Taco Redo

Posted on January 1, 2018 by Sarah Sullivan
Second Sketch of a couple in a taco shop by Sarah Sullivan

Taco Redo

For the last 10 days or so I have been experimenting with the surfaces that I paint on. My goal is to find something that allows me to rework sections of a painting. So far I have tried painting on paper prepared with watercolor grounds and gesso. Both mediums can be bought in black, gold and white and can also be tinted using your own paints. The advantage of using grounds or gesso is the paint is easier to remove, which makes it easier to rework the painting. The tradeoff is gouache does not adhere as well to the prepared surface and I don’t get as bold a picture as I would on untreated paper.

A week ago I posted a sketch called, Stopping for a Taco. I painted it on paper prepared with gold watercolor grounds. The feedback I got indicated that the painting needed more dark areas. Today I tried the same composition but this time on paper prepared with black gesso. I may have overdone the darks this time.

 

Posted in Deliberate Practice, Interior, Learning | Tagged , | 1 Comment

A New Moon for A New Year

Posted on January 1, 2018 by Sarah Sullivan
Sketch by Sarah Sullivan of A New Moon on New Year's Eve

A New Moon for A New Year

My brother sent a picture of the new moon from his home in Phoenix this evening. That made me go out and look at the new moon as it came up over the trees behind our home in San Diego. It was so beautiful and so large. I had to get out my gouache and pastels and try to capture the moment.

Wishing everyone a New Year full of gorgeous moons!

Posted in Landscape, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

A Message from Afar

Posted on December 31, 2017 by Sarah Sullivan

I have not had much time for sketching this past week but did use my iPad to sketch two people looking at a phone today. I like the way the secondary figure is faint, perhaps suggesting that he is far off and actually sending the message.

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Sketching My Nephew on His Birthday

Posted on December 28, 2017 by Sarah Sullivan
Sketch of a man on his birthday by Sarah Sullivan

Sketching My Nephew on His Birthday

We skyped this evening with our nephew to offer our birthday wishes for him. It was also a good chance to sketch him on my iPad and to notice his resemblance to his father.

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Napping on the Couch

Posted on December 26, 2017 by Sarah Sullivan
Sketch of a man napping by Sarah Sullivan

Napping on the Couch

 

My son drifted asleep on the couch, taking a needed nap after driving down from the bay area. His sleeping face still reminds me of his baby years, and I could not resist sketching him. I guess you should be careful where you fall asleep!

A few days ago I prepared several pages of a sketchbook with a gold-tinted watercolor ground. Daylight was flooding the room from several windows and the golden pages seemed a perfect choice for this drawing. After sketching with a brown pastel pencil, I added the color with gouache, leaving much of the skin unpainted.

Posted in Body Language, Telling a Story | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Stopping for a Taco

Posted on December 25, 2017 by Sarah Sullivan
Sketch by Sarah Sullivan of two people in a taco shop

Stopping for a Taco

A few days ago I stopped for a taco in the late afternoon. The shop was quiet, and I got an excellent seat for drawing. The ceiling of this shop has lots of interesting shapes and color, and I have had it in my mind for some time to sketch it.  A couple in my line of vision also caught my eye, and I included them. They had a lot of interesting body language going, and it was fun to attempt to capture it in a sketch. In the end, however, I did not like the result, and so this afternoon I reworked the sketch.

This time I drew on a sheet of paper that was completely covered with a base of gold watercolor grounds. I drew with pastel pencil, added color with gouache, and left about a third of the gold grounds unpainted. The background figures are now simplified and less sharp.

Posted in Body Language, Facial Expression, Interior, Telling a Story | Tagged | 4 Comments

Happy Holidays!

Posted on December 23, 2017 by Sarah Sullivan

 

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Happy Holidays to Everyone!

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