December VSD

Here's my take on December's sketch photo. It was so snowy and cold looking. I didn't see much color and so I thought the ink drawing with just a touch of color would fit it.

This is a small work, 7 x 5 inches. It was done using a Sakura Pigment pen in a couple of sizes. The color was added with Derwent Inktense pencils.

I did take a bit of creative license with some of the elements in the photo.

You can view a larger image by clicking here

Visit the Virtual Sketch Date Blog here.

November Virtual Sketch

It's not exactly a sketch.... more of a manipulation. But I've been fighting bronchitis for most of the month and this is about the best I can do right now.

This was done in Photoshop Elements. It's been cropped, light and darks have been pushed, and then the charcoal and chalk filter has been applied.

It turned out abstract looking. I might have to try a print on velata paper. Velata would preserve the "charcoal" fuzzy look of things.

I'm an amateur photographer too, but then I think most artists will work with whatever media is in front of them - pencils, paints or pixels.

Experimentation

I'm experimenting with Yes! canvas, using the trio of pears reference from the virtualsketchdate blog. Yes! is advertised as being able to handle any kind of wet media. These are both small pieces, 8 x 6 inches.

The first image is the Sharpie marker version. I'm not too happy with the makers on canvas. They took too long to dry. I even let some of the layers dry overnight, but when I put more maker on top, it dissolved the layer underneath. This could be a good thing if you want to mix the colors, but I was looking more for the previous layers to act as an underpainting. But it is much more graphic than what I normally do.


This is the watercolor version. Not too thrilled with this one either. It was quite difficult to get the watercolor to stick to the canvas. Just the least bit of water dissolved the pigment right down to the white canvas. I had to let the watercolors thicken up until they were about like acrylics. I used lots and lots of watercolor here. It's not exactly brushed on, but more pounced on with an old brush. This was the only way I could get the paint to "stick" to the canvas.

I can see that there are possibilities here. Maybe I need a different kind of watercolors. I started with Windsor/Newton straight out of the tube, but I ended up using Yarka semi-moist pan colors. It was easier to maintain the viscosity of the paint. The white is watercolor gouache and as you can see, it picked up the underlying shadow color, even though I waited 24 hours before putting it on the canvas.

It might be me, because watercolors are not my media of choice. I've painted in oils and acrylics in the past, but I found the Yes! canvas to be difficult to handle.

However, I love the fact that this image is now on canvas. I've sprayed it with fixative and I think that it could be sprayed with Krylon clear to completely seal it. Then it could be framed without glass - something I can't always do with my colored pencil works.

Pear Trio

Here is my drawing for October's virtual sketch. I'm working on doing more graphite work. This is in my sketchbook and was shaded with a pure graphite pencil and brush.

The Color Version

Here is my painted version of the peony from the September virtual sketch date. It is done with Derwent inktense watercolor pencils on pastelboard. This was my first time using the pastelboard. It holds watercolor paint like it was an acrylic. It just doesn't move and that was very different from using paper.

This was my first time with the inktense pencils as well. They are surprising. It takes the lightest touch with them, especially with the darker colors. When you put the water to the strokes, they just explode with color

Peonies in Vase

peoniesinvase, originally uploaded by janpope.

I'm participating in the virtual sketch for September. The reference was such a lovely floral that I couldn't resist. Besides it gets me back in the sketchbook after a summer of gardening. If you'd like to see a more detail image, you can look at the Flickr version.

The original reference was provided by Sharon on the Virtual Sketch Date blog. There are links to a larger image on Flickr. This photo had such great contrast that I knew it would make a great black and white image. I'm thinking of doing this in pastels as well.