Happy Halloween!

Posted on October 31, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

Halloween10.31 - 1 (3)

This is a fast sketch of trick-or-treaters.  It is a mess but captures the fun of the evening.  I quickly jotted down movement with a brush pen and later added watercolor and watercolor pencil. The construction of the pen brush forces me to record big movements and gestures. It magnifies all the lively hyper action of the night- kids rushing about trying to make the most of being out in the dark, wearing costumes and gobbling candy.  This sketch definitely tells a story which is one of my major goals.

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Reading at a cafe

Posted on October 30, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

read 10.30 - 1

I am still not clear on perspective so I am taking a very helpful online Craftsy course, Perspective for Sketchers with Stephanie Bower. I am working on single point perspective and was trying to draw two streets on a hill disappearing into a common vanishing point when a young woman with a hat and a book came and sat directly in front of me. She curled up in the chair and this is what became of that sketch.

I used water soluble pencil, ink and watercolor.

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Just using watercolor

Posted on October 29, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

Open Studio 10.29 - 1 (1)

It was open studio again today. I worked on using straight watercolor- no drawing first in pencil or pen for guidance, or later for strengthening the impact.  Odd how daring this feels; at times I drew with the paintbrush and a line is a line, right? I hardly erase when using pencil and rarely abandon a sketch when using pen, but this was psychologically tough. I went back into several of the other sketches and added line later, but this one I left alone. Although again I did not communicate an interpretation of what I was seeing, I like this sketch anyway. There is something pleasing to my eye about the limited colors and the downward line from the head, along the backbone to the bottom and foot.

When I get home from open studio and look over my sketches, I often notice that the head is too small for the body. This evening I realized that this is because the model poses on a platform and my eye level is below her knee if she is standing. Normally in my sketches of my daily experiences the subject’s eye level is about at mine. The model’s head in the open studio setting, being further away from my eye level, would appear smaller and it makes sense that this is reflected in many of my open studio sketches.

I used watercolor.

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Two men in a coffee shop

Posted on October 28, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

Little Italy - 1

Today I joined members of the San Diego Watercolor Society in their weekly Wednesday Paint-out. I was a little intimidated but went anyway and had a good morning of sketching at Little Italy. Feeling unsure of myself when I arrived at the coffee shop, I quickly sat down and began to sketch what was in front of me, much like I used to sketch before I began trying to say something with my images. I like the shapes in this sketch, especially the backs of the two men, but wonder what the message from this sketch is. I did a lot of drawing with pen on it to differentiate among all the jumble of people and objects. So it is more of a mixed media piece than a watercolor.  At the end of the morning we shared our work with each other and I admired the work of the others. I clearly will benefit from going to more of these events and seeing the work of accomplished watercolorists.

I used pen and watercolor.

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More giraffes

Posted on October 27, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan


zoo - 1 (4)I had a good day sketching at the zoo and am now having a hard time deciding which sketch to post. One of my primary goals is to tell a story with images, something that does not come easy. Today I accomplish intentional storytelling in three of my sketches which makes it hard to select just one to write about. I went with this sketch because I like the way the three figures work together to direct attention downward from the largest to the smallest giraffe. The smallest giraffe looks away into the distance as though he wants to get out and explore the world. The mood is echoed a bit with the purple sky and the placid faces of the other two giraffes. This reflects my own ambivalence about the whole zoo thing. I am happy to be there but feel some guilt about keeping such beautiful animals in such a small space. 

I used an 8 X 5 inch Moleskine watercolor notebook and drew down across both pages for a length of 16 inches, which is much too long for my scanner. So here we have three giraffes, courtesy of my smart phone photo app. The color is inaccurate, the lines are not crisp but the tradeoff is we can see the whole long sketch.

I used water-soluble pencil, pen and watercolor. 

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Two friends from childhood continued

Posted on October 26, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

Guy - 1 (3)

So much of what passes for conversation is often not much more than predictable exchanges, pleasant but not the type of interaction that deepens understanding or advances learning. It is wonderful when two lifelong friends get together and really talk. I think I can see this in the way they both lean into the table, both have relaxed posture and neither have polite smiles. The open hand suggests lack of pretense but an attempt to clarify thought.

I used a brush pen and watercolor.

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Two friends from childhood

Posted on October 25, 2015 by Sarah Sullivan

Guy - 1 (1)

Two friends from childhood meet up and what do they talk about? Research papers, of course. I am fascinated by the look and expressions of learning and was delighted to again see it in front of me and to have the chance to describe it with images this evening. I noticed the body positions were casual. One figure looked directly at the computer and the second looked directly at the first, both showed curiosity and puzzlement. Both spoke and listened at the same time, neither giving nor taking offence. To me their interaction conveyed an old friendship based in the fun of exploring new ideas. I wish I could have made several more sketches of them to work out some of the challenges of the setting and proportions.

I used pen and watercolor, and then later tried to add some shading with pencil.

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