EDM Challenge Sweet

I have long been fascinated by people such as cartoonists who can draw things just by imagining them. I seem to need the real thing in front of me in order to get its shape and perspective right. But I wanted to try this way with the Sweet challenge. Heaven knows I've drunk enough cups of tea and baken and eaten enough cookies to be able to think it through to the paper. But again without having the actual cup to look at the perspective seems a little off - or perhaps just uneven as if the cup and the cookies have a slightly different perspective. But I'm pleased with the Jam Thumbprint cookies.

EDM Challenge 94 Spoon

This is my second attempt at spoon. The first one was a bit disappointing in terms of color - none of the grays that I created were very gray. For this one I used indigo watercolor paint and it is truer to the color it should be. Again, this was fun and I enjoyed doing it.

Baby Giraffe

This is the baby giraffe that was recently born at the Calgary Zoo. I painted this from a photograph published in the Calgary Herald the day after his birth.

EDM Challenge Spoon

This was a difficult challenge for me. I have never attempted to paint anything metallic or with reflective surfaces. I've never been sure even how to approach it. But I decided to try it and also to try creating my own grays. I used two - one of blue and orange, and one of green and red mixed on the pallet rather than the paper. They were not very successful, they seemed more brown than gray. I need to play around more with ratios of one color to another. And also practice more with reflective surfaces. It forces you to really look at the shapes and colors on the surface. I guess that's why they call it a "challenge". But mostly I'm pleased with the smooth roundness that I was able to achieve. The shape of the spoon is quite accurate, my drawing is not always so good. But practising nearly every day has improved my skills a lot.

Clear - Illustration Friday

This is a small watercolor that I did for the Illustration Friday word "Clear". I tried to glaze the water so that there were deep shadows along the sides with a patch of clear water near the middle throught which the fish could be seen. However, the underpaint smeared and ran when I put the second coat of cobalt blue on top. There are some things that I like about this painting and I think I will try again. Practice until I solve mystery of glazing or applying several layers of paint. I love the graceful shapes of the fish and the color of the water lily pads.

EDM Challenge Buttons

This was lots of fun. I usually don't paint very small things, but this forced me to look at the buttons very carefully and note the tiny details. I used paints to start with and added the final touches with water color pencils.

Mango

I did this in the sketch book. The mango had been ripening on the counter and its colors were exquisite. It inspired me to get out the paints and do this quickly and just let the colors blend. I think it turned out quite well. The colors retained their freshness and vitality.

EDM Challenge Clouds

Here is a watercolor I did of Clouds. I used watercolor paper rather than the sketch book so I could paint quite wet. This was the first time I actually attempted to paint clouds and it was a lot of fun. The best part of using watercolors is how the paint and the water react to each other in ways that can be unpredictable. To use watercolors is to give up a bit of control over how the painting evolves.

EDM Paper Bag

Here is the challenge for Paper Bag. This is a bag that contained my lunch at the last computer conference I was at in Chicago. It was way too pretty to throw away. Now I'm really glad I kept it because it was perfect for this word. I did this with water color pencils.

EDM Apple Challenge

Here is the EDM Apple Challenge The top apple was done with watercolor pencils on dry paper with water added after all the color was on. The other two are done with watercolor paints wet-in-wet. The paints were easier as the colors blended better and the highlights are more realistic.

Smitten

I began to illustrate this poem to commemorate the coming of fall while I was trying to come up with an idea for smitten. But the expression on the boy scarecrow's face ended up looking kind of gobsmacked and goofy as if he was astonished that the girl would be waving at him. Who really knows what goes on in the cornfield?

Sketches from the journal

Here's a sketch from my journal for the Illo Friday word: Quiet. It was my secret wish to work in a quiet library which I currently do not. Prophetically, the next day we received notice that we would now enforce the quiet policy of the library with the backing of administration, security, the various associations, and the weight of the Student Code of Conduct.

My first painting

Here is the first painting that I scanned and uploaded to the blog.