Pencil.

Next we were concentrating on shading and drawing ellipses.  I decided to choose something smoother so I could try some of the shading ideas with the same tools as before.

A little handmade pot gifted to me by a friend.

I spent a little time collecting things from the yard with interesting lines and details, then did some more pencil drawings of a Black Walnut and a Honeysuckle Root ( it could be a Trumpet Vine Root but I think Honeysuckle).

 Back to the shell collection. This one just begged for some color so I added some colored pencil to the graphite drawing.

I'm also working on a new cartoon for a tapestry and it should be ready to take some photos soon.