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.