Man at Bar
In a departure from my usual practice, the sketch below was done from a photograph. This allowed me more time to work on the likeness. I used water soluble pencils for shading.
Tag Archives: watercolor wash
Two Spaces
I was struck by the difference between waiting room space and the promise of a capacious inner office, in the waiting area. The sanctum was partially visible through an open half-window, only revealing hints of what lie behind the door. If I were a child, I would have been terrified. From a lower vantage point, […]
Man at the Counter
I didn’t have enough time to complete this sketch on site. I worked on it at home, using the image of the man’s stance in my mind’s eye, taking liberties when my memory failed.
View of Break Room
I used water soluble pencils for today’s sketch. Instead of smudging the pencil marks, I brushed water onto the paper to get different shades of gray. Like the sketch in the post from the other day, I obtained a range of tonal values. The filing cabinet (in the lower right portion of the frame) is […]
Splat Patterns
The fan brush came in handy today. Loaded with paint, it makes a nice splat when jammed onto the page. Splashes are common with this technique. The plan was to glaze the surface with yellow pigment, so to make sure my ocher splats were preserved, I outlined them with my dip pen using sepia ink. […]
Grayscale Tunnel
In today’s experiment, I duplicated yesterday’s pen and ink drawing of one of the many walk-through tunnels in New York City’s Central Park. Today, I used no pen and ink at all. I just used water soluble pencils to sketch the scene. I completed the piece by adding water with a small brush. The Derwent […]
Ladybird Out of Bounds
Yesterday I drew a topographic map of the tonal values shown in my photograph of a ladybug (aka ladybird). I wanted to accurately portray the patterns reflected on its back. This paint-by-the-numbers technique didn’t work for me. Today’s watercolor experiment: Process: Today I did not paint by the numbers. Pencil never touched my paper. I started with […]
Trying Hard to be Simple
We have a lot of flowers around since the kids left. There’s this pink one that is Joy’s favorite. I thought I’d take a stab at representing it in watercolors. Today’s experiment I sketched this flower from life, as it was right outside, but I referred to the photograph in order to get the correct […]
Arthur On His Own
Arthur, my pet avocado tree has been having a hard time. I planted him the other day, but he almost immediately began wilting and turning brownish. So I pulled him out (carefully) and put him back in the Mason jar. Of course I had to use new tooth picks, so he wouldn’t fall in. The […]
