Chillin' Turtle

Another sketch/painting done whilst in Key West.  One of the hotels has a display of turtles.  This little guy was just chillin' off by himself, with his head held high, like he was posing for a picture.  So I obliged him.  I really liked the way the shadows hit the top of his shell.

                                    Watercolor in Etchr sketchbook

Key West 2020 - More Palm Trees

For some strange reason, I have an aversion to drawing/painting on the backside of page in my any sketchbooks  No idea why.  So it is cool to me when I actually do a double page spread like this solitary palm tree in Key West.

                                        watercolor and ink Etchr sketchbook

And here is the progression of the drawing before painting.  The tree was drawn with a Stabilo Fineliner Point 88 (brown) like that darn camel.

Key West 2019-2020

Spent another New Years in Key West.  We had beautiful weather, just simply gorgeous, and I was able to do a few paintings.  This was me sitting at the pool and looking up at the palm trees.

Oh, I joined instagram: @charlieamra  

Let's see if this Old can figure it out.  :-P

                                    Watercolor in Etchr sketchbook

Merry Christmas!

Wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas with a picture of our tree.  

                                                    Merry Christmas!!!!

                                             Watercolor in Etchr Sketchbook

I'm Back

After a productive Inktober, I took a bit of time off, but now I am back (with a pun no less).  I found a bunch of my old Muscle & Fitness / Muscular Development books that I used for anatomy references but also for ideas to torture my lifting partners and myself.  

This is from a photo of Charles Durr, who competed in IFBB in the 90's, who was doing front pulls (bar not included).

                                       Ink and watercolor in Etchr Sketchbook

                                               Just the ink version

Flowers - Nasurtium

According to Birds & Bloom, humans aren't the only ones who enjoy nasturtiums (I had never heard of them before seeing the picture in magazine).  Moths and butterfly caterpillars enjoy theirs leaves. . .song birds too.

This one took a while to complete.  I layered the paint and employed negative space painting to call out the surrounding leaves (see below).  The veins of the leaves were drawn with an opaque white paint (Dr. Martin's Bleedproof white).  The stamens are a bit muddy/muddled, but beyond that, I like the final results.

                                  watercolor in Etchr sketchbook

Fall Trees

Tis the season of spectacular foliage.  The trees in the parking lot at work all turned yellow and red and orange from the top down, not sure I have witnessed such a thing.  They all looked as if their tops were dipped in color and let to set.  Pretty cool.  I snapped a few photos for reference and decided to do something simple in their honor.  




                                      Watercolor in etchr sketchbook

Inktober 2019 - Greg's Bear

This painting of Greg's bear (not to confused with Greg Bear, author of Dinosaur Summer) was based on a photo from his front yard's animal cam.  His. Front. Yard. Animal. Cam!!!  Time to move, I say.  :-P

                            Watercolor in etchr sketchbook

I was going to give the bear crazy, glowing white (or yellow) eyes to demonstrate the tapetum lucidum, but decided not to do so.  He can be crazy all on his own.

Again, I love all the lovely effects of the granulating Lunar Black watercolor paint (Daniel Smith).

Inktober 2019 - That darn camel

That darn camel stood perfectly still every time that I walked past him (three times at least). . that is until I decided to try and draw him.  And then that darn camel decided that he could not stand still. . .

                   Sacura Pigma Micron pen plus Stabilo Fineliner pen in an Etchr sketchbook


I tried twice to draw him when he appeared to be standing still. . .only to have that darn camel move once again.  Now it looks like his head is literally coming out of his @$$!  You cannot unsee it now, can you?

Le Sigh.

Rectumus Camelus in watercolor

The initial ink sketch using a Sakura Pigma Micron sepia waterproof marker

Hatch lines and shading using a Stabilo Point 88 Fineliner marker that produced the wonderful washes when exposed to a water brush.  I do kinda like the effect of the hatch work and almost stopped there.  Glad that I did not.

Inktober 2019 - Neighbor's Tree

Okay, so the final picture might be more watercolor than ink drawing, but it still counts (see below).  

I return once again to my favorite subject and tree ('my neighbor's tree").  This time of year, the early morning light hitting the tree is just magnificent.  Unfortunately, I did not capture its ethereal contrast between light and darkness.  Oh well, I am sure I will paint/draw this again (it is the view I see from my easel). Drawn with the Stabilo Point 88 markers (#45 Brown).

Final mixed media: watercolor and ink

Initial ink sketch

Ink washes

And some watercolor washes

Inktober 2019 - Mountains

The first of hopefully many Inktober post.

The far mountains were drawn with Robert Oster Sidney Lavender and the close up mountains were drawn in Robert Oster Purple Rock (I have a lot of purple inks).

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

I may repost this again after I paint the sky and add some trees in watercolor. . .maybe.

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!

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"

Vancouver and Whistler

Hiking in and around Whistler was amazing.  Around every corner was another, incredible vista.  This is the view of Black Tusk from atop of Whistler mountain.

             Watercolor on 230g acid-free, artist grade 100% cotton paper, 16.4 x 5.9"
                                              (click to enlarge)

On drive to Whistler (along the scenic and beautiful Sea to Sky Highway) we stopped at Shannon Falls Park.  It is just a short hike from the parking lot to the falls themselves.  Despite the clouds threatening to unleash their rain, I painted this onsite. 

                                    Watercolor on 270 gsm paper 11 x 8.5

New Etchr Sketchbook

Returning from vacation I was delighted to see that my new etchr sketchbooks had arrived.  They are made by the same people who created the Perfect Sketchbook (PS).  These sketchbooks are meant to be a more affordable yet still incredibly high quality everyday answer to the PS.

Thus far, I have only did the one painting below (are my flowers becoming less sad?  Hope so) but the experience was excellent.  They handled multiple washes without an issue.  I will be taking these on my various travels and using them at home.

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