Um. . .Cherry Blossoms

This started out as one thing (cherry blossoms for sure) and then morphed into something else entirely.  Not sure if these qualify as sad flowers.

Robert Oster Cherry Blossom ink in a Lamy Al star vibrant-pink fountain pen with help from Stabilo point 88 no.44.

Serious Panda

I don't know why this red panda is so serious* but apparently he is.

Drawn with Robert Oster Melon Tea (Visconti Dark Ages) and Burned Orange (Lamy Studio Terracotta) inks. 

                       Pen & Ink on 230 gsm 5.5x8.5 etchr sketchbook



*serious panda, sad flowers, and smiling bears. . .oh my!

Miscellaneous Trees and other things

Trying to play around and do more things without a reference photo or looking at something.  Below are a few creative exercises.

                                                       5.5x8.5 in

                                                             4x6 in

                                                         4x6 in

Laurel and Hardy

As a kid growing up, I loved watching the old Laurel and Hardy movies.  On one of my flights this summer, I caught the Stan and Ollie movie, a bitter sweet portrayal of the comedy duo later in life.  Steve Coogan and John C Reilly do an amazing job with several laugh out loud skits.  

One thing that I learned because of this movie is that their famous line is actually, "Well, here is another nice mess you've gotten me into".  It is "nice" and not "fine".  The miss-quote is probably due to newspapers often using the caption with nice.  And they did do a 1930 movie called Another Fine Mess.  So there is that too.

Smiling Bear

This blog is now all about Sad Flowers and Smiling Bears (and unfinished penguins).  Oh bother.

             Watercolor on 230g acid-free, artist grade 100% cotton paper, 5.5x8.5"

Aside from being about bears, both of these paintings take advantage of Daniel Smith's granulating paints. The texture and depths of these paints provide are quite amazing.

                                 Watercolor on 140 lbs paper 9x12"

Rose of Sharon

Watercolors can be frustrating and unpredictable.  It is its unpredictability, however, that makes it so much fun and rewarding when it works.  Below are two paintings of my Rose of Sharon flowers done with in a week of each other.  One is good.  One. . .not so much.

             Watercolor on 230g acid-free, artist grade 100% cotton paper, 5.5x8.5"

And this was the first attempt at painting the flowers.  I was impatient and did not allow the paint to dry fully, leading to the muddy colors.

             Watercolor on 230g acid-free, artist grade 100% cotton paper, 5.5x8.5"

Cosmic Polar Bear

These two are kind of groovy.

The color separation using Rose of Ultramarine and Moonglow is quite amazing and produce such interesting effects.  So much fun!

                                   Watercolor on 6.9 x 9.8 200 GSM Perfect Sketchbook