3 Way Orchid

Brush painted yin/yang lines

Amy got her Cattleya orchid to bloom and sent me a picture. I drew the orchid for my Chinese Brush Painting class and inked it as we were instructed.

Then I did the watercolor wash, and I am all set for the next class when we learn how to do the botanical linework.

This class is doing the gong bi style, which is very detailed and precise.

Water color wash added.  This is still a work in progress till the next class.

Colored pencil orchid

But my pencils called out and I drew a 2nd orchid, this time with my colored pencils. It will be fun to see which I like the best in the end. 

Sketching at the Senior Center

We spent a day doing eyes.

Our brush painting instructor was going to have her class cancelled at the Senior center, so she asked if anyone would like to join.

 Of course I couldn't say no ... so I have been going to the Senior Center for the last few Wednesdays drawing animals.

She taught the basics of shading

We started with the basics of drawing, spent a day on eyes,  then all drew a rabbit from a photo she provided. 

Next we brought in sketches of our own animals and then learned to translate that into a watercolor.

We sketched an animal of our choice - I did Snicks

She had us all do a rabbit together

Snicks is NOT this fat .... yet ....

It was quite different doing watercolor with a Chinese Brush Painting brush -- but I am delighted with the results. 

Get the Popcorn

My animation instructor says she will help me "fix" and "finetune" this video. I was absolutely thrilled with it just the way it is!  Guess I am easily amused.

Colored pencil on black

Anubis - a look back

I am really liking the looks of this.

I promised David I would send it to him.

Hope he likes it as much as I do!

Tut tut

My first sketch went off the page

Here's the dog

Tut would have a fit ... our colored pencil class went to the King Tut exhibit and sketched and took photos, we are going to transfer our impressions to black paper. Well, OF COURSE I chose a black dog!


Paula, a most delightful lady,  kept commenting on the shape of his tail, and I walked to the back end to see what her fascination might be. Seemed as good a subject as any ... here is my start.

I plan to use this as an idea for my background

My overall plan

Life is just a work in progress ...

Planning the background

Working on the foreground

French Gray? More leaves

leave with shading

I did another leaf this morning and really enjoyed blending colors to try to match nature's wild abandon. If you saw the piles of leaves in my driveway, each one unique and begging to be drawn, you would understand my awe.

My leaf, however, lacked the depth of the "real thing." So I tried covering it with French Gray, ... whatever that is, not a warm and not a cool, and that didn't do it. Next I added some warm gray ... better, but not right yet.

shaded leaf plus grays, red and green sandwich

Finally I went over the whole leaf with 2 shades of red and a green in between. That complementary sandwich seemed to tone it down for my eye, although my camera still sees differences. I am really enjoying this assignment and have lots of leaves flattening out in a book for later.

Did a LOT of searching on the internet, and apparently French Gray has purple undertones. I am comparing it to the BV 23 grayish lavender copic marker that was one of my first three copics, and has always been a favorite of mine.

Hmmm. wonder what would happen if I tried to color the same leaf using copics. 

Colored pencils - leaf

We were supposed to capture the colors of a fall leaf accurately, but I got carried away with my pencils.

 I guess my colored pencil leaf doesn't look at all like the real one, but I was still very pleased with the result.

Animation Class ... My first movie

Wow ... I can make movies now! Watch out Disney and pixar!

Chinese Brush Painting by a real CAT

 I was practicing my orchids for Chinese Brush Painting class when Fry decided I needed some help.

He added a footprint to this one

Adding a footprint signature

Fry appreciates my chinese brush painting

( By the way, the sample at the top was done by my instructor, not me. )