Pages from an Artist's Journal Part 3

I really seem to like drawing/painting flowers for some reason. Maybe because they can be so easily abstracted? And painted really quickly?

But anyways, here's a painting of a magnolia. They are one of my favorite flowers, and I actually didn't know they grew in Boston until recently. The pink trees that blossom with the full flowers every spring are magnolias! I thought they only grew in Georgia. I both love and hate how transient they are. Since spring is such a short season in Boston, the magnolia blossoms don't stay out for very long, like a month or two. Sometimes, they stay for an even shorter time if it rains and the petals fall off (read: much, much sadness for me).

Following are a few watercolor and ink sketches. I wanted to see how I could mix two of my favorite media together. The watercolor paint adds color to a black and white ink drawing, and I like how they look together. I do a watercolor wash first to get the color down, then I draw in pen and ink over it. It's like it combines loose color with tight drawings. And the dripping paint is my favorite part.

These flowers are almost fantastical aren't they?

Not my favorite painting of a bird, but I was just getting the hang of doing a wash first then a drawing over it.

These are watercolor paintings of cherry blossoms. This is the wash I did before drawing over it with pen and ink.

Detail of wash

Detail

Detail

I really like the first detail, the one focusing on the actual cherry blossoms. I might be doing more of these kinds of paintings, they're fun.

Also, be sure to vote on the poll on the sidebar! It's basically just asking what type of artwork you'd like to see more of.

Pages from an Artist's Journal Part 2

Watercolors are such a wonderful paint. I know I say this for just about everything I work with but it's true, watercolors are wonderful. They're quick and easy - many small sketches can be done with them - and they make painting anything so much fun. By abstracting the subject matter, I can play with how I move the brush over the paper or with how the paint moves on the paper.

I call this small sketch "A Trio of Lilies". I see these flowers mostly in people's yards. They're very pretty and very orange; they also stand out from their typical green background. I splattered a burnt sienna/ultramarine mixture to mirror the spots that are usually on lilies. I could probably stand to learn to control where the paint goes.

This is "Hibiscus". It's another watercolor sketch, and I used a reference photo (found here). This one was also fun to do. I was a little more patient with this one since I painted in layers; I waited for the paint to dry and then painted another layer on it. This might end up being a sketch for a final painting at some point.

Pages from an Artist's Journal

What better way to be inspired and be creative than to start an artist's journal? To be honest, I've been thinking of starting one for a very. Long. Time. I've bought a ton of sketchbooks and sketch pads just to start an artist's journal because I knew that once I did, I could actually see my creative process and practice some techniques. Usually, I'm averse to creating unfinished artwork or doing technical drawings. If I'm going to practice, I'm going to practice for a finished piece of artwork, not in sketchbook. I mean yes I do draw occasional sketches but it's usually with a finished piece in mind, rarely with the intention to just sketch and practice.

So now you can see my process as I experiment with different kinds of media, different kinds of techniques, and different kinds of subject matter. These are all done with something under it first, an underpainting of sorts. I hate looking at a blank, white piece of paper. I need some kind of ground to give me ideas. So for each one, I either painted over a sketch or painted a light wash first before doing something on the paper. Not all of these are going to be awesome (I'm actually not too fond of the first one) but they'll all help me see what works and what doesn't.

Scary isn't it? It's an orange lily that I did with acrylic paint. You can see the original sketch underneath; it was a portrait that I wasn't too fond of. So I painted over it.

My favorite one so far. I'm not exactly sure why, I just like working in charcoal maybe. But in case you were wondering I did accidentally-on-purpose single out the eye. The circle around the eye is the only one not painted on with water. This was done over another less-than-satisfactory sketch that I did in ink.

I was basically just experimenting with watercolor and pen. I wanted to see how I would do lettering with it. I concluded that the black outline wasn't the best. It would have looked cooler in my opinion had I just done it with watercolor. But I had fun painting it!

So expect more art journal postings later. Maybe I'll do a series or something so I can have a definite idea of what I'm going to do.