April 2009 VSD......

I haven't done a virtual sketch date in a while. There is a whole new way of signing up, so if I can figure that out, I'll be doing good. Here is my sketch I am working from. The original photograph is from Jeanette. I am showing the sketch first because it goes down hill from here.

Here is my horribly overworked flower done in water colour. I figured I was done but got to thinking what would it look like with a background.


For all that I just swabbed in the background with no finesse, it does show that the background was needed to finish the picture. Good thing to know for next time.

November virtual sketch date....

My sketch this month is just that, a sketch. I saw this guy lurking on the right hand side and sketched him out with a bit of embellishment.
You can see the photo on the VSD site. Jeanette of Illustrated Life supplied the photo. The list of participants will be on the VSD site on Sunday.



Quick sketches have been the rule this week. This guy was done for the weekly challenge over at Drawspace, the host was Elena.

Jeanette also started a sketching from life thread at DS.

Sketching is likely THE most valuable exercise you can do to improve your drawing skills. Also drawing from life is another. If you sketch daily, you'll soon see your ability to render form and light grow by leaps and bounds.

Now I have to find time to get back to drawing Gracie and getting my newest set of trading cards started.

October VSD participants....

I gave my pears from the VSD a couple more minutes of touch up. I can see myself doing more pears in the future, what a lovely shape to work with. I forgot to mention that the great photograph that we worked with is from Belinda Lindhart.
Here is the list of this months participants. There are some wonderful drawings and paintings of pairs to see.

Leslie's Blog, An Artist's Journey, S'Mockery Sm'Art Fridays, Illustrated Life, Drawing Breath, Regina Carlton Burchett, Tints and Hues, Jeanne Grant, Fuzzy Dragons, Cathy's Watercolours, Back To The Drawing Board, Socially Sketching with Susan, Bartoe Art, Black on Grey on White, Wax Bloom, My Creative Spot Blog, Flat Sound of Wooden Clogs, Koukla Carolyn, Adventures of Borromini, Annie's Basement, Time For Inspiration, Kbladosdesign, The Happiness Experiment, Sethurner, Painting in Virginia, Fur In The Paint, Kitchen Table Sketches, A Splash of Colour, Premieres Peintures, Stop and Draw the Roses, My Fiddlestix, Laine Lea Paintings, The Wonderful World of Jelly Beans, Quotidian Curiosities, The Colourguru, Belinda Lindhart- Art Journal, Painting Puppies and Quilt Knit.

Here is one more jellyfish ATC for my Under the Sea Trade. I am getting sick of jellyfish and I still have two more to do. On the up side, I most say that they are amazing creatures. This one was photographed by Ed Bierman in Monterey.

October Virtual Sketch Date......

This is my last minute try at this months picture for the VSD. I did it ATC size with Prisma colour pencils on black paper. This took about a half hour, a couple of stolen minutes before my son had to go to work and I have to pack for scout camp. I am one of the cooks this week.
No matter how many times I tried I couldn't seem to get my hand to draw the pears small enough, so I finally put one in front of the other. My plate sucks, but I think my pairs are believable for the short amount of time I spent on them.
I can't wait to see all the other entries for this month.

The downward spiral of a little flower....

Everyday for the last week or so I have been doing a little more to my drawing. I was happy with my flower and I was okay with my vase. I liked the colour I was getting on my background. Then things started to fall apart, so I fixed this, then I fixed that. And each day it continued, maybe this will make it better, or this. Some days as you can tell I didn't have the heart to photograph the poor, poor flower.
Then I thought to myself, maybe I should have some of those thumbnail sketches that I hear everyone talk about. Of course it was to late to help this poor flower.
Now on the upside, my flower makes a really cool negative picture!


All kidding aside, I would have done better with some planning on paper. It would have shown me that I wanted a different placement on my page. I might have remembered that I like a picture that is not filled in to every corner, I like white space.
Well I am off to draw some Under the Sea trading cards for Drawspace.

Update on virtual sketch...

I am back to doing my drawing. These are a couple of WIP pictures as well as a picture of how I am using my easel. Jim gave me a smooth board to put under my paper, although it might be a bit to heavy.
I have mixed feelings about my vase. I had a vision in my head and this wasn't it. I did want it lighter than the source picture. I'll have to see how I feel as I put in the background.
Thank you for all the encouraging comments on the last post. It was so wonderful checking out the Virtual Sketch Date drawings, I believe that 39 people joined in. If you haven't seen them yet, here is a list.

Sherrie Roberts, Kay Susan, Cathy (shicat), Leslie Hawes
top5cats, Maryann Cleary, Nic Bridges, Jennifer Rose, Laura
Rose Welty, Barbara Weeks, Dianne Mize, Kari Gibson, Andy
Jeanette Jobson, Regina, Melissa Muirhead, Sharon, Jo Castillo
Jeanne Grant, Rhonda Bartoe Tucker, Deborah, Ann, Marion Brown
Vivienne, Sheona Hamilton Grant, Joanie Springer, Gail, Kellie Hill
Jan Pope, Cathy Gatland, Stacy Rowan, Susan, Paulette
Diane, Laine Lea, Kathleen, Valerie Jones

If you are interested in joining next month, check out the VSD site.

September Virtual Sketch....

This is a work in progress for my virtual sketch date. It won't be finished on time, but this gives an idea what it will look like. This months reference comes from Sharon of Flat Sound of Wooden Clogs. The participants will be posted on Sunday on the sketch date blog.
I received an easel at Christmas time, the kind with paints and it folds up and you can carry it around. Well since I have never painted, I kind of ignored it. This week I decided to give it a try, thinking I wouldn't like it. Silly me! I love it! I had to improvise a little, I took the wooden pallet and locked it in like a canvas. Then put my paper on top of that. Now my drawing is ready to go all the time. I can work on it for two minutes or two hours then just walk away without worrying about putting it away.

Virtual sketch date....

I decided at the last minute to jump in on the virtual sketch. I haven't felt like doing much lately (art wise), so when I got to thinking about the virtual sketch this morning, I jumped at doing a quick sketch. I had fun just getting the colours down and not worrying about any thing specific. It is sketchy, but I think I did okay getting across my impression of the photo.

You can go to the Virtual Sketch Date site to see this months photo. It was provided by Leslie Hawes. Thank you Jeanette for hosting!

Here is a list of this months participants:
Rose , Dougie, Melissa , Sherrie, Maggie, Michael
Leslie, Laura, Miki, Mary Ann, Kylie, Stacy,
Jennifer, Jeanne, Kay Susan, Jeanette, Kellie
Sharon, Paulette, Sydney

Come join us in August around the middle of the month.

June Virtual Sketch Date....

When we got the virtual sketch date picture I had charcoal in hand, so I went straight to sketching. I never did get back to it and yesterday when I should have posted, I had a trojan horse and a wonderful impromptu party.

This morning I woke up early and decide to give the flower one more quick try before I posted. This is ATC sized, colour pencil on drafting film.
You can check out the rest of the virtual sketch date participants on the new blog that Rose set up. The reference photo was provided by Jennifer.

Tripod....

The star of our virtual sketch is Jeanette's cat Tripod. I have seen Tripod sketched many a time by Jeanette so it was fun to give him a try myself.
My contour sketch was done completely by eye and my final drawing was done by getting a couple of key spots first.

Here are all the drawings, you have to go check them out. It is great fun to see all the different styles.

Jeanne Grant
Rose Welty , and Teresa of NC
Jennifer
Gayle
Jeanette
Katherine
Stacy
Belinda