Lily Pond at Balboa Park
Our plein air class met at the Balboa’s Botanical Garden today. I sketched there but by the time I left I had a very over done sketch. Later when I came home I used my overdone sketch and a photo and did this one. I like this one because it is simple and the darks of the paper have a rhythm that sets off the lily pads.
This is a 9 X 9 gouache sketch on black paper.
Flowers and Figure
We worked on quickly capturing gesture with a minimum of lines during the first portion of the figure drawing class this morning. Then we had several 20 minute periods of time to capture a figure using gesture and to place her on a page with a background and foreground. This is my favorite of the group, mostly because of her toes.
This is a gouache sketch with some pastel lines on a 9 X 9 sheet of black paper.
Editing Sketches with Apps
This was an interesting afternoon. I went back and edited some of my sketches from the week with Procreate, Snapseed and Photos, all apps on my iPad.
In the sketch above I adjusted the tables in front of the two figures by using Procreate to enlarge two tables, add in an extra table and change the color of the tables as well. I made the man look more pleasant using Procreate and the background more cheerful with Snapseed and Photos. For comparison, the original October 5 sketch, which I painted using gouache, is just below on the left and an another edited sketch which I felt was too dark is on the right.
The large elephant below is from October 4. At the same time I also sketched a small child as she looked at the elephant but did not like her legs and especially did not like the way the elephant seemed small. This sketch is below on the right. Since I usually post my favorite sketch if I do more than one, the large elephant won out.
Today with Procreate, I was able to adjusted the elephant so he filled the screen. Then I selected the girl and some of the fence and put them in the lower corner of the page, giving a better impression of their relative sizes.
On Friday I posted a gouache sketch of a hallway, which is the larger of the three sketches below. With Snapseed today I wa able to brighten up the sketch and with Procreate I was able to alter the colors. I prefer the original of these but it was instructive to consider the possibilities.
Pumpkin
Procreate, an art app for the iPad, recently had a major update and I thought that it might be fun to work in it this evening.
After sketching a pumpkin on black paper with a white pastel pencil and gouache, I imported it into Procreate. I duplicated the image and added a smaller version of it on the right. I went back to the large image and altered it by recoloring the shadow areas, emphasizing textures and adding the foreground and background.
Now as I look at this blend of traditional and new methods, I wonder what my last few sketches might look like if I were to alter them using Procreate.
Hallway
I noticed the light reflecting along a hallway in Liberty Station this morning and took a photo. Later when I did a small 9 X 9 inch gouache sketch of it, I noticed how much I like the way the door frames the hallway. Now that I have sketched this fairly accurately, it would be interesting to change the colors and some of the shapes.
Lunch Break
I started to draw the round table tops on an empty lunch court and then two people came along for a late lunch. Of course I tried to squeeze them into the sketch.
This is a gouache sketch with some pastel pencil lines.
Elephant
This is a pastel line sketch with a some gouache for color.
Deliberate Sketching 