Doing something every day boosts your confidence, as well as your skill set, and practice makes you better, whatever you want to do. I have gained much from the sketchbook revival classes, but I've gained even more by showing up and doing the practice every day, and I'm so thankful to have had the time and discipline to do it, even if it's in sketchbooks. I can't wait to start painting on canvas, boards, and good watercolor paper in a larger format again, and maybe now I have the confidence to finish some of the works in progress that have been waiting for a long time now. Hopefully, my eyes and my health will hold out to let me do that. I don't have time for housework! Thank goodness that hubby doesn't mind! Ha!
This one was inspired by an online photo of an abandoned house. I have a bad habit of not allowing enough room for things, and this was no exception. I drew it on a 7"x10" page on mixed media paper in my sketchbook in pencil. I should have made it smaller, because I ran out of room and had to leave the end of the house, with a balcony, off, but that's ok. It was still good practice with drawing and using watercolor. About half way through the watercoloring I decided to go over the lines with my micron ink pen. I like the character of it! I love old things and their stories!
The last Sketchbook Revival class I've done, so far, is "Paint Expressive Florals" with Juliet Meeks. It's painting loose and free intuitive flowers in watercolor just for fun, and practice. A fun exercise! I have one blank page left in my current class sketchbook, and it will be full. BUT I have a new one to christen and many more classes to sample!
Just for fun and relaxation! Each girl is sketched with one continuous line with a micron pen in my mixed media sketchbook. I don't know why I had never tried the micron pens before. I love them!
This page started off with me slightly wetting the page, even though this mixed media paper doesn't really like being wet, and it will buckle and roll if very wet, but I lightly sprayed this page, then cleaned off my watercolor palette. I used a brush to clean each color and applied them to the damp page, letting them run and merge together. Then I dipped a brush in red and made some marks on top of that and let the page dry while I washed off my palette. When it was dry, there was a suggestion of the three red flowers, so I painted an imaginary bouquet (my favorite kind), making it up as I went. It could probably use some more work, but I've decided to leave well enough alone...
When I got up this morning, I was determined, and had planned on, finishing up at least two of the five paintings I'm working on (because I have to have more than one project at a time in progress), but my mind was scattered due to some business stuff, so I wound up sketching my painting set up, plus a bottle of calamine lotion, sitting in front of my chair. I ate breakfast, then dealt with the business stuff, took a walk around our yard, came back inside and sketched the girl from a music video on TV, before writing and posting the post before this one. So this is the second blog post today, and I'm caught up until I finish another sketch!
I've lost track of how many photos I have posted on here this year, but I know it's a LOT, and I'm afraid that I won't be able to afford to have a blog book printed for my records. :(
I do have a lot of photos to choose from for the calendars that I gift to family/friends for Christmas though. I just have to edit them and put the calendar together, if I can afford that this year. They are not cheap! We'll see.
Anyway, we're having beautiful fall like weather right now, although I'm sure there will be some more hot days to come. I hope it's beautiful where you are too. Have a wonderful week and take care of you!
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