Lion around

I'd be lying if I said it was not hazy, hot, and humid at the National Zoo this past weekend.  But, still it was a a lovely day.    

A quick, almost gestural painting of the lion, just lying around.

                                 Watercolor 6.9 X 9.8  on 110 lbs paper (PS)

San Diego Zoo

Both San Diego and DC are my favorite zoos.   I love the opportunity to sketch the animals.  Having been in San Diego for work, I took some vacation days to go to the zoo.

This gorilla was so majestic and so. . .sad.   I was unable to sketch him live, but kept thinking about the photos of him that I took on my iPhone and envisioning this sketch.   Once, back at the hotel, I just had to get it out of my head and on to paper.

I had wished to put a little more detail in this sleeping Rhino, but his buddy had other ideas and rousted him in the butt.  Sometimes, it is the quick, gestural drawings that have the most character.

Fires Above

Something a little different, at least color wise.  I love how painting on top of the elegant writer gives the paintings a surreal feeling.  I knew I wanted to do mountains with a blazing sky, but beyond that it was all kind of improvised. It was more about the feeling than the composition (but that turned out good too). 

The sky is a mixture of quin rose, pyrrol red and hansa yellow medium.  I mixed the yellow and red on the paper to produce the fiery orange. 

                       Watercolor, Elegant writer 6.9x9.8 on 110 lbs paper (PS)

And here is the picture before I painted it, with the activated elegant writer ink.

Recurring Trees

It is 5:40 in the morning and I should be sleeping.  But I cannot.  So I might as well be productive.  I love the way the early morning sun lights up my favorite tree (you know the one) and have often contemplated drawing it with charcoal in the early morning hours.  Since I could not find my charcoal sticks, I did the next best thing and grabbed the elegant writer.  The bluish-pink washes captures the essence of the early morning light, giving the tree an ethereal, and almost haunting glow.

                             Elegant writer on 6.9 X 9.8 on 110 lbs paper (PS)

                                              (click to em biggen')

It's all happening at the Zool

T and I spent a full day at the National Zoo.  And aside from watching young Bao Bao eat honey off of a milk crate (see below), I did manage to complete a quick sketch or three.  Most of the animals moved around too much for me, but a few allowed for sketching.  Again, the elegant writer calligraphy pen is such a simple and versatile tool for drawing and making dynamic washes.

                               pen & ink (elegant writer) and water brush

Scotland Vacation - Edinburgh and the Highlands

After staying in Glasgow, we headed north to Edinburgh and the Highlands.

In Edinburgh, We had a fantastic view of Edinburgh Castle from our hotel room.  Drawing buildings is not my thing but I I could not pass up trying.  We toured the castle for day before taking a three day tour of the Highlands with Haggis Adventures.

                            Edinburgh Castle watercolor pen & ink 5.5X16

Our first stop at Dunkeld Cathedral was not as long as I thought (a theme that would repeat itself through our tour), which is a shame because this is probably the best drawing of a church I have ever done, even the perspective seems correct.  T took photos and I may one day complete the painting (though probably not; too many other photos references waiting to be painted).

                                     Dunkeld Cathedral watercolor pen & ink

Another quick stop and another quick sketch.  I cannot remember the name of the river but the meat pastries I ate there were awesome.

                                    River watercolor on paper 5.5X8.5


This is one of my favorites sketches from the trip.  I sat sketching the ruins of Old Inverlochy Castle with an elegant writer pen (while a swarm of midges made midge-meat out of my legs; sometimes we must suffer for our art).  I love the simplicity of this piece, from the washes the pen creates (the blue-gray and pinks) to the limit grass

                             The ruins of Old Inverlochy Castle elegant writer and watercolor


And finally, the Isle of Sky, looking across the Sound of Raasay toward Scotland.  I could have stayed here for hours.   I could have stayed at just about every stop on the Isle of Sky for hours.  There were gorgeous vistas, in every direction, as far as the eye could see.  And the sky changed rapidly, from a deep cerulean blue to somber clouds of grey.  But I knew we only had a short time so I could only manage a small painting.  The famous Kilt Rock was off to my left, but there were too many tour groups and photographers milling about to get a good view for a painting, so I chose the opposite vista instead.

                                   by Kilt Rock watercolor pen & ink on paper 3.5X11

Feeling Froggy

A bit of illustration and a bit of abstraction.  All froggy.

                            Pen & Ink and watercolor on 140lbs paper 9x12

Bridge over the Middle Brook

Another beautiful Sunday and another opportunity to paint.  I am enjoying the surreal effect and look of watercolor on top of "activated" ink from the elegant writer.

              "activated" elegant writer marker and watercolor on 140lbs block 9X12

Lake Creighton

This past Sunday was a beautiful day.  The perfect day for a hike and a painting.  For this piece I once again used the elegant writer pens for the initial sketch.  And unlike the eagle, I added watercolor over the top of the activated pen.  This marks a bit of a departure from my normal style (what ever that is) as this looks more surreal than anything else I have ever done (which is kinda cool).  There is a bit of "mud" where watercolor wash met still wet pen ink (I need to be more patient) but over all, I am quite pleased with this. 

           "activated" elegant writer marker and watercolor on 9X12 140lbs paper

Eagle Eye View

I saw this awesome instructional video by Karlyn Holman on the Cheap Joe's youtube channel on how to make incredible and unique washes using the Speedball Elegant Writer calligraphy pens.  I never would have thought to try this, but it is so cool.  I love how the ink creates blue-gray washes when the ink is activated with water.  And if you dab a particularly wet wash with a napkin, it lifts up pink!  How crazy is that?!? All of this great gradation of color from one pen. I initially intended to add watercolor to the sky but decided this picture did not need color.  To show how wild the washes are, I posted the black and white drawing is below.

                          "activated" elegant writer marker on 9X12 140lbs paper

                               The simple black and white of the drawing.