Iris in Progress

Well, I have not really done this but thought it might be nice for everyone to see something while in progress. I have been working on this piece for about a week, of course not daily just when I can. I have been daily doing pen and ink doodle sketches that I learned of from Stefan Baumann on Youtube. He is an oil painter but has some great instructional videos that could be applied to anything, at least I think. Anyway, I did a purple iris before many years ago, but I wanted to do something a bit different and this is going to be a purple and white iris that I found at Botanical Gardens here in Tucson. Be prepared to see more Iris things from me in the days to come because the irises should be in bloom soon and my family is planning a trip to the Botanical Gardens in April. There will probably be butterfly things as well being Butterfly Magic is still running. I am doing a little bit of a different thing with this piece then my usual painting and doing some layering which I do not often do a lot of in my work. I love painting wet on wet more which I did for the background. Hope you enjoy this work in progress and the final product which should be done in the next few weeks, I hope.

Agave Plein Air Sketch

So, I have been trying my hand at Urban sketching as I said a few days ago. I have all my set up right now, but still ironing out the kinks. I found sketching this at a Bus stop here in Tucson, AZ was both fun and exciting but difficult. I need to get used to all the natural and man-made obstacles involved in this process. However, I do love the loose feel of this sketch. And I really wanted to capture the idea that this Agave had some pink in the points which I do not often see. Hope you enjoy this new adventure I am on these days.

Mugsley and Teddy Ink and wash

I guess I cannot get back to watercolor sketching without getting into ink and wash. This is our precious dog, Mugsley. He is usually a lazy dog, but even in his sleepy mode he is a mover. This was a fun little sketch I did while my daughter eat some breakfast. I did the other one of her precious toy, Teddy which is actually a monkey, shortly later and she could not resist adding some fun of her own with her little sketch of Mugsley on the same page as Teddy.

Exploring Brick

I have decided to start a watercolor sketchbook. It is often too hard with a little one to find a good chunk of time to complete a painting or larger size, but as I have been following several Urban Sketchers online I have decided that it would be fun to explore this world and get my skills back to producing art. The artist bug has really bit me these days and I have been doing lots of fun spontaneous ink and wash sketches but also got my outdoor kit going to do a watercolor sketch. It has been a while since I have been serious with watercolor as most everything I have produced in the last several years has been 4X6 in watercolor while only producing larger works with acrylic. So, here is to getting back into the world of color and expression. I did this Exploring Brick as a watercolor while my little one played in the backyard. It was great fun and I finished it later inside remembering the light and the windy day. It is a watercolor size 7.5" by 11" it is the size I have decided to make my travel sketch watercolor pad. This pad was also my first attempt at binding myself which was great fun. I hope you all enjoy.