Today’s the day to celebrate my son’s partner. I wanted to create a card for her that captures her openness to the world, vitality, and beauty. And because she loves fantasy books, movies, and games, I wanted the card to look like digital art. After painting with gouache and making a picture in my usual style, I used filters in photos and Brushstrokes to give it a digital style. Then I took it to Procreate for some swirls and glow.
Wild winds blew in cold air and some rain overnight, which was a change for us here in San Diego. Our Thursday group met this morning at Lake Murray Reservoir, not too far from my house. Its normally placid waters churned in the wind, and it was fun attempting to show the movement of the wind and water in the painting.
Many thanks to my friend in the Tuesday evening zoom sketch group for her set-up of beets and greens. It was fun to sketch and it got me thinking. Perhaps I would do well to walk up to the store tomorrow and buy some beets for a beet stew, just the thing for recovering from a sugary Halloween.
We made pumpkin people tonight by stacking two pumpkins, one for the head and one for the belly, and forks for the arms and hands. They were so cute that I had to paint them. Then, with a little help from Procreate, I added the cat, who believes this is his home.
Happy Halloween!
We drove from Kansas City to Chicago last week and followed the Mississippi River through most of Iowa. The river, the farm fields, and the striking fall colors made it hard to keep my eyes on the road at times.
The sketch above is from near Hannibal, Missouri. I liked the sweep of the river as it turned around a bend and the hikers on the path. The sketch below is one I did today using the first sketch as a reference. I wanted to see what the subject matter would look like on a rectangular surface and to show more of the textures of the fields. The first sketch is 9 x 9 and was made in a sketchbook with Bristol paper. The second is 10 x 14 and is on Stonehenge Aquapress paper.
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We each have a preferred place for working, and my daughter’s favorite place has long been the couch. She can work anywhere but is especially productive when curled up on a cozy couch with a pen, notebook, and computer. I think I caught some of her focus in this sketch.
I got to set up the Tuesday evening Zoom still-life for my group today. It is challenging to think of something new, but when I saw the large jar of peaches on the shelf in the store, I knew I was off to a good start. Then I noticed that the greens of the Pellegrino bottles in my cart contrasted wonderfully with the oranges of the peach preserves. Once I set it up, the lighting and shadows made the scene even more interesting.
Deliberate Sketching 