Unfinished Moley Doodle #11

It's either not finished, or I like it like this, fading off to just the single lines. Take your pick.

You know, in looking at the Trickle Down painting, I've decided it lacked certain things, mainly:

I had a perfect chance to get some real rhythm going in the positioning of the blooms and I didn't do it = they are too static and similar.

The background should have remained the background. I should leave well enough alone with dealing with the background, and not make it more important than it should be.

Misket is a tool and I need to learn to soften and work with it carefully, not just slap dash it on and think I can make it work later when I have bright white lines with hard edges.

So - it wasn't a successful painting - but it was a learning experience and I think I'll give it another go. Going off to check the backside of that painting and see how the Twinrocker held up (if it's clean enough, I'll use it for the next try).

Moley Doodle #10? + No Class for Me Today

We didn't get the snow that was predicted - 1-2 inches of blowing snow turned into nothing but rain. So class wasn't cancelled. But I wasn't feeling well. Every change in temperature means sinus issues for me :( So didn't go to class. Haven't been since the 16th of December and am getting out of the habit so need to get back into the routine.

Nothing to show today except another Moley-Doodle (well, it's not really a Moley-Doodle, just a little thing with fans and colored with my watercolor crayons but no water added). And here's a little 9 x 12 painting created for a group challenge called No Destination. We were to create this in a more intuitive way, without thinking about what we were making until it came together. I don't work well that way and it goes against my new year's goals to plan and think more. But here it is - I'm calling it And the Rains Came Down.

Well, Shoot!

Somewhere along the way, I lost my direction and lost the freshness of this painting. I won't spend more time on it - unless I try a really dark bg all around the flowers just to see what I can come up with. Oh, well, a success rate of .333 isn't that bad - for now. I liked the flow and the blossoms in the earlier bg but it needed darkening - so I thought. But I didn't pull it off this time. Maybe I could do something on the other side (hate to waste a good piece of Twinrocker paper).

Last version

\Version prior to the last one, background darker but still not too bad.

Version I was at when I probably should have left the bg untouched and just worked on the pitcher plants instead.

Moley Doodle #9 + Back to Painting

I like the simplicity of this one without color - just a blue inkpen.

And yesterday, I got back to my little art room and worked on Trickle Down. I still need a darker background color mix in the upper part of the painting fading down to the bottom, I think. Or some places that are going to be very dark to bring out the more pale colors here and there.

Moley Doodle #8 + Revised Sketch

Here's number 8 in the Moley Doodle series :) I used a curved tool to get the shapes this time and just colored them in, letting the colors overlap. I am using Derwent Inktense water soluable pencils on these latest ones but haven't added any water to any yet. Since it's in the moleskine sketchbook, not sure how well it will take water...

I also worked more on the sketch, trying to get her head tilted down in the correct position, and enlarge it so she didn't have a pin-head :( Worked so hard and was tensing up so much (which I didn't realize) that I got a migraine! Now that's working hard!

And it still isn't right!

Oh, well, back to finishing some paintings today...

Moley Doodle #7 + Nude Sketch

I think this is number 7. I wasn't happy with it so added ink after I colored it. Still wasn't happy so you can see I gave up at the bottom. Maybe it would look better flipped with the uncolored on top - no, it doesn't. Oh, well...on to the next one.



My friend, Ann, is working on her sketching/drawing techniques and clued me in on the WetCanvas Drawing Forum that is using a photo of a nude for everyone to sketch and share. I wanted to try it so, while sitting in front of the computer monitor with the photo on, I sketched this in my moleskine. I didn't think it was too bad...





until I printed out a copy of the original photo from WetCanvas (photo by Nickholas Muray 1892-1965), and my sketch, side-by-side in 5 x 7 size. Her head is sooo small! And I've given her move room from lower breast to middle line so, in essence, lifted her breasts too high on her chest. You really have to check and double check your drawings to get it right. And, I didn't measure anything, just drew it from looking (it helps also to measure).

It did give me a break from the moley-doodles, though. I think I'll go in and make the changes today to make it more accurate.

Sunrise

This morning, between 7:45 and 8:00 am, there was the most glorious sunrise showing off in the sky. It was gone by 8 am. I'm glad I stepped outside in my pjs and took 2 photos. It was too beautiful to miss and was so fleeting.

Moley Doodle #6

Jerry says this looks like a snowman wearing a necklace with a big hat full of fruits - maybe it's Snowman Miranda? Eeeeee - bad bad pun. It does, however, look a bit fruity.

Colored Moley Doodle #5

This is the 5th Moley Doodle I've done and I'm still enjoying them.

I got out my Inktense watercolor pencils for the next batch and will see how that goes.

A couple of appointments scheduled today will keep me busy, so probably no painting, but I might take the moleskine with me and sketch while waiting in offices.

Trickle Down - a Bit More Work

Not sure when this will be finished. I seem to just add a bit here and there randomly and without much feeling of needing to get it finished. Okay, that's a lie. I do feel like I should get it finished - but I'm not rushing to finish it. I will let it take it's time and HOPE that it ends up close to where I want it.

Well, Blogger won't let me upload today's work so I guess I'll wait and hope it is fixed next time I try.

Guess I'll go remove the misket that's still on the paper. I don't know how misket on Twinrocker will do after being allowed to sit for days - keeping my fingers crossed.

Later...Blogger has fixed the upload problem many bloggers were having and I could upload my painting as it is...this photo was taken with the misket still on.

Moley Doodle + Sweetpea

Another Moley Doodle with color. This time, I used gel pens that had some sparkles to it (which is why it's not as dark as the previous colors I used from the traditional ballpoint pens). This is getting to be a good pasttime while "watching" something on t.v. that doesn't need much attention.

Since watercolor class had to be cancelled, I worked more on the Sweetpea painting, too.

I did find that Twinrocker paper balling up in places and was surprised because I hadn't gone over that area much at all - the green of the pods had two little balls of paper come up on it. Okay in that spot, but if it had to be a smooth area, it would have caused problems. And I was loving the Twinrocker so maybe it has a few quirks, too. There has been some discussion of Arches and Fabriano paper have unsized areas in them from watercolor friends who were using both. I use both, too, but haven't had a problem yet with either brands. I just ordered some new Arches and Fabriano so I'm hoping I won't get a bad batch.

Many watercolorists who have been using the Arches and Fabriano are switching over to try Cheap Joe's Kilamanjaro paper.

No Meeting of the Watercolor Society :(

Oh, well, with another winter slap from Mother Nature predicted for tomorrow, our wonderful and wise President, Shirley, has cancelled tomorrow's meeting of the Greater Cincinnati Watercolor Society.

So another day for me to stay in and paint. I don't mind that. But I do mind that little voice inside my head telling me I Should Be Cleaning The House instead - so just shut your pie hole, little voice!!!

Only boring women have immaculate homes.

A Colorful Moley Doodle + Info About Manifest Gallery Drawing Classes

Per Suzanne's suggestion about doing these with some color to give them umph, I did just that. I just grabbed a blue, red and green pen and then the black was a marker (not fond of the smell up close and personal so won't use that again). I'll look for some gel pens or other things lying around to use in the future to get some color there and still have fun...

Manifest Gallery Offerings

If you're in the Cincinnati area and are really interested in learning or bettering your drawing/sketching ability, whether you want to draw portraits, figures, or classical shapes, do check out Manifest Gallery's Winter Sessions. Classes begin next week!

If you can't find it here, you probably don't need it :) They offer everything in a relaxed and open atmosphere with good instructors and fellow students - a great big nice studio to work in, too. Check out the details at http://www.manifestgallery.org/studio/

Maybe you want to make "improving my drawing skills" one of your goals for 2009?

No watercolor class today due to the fine layer of ice over everything. So, with class cancelled, I'll be painting at home today - and not in my pajamas!

Think Pink

The monthly project painting for January at WatercolorWorkshop is Think Pink. Here's what I came up with, from a photo by Jerry of sweetpeas. I like what the color is doing on this Twinrocker paper. I prewet areas first and then dropped the color in and I like what it's doing, the granulation, the separation, the delicate color - this is mostly Rhodonite Genuine and Quinacridone Rose (the pinks).





This is on 1/4 sheet Twinrocker coldpress 140# paper.










I would have painted more on this but had a bugger of a sinus headache all day yesterday from the wet wet weather (I guess).
It was unseasonably warm, too - around 50F. So much moisture in the air, the raindrops just hung on everything like little pale jewels.

Moley Doodle 2

Not a "Zentangle" so I'm giving mine my own name = Moley Doodles since they are in the Moleskine sketchbook I bought last year - or the year before.

Something until I get more work on the Trickle Down painting...

Trickle Down - More + New Colors

I worked more yesterday on Trickle Down. Here's where it's at right now.

And I got 2 packages from Daniel Smith yesterday: photo mount cards (for Jerry) and a tube of Iridescent Copper; and then my box of 12 colors - the new ones, Apatite Blue (freebie for ordering 12), Bloodstone Genunine (I have no idea WHY I ordered this but, apparently, I did), and Lamp Black (want to try this in backgrounds like Carol Carter), and another tube of Iridescent Copper - I have a use for this, I think....but that's another painting...

Don't you love getting new paints and paper (that, too, is ordered and should be here next week), and pencils and sketchbooks and...

May your year be artfully applied.

Sketching for the New Year?

Apparently, each new year I tell myself I'm going to do more sketching. So I picked up my Moleskine sketchbook last night and, while partcially watching football games, I doodled. Several bloggers have gotten the Zentangle bug (see Myrna Wacknov's blog for more info and check out Joan Sandford-Cook's own take on it) from their site and are trying it. But I just doodled. My little brain won't wrap about the Zentangle premise and how it's done and I don't think I'll buy a $50 kit from the makers to learn.


Anyway, I had only 4 other sketches in this Moley - all dated 1/08! ha ha
So January seems to be the time when I think I'll sketch more and try - for about 4 days.



Here's my New Year's sketch - I might do another (there are a lot of football and basketball games on these days). I see a crazy face/mask with a curly beard and a long moustache - not what I was thinking about but that's what came out of the doodles.





I do sketch but maybe it's this Moleskine book which has never made me fall in love with it, not even so much as infatuation for a while. I prefer by Exacompta sketchbook because it has more body and more texture and the paper makes me want to draw on it.

Trickle Down - Steps 2 or 3

I'm slowly working my way, glazing, trying to get the right colors and think think think more than paint. Perhaps knowing I'm working on expensive Twinrocker paper is making me more careful...

And here's a photograph of last evening's setting sun - what a treat for New Year's Eve.

"Hoppy" New Year to You

Trickle Down - Do Over

I received this very nice piece of Twinrocker (made in Indiana) paper as a Christmas present from Sandy Maudlin. It is 10.5" x 28" and I thought it would work beautifully for my redo of Trickle Down. I'm always drawn to odd shapes in paintings and I know, if this succeeds, it will be a bear to mat and frame. But what the heck, right? (Thank you, Sandy!)




First, I lightly sketched what I wanted on the paper, looking at 2 photos of the pitcher plants. Then I misketed the shoots coming up from the bottom and some of the thin "stems" of the plants coming from the top.

Next, I put a bit of pale yellow (also a new pigment I received from Sandy) on the flowers and then mixed up several colors (a bit of Prussian Blue, the yellow - Bismuth Yellow, and some Carbazole Violet), and painted where the background will be. (I had a mix of a raw sienna/goethite and a nameless blue - it has a name but I don't recall what color I put in the mix - and I used it here and there, too, which is where you see the warmer color.)

The Twinrocker has a deckle edge all around that is beautiful so I painted right to the edges. The paper (coldpress 140#, I think) really slurps up the paint so I got some blossoms here and there that worked well for the background.

So that's it for today. More to come tomorrow...