WaterCircles

It was medium-moleskine time.  I haven’t worked in this puppy since the end of February.  It’s a most convenient size…..at 8 x 12 it’s not too big to carry around and it’s a good size for a decent sized drawing.



Played with my watercolors….trying to apply different colors to the background.  As you can see, I tried to work with patterns…then gave up.



I like the vibrancy of watercolor….which expends very little energy.



After doing the alternating black/white borders to the circles, I wasn’t too impressed.



But the almighty-marker got me out of my visual pickle.



I really need to remember that watercolors can get muddy fast!



What I took away from this whimsical piece is the fun it is to bring out the shapes of the watercolor by outling the shapes with my finest nib micron.  Possibly I can carry this into something else????   Who knows

Manicure….4

So…it all started with this picture. (It seems I can’t find the link to this source picture., sorry).  I think I have a thing for hands!  Heck, who wouldn’t, cuz ya know….”the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world”.

But seriously….this was not the best picture to work from in printed form.  Had to do much improvisation, oh boy!



Art class pic from last week.  Didn’t work on it much last week.



Very disappointed in my nail art selection…I thought I could make those American flag nails pop….but with the stripes et al, it just wasn’t going to happen with my skill level and with this color background.



I’ve outlined with my fine tipped marker…which means “in my head”…I’m done and ready to move on….even though I can see the apparent flaws. With my critical nature I must take into consideration how much I enjoyed this and how much I learned.  If I were my teacher I’d give it an 85.  Not bad, not bad. (but I may just have to go in and fix that third fingers knuckle placement.)

P.S.  You may be interested to know that my art studio is now offering live figure nude drawing classes….Yikes!  Haha….not to worry won’t post any of those pictures here

Manicure….3

This angle really intensifies the largeness of the sketch.  Kinda funky!



Put down about 85% of the color build for the skin tone.



Then I had to make a decision!  Had a bunch of ideas….I debated between:

• Silver metallic polish
• Pink series of color (where the pinky is the lightest pink then the following nails are just a bit darker with the thumb being the darkest).  
• Doodles, Designs, flowers, or various colors on a single nail

Since I really wanted to try some “nail art”, the Patriotic nails won.



I liked doing the navy nail, because I was able to show reflection more. The flag nails are harder to show the shininess. 



This is the picture I need to study.  The colors in the inspiration picture are very dull, flat and monochromatic.  I need to step away from the sketching then come back  only in a visual way, I’m hoping I can “spot” where to shadow or highlight next.

Manicure….2

What this type of drawing requires is for me to keep my lines moving in the direction of the grain…..meaning, across the finger.  Much easier to just go length-wise but can’t do much sculpting and contouring that way.



Gave some color and shadows to the four fingers.



Then I went to art class!  After taking the month of March off, I forgot how much I learn here.  It was hinted that I should use some orange!  Before, every time I went  to use orange, I didn’t know if it’s a highlight or a lowlight. 



This picture doesn’t show it much….but Orange works!  It’s making things much more fun and way more interesting!  Who’d have thought?

Manicure….1

Keeping with my theme of drawing body parts, it was time for a more intense look at the hand.



What drew me to this picture was the nail-art.  What fun!  I don’t think I’ll sketch what’s in the inspiration picture.  I may try to do something a little more colorful.  Since my own manicures get so abused, and I’ve always wanted to do some of my own nail-art, this is the next best thing.  Haha!



Another big piece…..22 x 15 inches.  The same size as Blonde Beauty…but half the size as Hand Jeans.



I’m going to need to build up the colors in the fingers more.  Can’t really copy the “colors” of the picture, but need to use the pencils in a way to imply the correct shapes.  It’s really….. all about shape.