Goose Crossing

Every Day Matters #86 - Draw a traffic sign. 8" x 10" double journal page. Pencil sketch, watercolor paints, Pigma pen. Oct. 27, 2012.

I have photos of the signs, at the South Jetty at Bandon, Oregon, there is a little pond on the left, and housing on the right. I think the people feed the ducks and geese in their yards. There are lots of seagulls also. This was kind of bland before the ink, it perked it up a lot and added detail.

Bandon Street Lamp

Every Day Matters #81 - Draw a street light. 5" x 8" journal page. Pencil sketch, watercolor paints, Pigma pen. Oct. 23, 2012.

"A beautiful light on the waterfront of "Old Town" Bandon, Oregon. The boardwalk has been fixed up with new walkways, railings, artwork and benches. They even have a glassed in wind shelter. The silhouette is of the Coquille River Lighthouse." I need to get a new white gel pen, the write "Bandon by the Sea" on the banner, my original gel pen ran out of ink quickly. The sky really made this picture, I'm so glad I've been practicing skies from the watercolor book I got a while ago.

Christmas Lamp Post

5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, watercolor paints. Oct. 25, 2012.

"My original photograph of our lamp post at Christmas time, in the snow. I love the look of the few inches of snow we get most years. I'm glad that it's not more. We never had snow in California and I have no experience driving in it. I've had several bad experiences with it in my school bus. But we have had lots of fun, with the neighbor kids, having snowball fights."

Day Lily

5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, watercolor paints, Pigma pen. Oct. 21, 2012.

Drawn from an embroidery design book, and painted with watercolor. I was tired of painting "objects" from the EDM list.

Mailboxes

Every Day Matters #73 - Draw your mailbox. 5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, watercolor paints, Pigma pen. Oct. 20, 2012.

"This is not mine, but drawn from a photograph I took. I loved the graphic numbers, 1-2-3-4 and the faded turquoise post. The most important piece of mail that I got was my school bus medical certificate that allowed me to go back to work. I was off of work for over two months, while I adjusted to starting insulin. It was getting close to the wire, or I would loose my job of 20 years. I recieved it the afternoon before the last day of school. I jumped up and down waving the papers around at the mailbox, when one of my co-workers drove by in her school bus. The sense of relief was enormous."

Metallic Bowl

Every Day Matters #32 - Draw something metallic. 5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, watercolor paints. Oct. 20, 2012.

I am trying to finish the first 50 items on the Every Day Matters list. I have a small stainless steel bowl on my table for water, when I watercolor paint. I used a grey wash of paints to draw the bowl. It is a very simply composition.

Beach Girl

5" x 8" journal page, Pigma pen, watercolor paints. Oct. 21, 2012.

A quick sketch in pen, so out of proportion a little bit, and I messed up her profile too. I added a quick wash of watercolor paints also. It is from my original photograph taken at Bastendorf Beach, of a little girl in a turquoise jumper. I am using this image in my Beach scene quilt also.

Pooh and Pumpkin

5" x 7" drawing pad, mechanical pencil. Oct. 25, 2012.

Drawn at the Tee Pee tavern, a 12" tall ceramic decoration of Winnie the Pooh, in a pumpkin. It is orange with a red t-shirt, but I don't think I'll color him. He is just too cute.

Taps

5" x 7" drawing pad, mechanical pencil. Oct. 25, 2012.

Drawn at the Tee Pee Tavern, with a mechanical pencil, the color notes are at the top. I'm trying to decide if I want to add watercolor or not.

Western Flyer

Every Day Matters #21 - Draw something old, antique or vintage. Journal page, 5" x 8" pencil sketch, watercolor, Pigma pen. Oct. 15, 2012.

This was painted from my original photograph of a vintage children's toy, the "Western Flyer" It was at an old barn sale, and was quiet reasonably priced, especially with most of it's original paint. I wish I had bought it.

End of the Road

Double Journal page, 8" x 10" watercolor paints, Oct. 16, 2012.

I started out, just practicing making more background trees and the sky, as I added more and more trees, I thought I needed to make a finished piece. The foreground took a lot of thought! What to do, this did not start as a finished scene, so making up the rest was difficult.

Interior of my Refrigerator

Every Day Matters #49 - Draw the inside of your refrigerator, or the outside. 5" x 8" journal page, pencil sketch, colored markers, Pigma pen. Oct. 13, 2012.

"When I opened the door, the shelves of the door caught my eye, with all the colorful jars and tubs. Grape jelly, homemade raspberry jam, cheese and pickles, margarine and IMO sour cream substitute. The colored markers brought out the color and graphic labels."

My School Bus Dashboard

Every Day Matters #60 - Draw part of a car. 5" x 7" drawing pad, pencil sketch, Pigma pen, colored markers. Oct. 6, 2012.

Sitting on my school bus on break time, the right half of my dashboard, there is so much more. There is a whole panel on the left side wall, and in front of the steering wheel too.

Practice Trees

Journal page, 6" x 8" watercolor paints. Oct. 7, 2012.

I am practicing the trees, in the background of "Skies, Light and Atmosphere, in watercolor" by David Bellamy. I need to improve my foreground, my tree shapes, and colors. I like the faint conifers in the background, I realized they were not green, but blue gray faded into the distance. The closer ones can be dark green. A few bare branches, and a scene with background trees, individual trees, and meadow and grasses. It is just a small part of the page, I'm amazed I got so much detail in the bottom half of the page. I really like the way it all turned out.

Watercolor Test

Every Day Matters #190 - Draw your color palette. 8" x 12" Watercolor paper, watercolor paints, Pigma pen. Oct. 6, 2012.

My cheap set of Michael's brand "Artist's Loft" watercolor paints. I am moving up in the world, I have been using a dollar store kids set of watercolors. The wet paints are sure different, deeper colors, need more water to make light colors or to mix colors. It will take some practice to get used to them, and to get the colors I want. I finally got the hang of the $ store set. But there is not s good deep blue, the Cobalt in the set is light, and the Prussian blue is very dark teal. Maybe I need to spend more money on a really good set?

Waiting

Every Day Matters #36 - Draw in Public. Drawing pad, 5" x 7" pencil sketch, watercolor paints, Pigma pen. Oct 6, 2012.

While waiting for our oil change I sketched the girl sitting across from us. I liked the pencil sketch better, it was nicely shaded. I just wanted to add a little color, and ended up painting the whole thing in watercolor, then had to add the Pigma pen for the detail I lost.I think it turned out good, as I'm not very practiced with drawing people or faces.

Condiments

Every Day Matters #319 - Draw the condiments on the table at a diner or restaurant. Drawing pad, 5" x 7" pencil sketch, watercolor, Pigma pen. Oct. 6, 2012.

Waiting for breakfast, I sketched the metal wire rack holding the salt, pepper, sugar, Tabasco, and sweetener packets. The creamer was in a separate dish, and the jams had their own rack. At home I added the watercolor and Pigma pen.

Sky V, Moon

5" x 7" watercolor paper, watercolor paints, masking fluid, white gel pen. Oct. 5, 2012

I used masking fluid on the moon and tree. That helped me make a smooth dark sky around the moon. I went back and added a wash to the moon and the color to the tree. I did not get enough contrast on the trees, as it all blended together wet. But I really like the mood.

Sky III & IV

Both, watercolor paper, watercolor paints, 5" x 7" and 6" x 8" Oct. 3 & 4, 2012.

From my imagination, watercolor paints, I'm not sure how good a job the scanner did with the lighter one, it was very subtle. I tried to increase the contrast in photoshop. These are fun to do, I'll try to get more interesting foregrounds.

Sky I & II

Both, watercolor paper, 5" x 7" no sketch, watercolor paint. Oct. 1 & 2, 2012.

I got a new book called "Skies, Light & Atmosphere, in watercolor" by David Bellamy. It is a wonderful intro to painting skies, clouds, shadows and backgrounds. My first few came out good, but don't quiet know what to do with the foreground yet. It is all wet on wet. The scanner is not picking up the subtle colors very well. I think anything goes as far as skies, it is mostly from your imagination, unless you really want to try to reproduce a photo, or are on location. I was just trying for different lighting.

My Foot

Every Day Matters #23 - Draw your foot. 6" x 8" drawing paper, graphite pencil, violet marker. Oct. 1, 2012.

"This little piggy went to market, this little piggy stayed home, and this little piggy went wee wee wee all the way home!" It was hard to get a good view of my foot, and to turn it just so, hard to get the "right" perspective. I love the touch of hot violet marker! My toenails are so tiny, almost nonexistent, and my foot is short and wide.