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Watercolor Skin Tone Practice
I swatched several different skin tone blends before painting in the figure of my current work in progress, hoping I wouldn’t make the skin too blotchy, as seems the case with most of my watercolor skin tone efforts. Alas… I still overworked the paint and it’s still blotchy. I think I keep trying to treat watercolor like digital painting, and then I push too far and overwork it. Blah. More blending practice is necessary!
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Adding a Background (at the last minute)
Well, I was hoping I’d be further along with this painting, but I became quite distracted with painting a soothing pattern in the background. I didn’t originally plan this sketch/painting to have a background – it was more about studying cloth folds – but I decided to go for it. In my mind, the character was standing in the palace of Versailles in a chemise*. So it wasn’t so much picking a background at random, in as much as it was trying to feel what would be around the character I had in mind. I also decided to make her expression a bit less melancholy.
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Sunday Sketches
Today I made vegetarian lasagna for dinner – and while it was in the oven I sketched my dishes pile. It made for a fun contour line study, with lots of overlapping forms. I’ve been reading An Illustrated Life, hoping to inspire myself to let go more in my sketchbooks and draw whatever might spark my interest, no matter how banal or humble. So dishes pile it is!
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Finishing WIPs!
I had two works in progress hanging out there from this week – the sunset clouds digital painting (from Thursday’s post) and then the current sketchbook page (from yesterday). Even if I’m not practicing new ideas, I’m glad I used some time today to finish both of these up. It’s satisfying to consider drawings or paintings finished before moving on to a different study. No nagging lose threads!
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Sketchbook WIP
Well, tonight will be a quick post of some sketchbook paintings that are still a work in progress. I didn’t have much time tonight: after dinner and some housework, I signed on to a virtual performance my belly dance teacher held. Then after I met up with a few friends on Discord to play games. The downside to virtual social events is that I have literally been at my desk most of today. I am ready to stretch and get out of this chair!
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Saturday sketching through aches and pains
And now for a sketchbook with mixed-media paper! I can layer markers and not have it bleed through the other side. I can even use fountain pens and then blend with a water brush! ::Happy dance:: Well, happy dance indeed, if I hadn’t been dealing with some muscle and nerve pain today. Grrr.
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Sketchbook Number 4 Finished
Yeeeesss, the Midori sketchbook is filled!!! *jumps with joy* I have been dragging this sketchbook around in my purse since February 2019 (well, after March 2020 it was just near my computer. Cause, you know…not much travel sketching in 2020). And even before that, I had it at my desk at work in 2017 for a while, slowly filling it with occasional doodles and drawing drills. I bought it from JetPens on a whim, specifically for silly doodles. Over time, it’s unexpectedly transformed into a book near and dear to my heart.
Keep your muse happy
