mixed media

It was at this time two years ago when my dining table was in the midst of being a collect-all for art supplies.  To this day it remains that way yet the collection has grown.  In addition to the media of watercolour paints, graphite pencils, india ink, watercolour brush pens and coloured pencils, this week I added a set of watercolour dual pens to the mix.  My first project with these pens is an ode to the beautiful forecast we have on the horizon.  It is time to think cool and refreshing thoughts!  I used the watercolour pens in everything in this sketch except for the skin tone and eyes, for those I incorporated coloured pencil.  For the seeds on the watermelon dress, I used india ink in nib size extra small.  Two tutorials were used, one for the head and a different tutorial for the neck down. I made minor adjustments so the parts would connect properly.

This is my first attempt at sketching anime which is a type of animation originating in Japan.  I followed a beginner tutorial to get it just right. For this sketch I used graphite pencils of varying degrees of hardness and darkness.  I need to pay more attention to where I lay my wrist as it collects the colour and then smudges it everywhere, as you can see in the negative space.  

Back in my Spain post about "food and drink", I talked about the bread, garlic, tomatoe tapa experience. It's called Pa Amb Tomaquet or Pan Con Tomate.  These are the ingredients as I see them.  I have enjoyed this snack numerous times since arriving back home, first rubbing the roasted garlic on the bread and then rubbing the tomato on top of that.  I leave out the salt and olive oil though.  These are done with coloured pencils and I used sections of three different tutorials.  My initial thought was to sketch them sitting in a basket but I got lazy and went with an easier view. 

This is a colour pencil sketch of a view in the Buffalo Paddock in Waterton Lakes National Park.  I rendered it using three photos I took when I was recently there for a few days of hiking.  I was fortunate the bison were close to the fence on my second visit and I had a clear view of the two babies.  I used mixed media paper but in hind sight, I should have gone with full on colour pencil paper.  It was loads of work to get it to this point yet there is still lots of white (other than the clouds).  After layer upon layer upon layer and then some blending, I had enough and declared it finished.