Aug31Art

This is what happens when I can't think of a thing to draw… doodles and color.  Got a shipment from Jet Pens today with a new Lamy Joy, to replace my lost one.  Fountain pens must be 'broken' in, and this one is stiff and scratchy now… but I'll tame it with more use.  I got a Pentel ink brush pen… it has an even larger 'brush' than the Pentel pocket brush pen… love the ink, drawing with it will be a challenge.

Aug 28, 29, 30

Drove to Flowery Branch today, dropped off Jeb at Carol's house, then drove to Decatur to the courthouse to be sworn in and sign the papers to be an executor of my mother's estate.

This afternoon I attended the memorial service for my Mother, she's been gone over a month, and is already resting beside my father… so I didn't expect for the service to be so emotional for me… but it was.

We went to the new Field and Stream store today, since the rain from tropical storm Erika ruined any other plans we might have had.  It was a very crowded store, but we did find a few things including this cute little black bear.

Aug27Art

Did this one from a photo of a sailboat in Charleston Harbor, taken from the Harbor Master's dock.  I did the mostly single line drawing, starting with the sailboat, and finishing with the marsh grass in the foreground.  I used a Lamy Safari pen with an extra file nib loaded with Carbon black ink.  The dark accents were done with a Pentel Pocket Brush pen.  I then used a limited palette of Yellow Ochre, Burnt Sienna and French Ultramarine blue…  I changed water brushes to do the sky last and that brush appears to have had a bit of red in it, as the sky took on a violet color… a happy accident as I think it works.

Aug26Art

I filled in the weather forecast this morning, but they were wrong big time about the high, I guess the weather man was hoping for cooler weather, it hit 88 degrees and kept going all the way to 95 today.  Fooling around with colors today and a quote or two about color.

Aug25Art

I've enrolled in yet another online drawing course, this one from one of my favorite Urban Sketchers, Marc Taro Holmes… so this is my homework for step one a single line ink drawing.  I must admit that I did this from one of my photos of a church steeple in downtown Charleston SC, taken in 2010 with no reference to which church it might be.  You will notice that I cheated on the single line by adding the bell tower windows… Marc says a bit of cheating is allowed.  Check out his blog (lots of free downloads there) and the link to his Craftsy classes http://citizensketcher.com/videos/travel-sketching-in-mixed-media-video-course/

Aug24Art

Met with my new Flute teacher for our first lesson tonight, I think it went well and I like her very much.  She's already helped me with some issues I was having, I need one on one instruction sometimes. Having someone say… try it this way gives me that aha moment.

Aug23Art

Did you have a sock monkey as a kid?  My grandmother made me one, as well as a clown doll that I loved.  I loved the sock monkey the best, it was so soft and cuddly.  I know they make them in factories these days, but I think grandmother made monkey are better.

Aug22Art

I have this little clay clown fish that I made years ago, sitting on my monitor stand, along with my other 'toys' like Dogbert, the Rhino eraser, the fuzzy elephant and my wooden artist model dude.  Attended a picnic today between thunderstorms, great food and friends.

All caught up on my Imaginary trip to Scotland pages… this one was interesting to do with the pre-drawn boxes.

Aug21Art

I'm about tired of the thunderstorms every afternoon this week, but my flowers are loving it.  Hasn't cooled things off one bit.  

Finished week 1, half way into week 2… I am enjoying the imaginary trip to Scotland, no passport required.

Aug20Art

When there's no an idea in my head what to draw, my thumb holding my sketchbook, is always right there waiting with me for inspiration.

Aug19Art

Looks more like an orange apple than a peach… embrace the wonky peach, it's the best I can do tonight… I was going to add ink but decided against it.  Worked on my homework for my Imaginary Trip to Scotland instead, got part of week one's homework done before week 2 lesson is posted tomorrow.

Aug18Art

My little fuzzy elephant screen cleaner, sits atop my Mac monitor… waiting to clean my screen with his fuzzy belly, or to be a model for me to draw.  Today he did both, cleaned my screen, and served as a model.

Aug17Art

Just a doodle today, Monday's I drive to Columbia (about 180 miles 1 way) for work, that means I'm up at 5am and on the road at 6:30 to get up over there by 8 am or close to it depending on traffic.  It makes for a long exhausting day for me. Next Monday I have a flute lesson with a new teacher, I'm looking forward to meeting her and getting help with some issues I'm having… but I expect next Monday will be even more of a challenge… that old Beatles song…. Monday, monday can't trust that day…. is my theme song.

Aug16Art

Rose bud done in colored pencil, turned out ok… Busy day today cleaning the computer room office, old vacuum cleaner died. Took a break and went to Lowes and got a new one.

Aug15Art

I do love a glass of red wine from time to time…. just can't draw it LOL.

Aug14Art

If you haven't watched it yet, may I suggest 'The Science of Stupid' on National Geographic channel on Friday evenings.  It can have you laughing so hard you can't stop, with you tube videos of people doing stupid things and then the explanation of why they failed and how to do it right based on science.  One of the 'Top Gear' crew is the show's host, can you guess who from my drawing?  I used the General Sketch and Wash pencil I got in my swag bag at the USK Chicago workshops in July.

Aug13Art

Dripped some orange paint on the page… this is Translucent orange by Schminke I love this color.  

My friend Celeste shared a You-tube video of artist Tom Jones painting an artist trading card of a marsh… so I gave it a try in my small 3 x 5 Moleskine… turned out ok I think.

Aug12Art

Laid down the yellow background using Colorbox ink, quick sketch of Gracie sleeping in her bed beside my desk using a Pentel pocket brush pen.  The ink clogs up my fountain pen, so writing out the quote was a challenge.

Aug11Art

Tuesday almost over… bye bye Tuesday… hello HUMP DAY :-)

Aug10Art

Pretty, violet flowers, in the ditch beside the road, I snapped a photo as I sat in traffic.  Tried 2 different ways of representing them, paint first or ink first… not sure which I like the best, the paint first was a bit more fun (maybe because I rarely do it that way).

Aug09Art

Tried my hand at a girl from imagination, used my pentel pocket brush pen, which smeared (I hate when that happens) I wasn't going to paint her, but the black smear made getting out the gouache necessary… it did cover the smear, but I need to put some in a palette and use it more often so I can get the hang of it.

Aug08Art

Tried something different, used inktense pencils to laydown the color, then used M.Graham white gouache to paint the buildings, stars and moon.  I like the effect.

Aug07Art

We go out to dinner early on Friday nights, like 5:30pm early, that way we don't have to wait for a table and before the crowds show up, we're done.  I've got friends who call this the blue hair special, because it seems that a lot of the early diners are not young folks, but people our age or older.  I worked hard for the blue hair and I don't like waiting in line from dinner, the steaks were tender, the onion very good…we don't go there often so it was a treat.

Aug06Art

One of my milk crate book shelves, was starting to fall, so I spent the evening off loading all the books and art supplies… so that I could pack it all back in after resetting the crate on it's base crate.  Now I have a huge pile of things to run thru the shredder and another pile of papers that just need to go into the re-cycle bin… Long story short, I just did a quick sketch from a photo of Edgar Alan Poe that someone posted on Facebook.  Hopefully, his heirs won't mind my bad drawing…LOL.

Aug05Art

My friend Priscilla posted the above quote over a lovely beach photo on Facebook today, that gave me the idea to try my hand at a wave, I watched a Shoo Raynor You Tube video which was very good, but the best video was one I found by Alphonso Dunn, he explains things so well, I love watching his drawing tutorials.  Here's the link to his video See the tutorial by AlphonsoDunn

Aug04Art

Picked out a couple of sea shells to draw, with my favorite John F. Kennedy quote.  Went to our local HOG meeting tonight, lots of rides and benefits coming this Summer.  We'll attend a few of them and Ron is thinking about entering his chili in the chili-cook-off.  

Aug03Art

Little sea birds running up and down the beach, if they have to they will fly to avoid a dog or running child, but mostly they walk or run along, picking at bugs or other edible stuff washed in by the waves.

Aug02Art

I spent the morning watching Pat Weaver draw and paint dogs and cats.  She is amazing, and I will try some of her drawing techniques, and color mixing… but not today LOL…

Aug01Art

Going through James Gurney's blog today, and well found myself drawing a dinosaur.  Some paleontologists think small raptors had feathers,  so I added feathers too… sort of.  I used the water soluble graphite pencils to draw him, added a bit of watercolor and finally a few ink lines.