Panda Bear Drawing

Here's yesterday's sketch with a watercolor wash applied.

Happy Panda Bear

This is an easy line drawing done from a little figurine I have. Why not copy my sketch yourself? Just look at the simple shapes. If you are having trouble with this or other photos, draw a grid on the reference and a matching one on your drawing paper.

Cradle Basket Drawing With Watercolor Wash

Cradle Basket

This is a quick five minute sketch of an antique Native American Cradle Basket Toy.

Brown Pelican Drawing With Wash Applied

I have been disturbed by the oil covered Brown Pelicans and thousands of other animals shown in the media that have been impacted by the Gulf oil disaster.

Pelican Sketch

Another Hummingbird Sketch Comes To Life

Here's yesterday's pencil sketch with the wash applied.

Also for this week's sketching challenge, here's a photo of my thirty year old 1/2 TB Paint, Rembrandt (aka: Rudy). Here he is, all braided up and ready for a show. I know we've got some horse lovers out there! I hope some of you will try drawing my sweet boy.


"I have learned that what I have not drawn, I have never really seen." ~ Frederick Franck

Hot Hummingbirds

It's a scorcher today and the hummingbirds have been drinking up the nectar really fast! Seems like every time I look, there's another empty feeder. Here's a quick sketch of a little hummer resting in the shade of a Butterfly Bush.

What Does Iowa & NJ Have In Common?

Iowa and New Jersey share the same state bird! Yes, I was surprised to find out that both of these state's bird is the Eastern or American Goldfinch. They are such sweet little things. We have them here year round and pay a dear price for Thistle Seed! I really enjoy watching them in my Thistle patch. They look like they are having a ball when the seeds are ripe in late summer / early fall.

Wash Applied To Sunday's Gesture Sketch

Little Egret

Although some would say that adding a wash to a drawing is painting and not sketching, I would disagree. When I apply my washes, they are usually done in a very loose sketchy kind of a way. With these sketches on regular drawing paper, I'm less likely to tense up and more likely to stay looser than I would on quality watercolor paper.

Hummingbird Happiness and Lens Of The Day!

Hummer Hound, Nancy Hines, came out with her sister, Nora, this morning to see all the hummers. We spent a couple of hours together chatting and just watching the hummingbirds. We were in Hummer Heaven. Then later today, my Six Steps To Sensational Sketches (the one with the hummingbird tutorial) got "Lens Of The Day" on Squidoo! So since it's been a HummDinger of a day, I decided to add a wash to the two minute gesture sketch I posted here on Monday. See what a big difference a little wash can make!

Snowy Owl

This sketch of a Snowy Owl was done from more than a half a dozen reference images. When I draw or paint something like this, I make sure I am not copying the work of someone else. Even if I have permission from the image owner to use their photo, I always strive to create an interpretation that is my own.

Hummingbird Gesture Drawing

Here's another gesture sketch. These 2 min. quickies are getting easier for me to whip out. Like I always say; "The key to mastery is through repetition!" ~ Notice how I've left my preliminary underlying scribbles for you to see here, so you can better understand how I started out with this real fast drawing.

We've got flocks of hummingbirds here this year. See my recent web log post on rating hummingbird feeders here.

Little White Egret

A Two Minute Pineapple Gesture Sketch

I've been doing a lot of quick gesture drawings lately. I hope to convince you that drawing doesn't have to take a big chunk of time out of your day. If you were to practice quick gestures for five minutes everyday, I believe you'd see improvement in no time.

Quick Thistle Sketch 'En Plein Air'

I drew "En Plein Air" today. Yikes it was hot! I wanted to draw longer, but just couldn't take the heat. This drawing is of a couple of stalks of Thistle in a little patch I have growing near my studio.

Tip: It was done very quickly and almost entirely holding my pencil like a wand.

Another Quick Gesture Drawing

This drafting brush took me a minute and a half to draw. Remember, everything is sketchable!

Everything Has A Gesture

Here's a 20 second gesture sketch of something on my drawing table. (It took me one third of a minute to draw.) EVERYTHING has a gesture. It's the bare bones of the drawing. Can you tell what it is?

Chicken Drawing #2

Today a watercolor wash and a little calligraphy with my brush was added to last week's sketch.

Chicken Sketch

A watercolor wash, some black pencil shading and details were added to the sketch I did last week. I don't always follow the exact same method for my sketch, rather I let my muse be my guide. I try to stay loose and have fun, exploring the subject as I draw.

Drawing Exercise Challenge

If you are into a challenge, copy this upside-down drawing. Try to see shapes and do not think of it as a thing.

Warmup Scribbles

warm-up (also warmup) (noun)
a period or act of preparation for a game, performance, or exercise session, involving gentle exercise or practice.

I got a note today from Christine Braziel of Fresno CA . She writes;"I'm interested in every day drawing. I'm just trying to get up my nerve."

Why should one feel afraid to draw? Did someone say you were no good or is that what you told yourself? Self doubt and negative self talk are the enemies of drawing. It's just the left brain trying to take over. It hates when it's not in control.

Instead, why not just make some scribbles, Use your pencil like a wand and see what kind of strokes you can make. Use your whole arm and even your body. Here's mine. It was fun. Sometimes I do this before sketching to loosen up.

scribble (verb)
write or draw (something) carelessly or hurriedly

Which Came First?

The chicken or the egg?!?

Why Did The Chicken Cross The Road?

Why do the deer have to cross the road? Why do people have to drive so damn fast? Why don't people out here have deer whistles on their vehicles? We had a very sad situation here yesterday with a little yearling buck with two broken (almost severed) hind legs. How did he get all the way from the road into our backyard? Poor little guy. :-(

Finished Pig Sketch

I couldn't wait to get back to this little piggy sketch, so here is my interpretation of this week's sketching challenge. It looks like I'm the only one doing them anyway. I might as well discontinue them if nobody is interested.

Cool Mud Bath

Man, it is H * O * T outside! One thing this weather is good for is sketching inside. This little piggy image caught my attention sitting there on my computer screen this hot afternoon and I just started drawing it. I drew it upside-down and it really was a cinch. When I had the overall shapes down, which was accomplished holding my pencil like a wand, I turned the drawing and the photo right side-up and added a few details holding my pencil as I would to write. This really is a super easy one to draw. Why not give it a try? Strengthen your skills with a simple step by step tutorial on this pencil and wash technique here.

Window Box Challenge Drawing

I painted half of this upside-down and the other half right-side-up. Boy, a five minute sketch sure turned into an hour or so challenge. I just kept hearing watercolor mentor and airplane pilot, Tony Couch's voice saying; "When the going gets rough, just bare down and drive on!" This color rendition is definitely more of a drawing than a sketch!

Upside-Down Drawing Exercise

In Betty Edwards' book, "Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain", the next exercise she has students do is draw a few pictures upside-down. This frees up the Right Brain to do its' thing without a whole lot of interference from the Left Brain. According to Betty, "The right brain perceives and processes visual information, in the way one needs to see in order to draw, and the left brain perceives in ways that seem to interfere with drawing. An individual's ability to draw is... the ability to shift to a different-from-ordinary way of processing visual information - to shift from verbal, analytic processing to spatial, global processing."

I did this quick sketch of last week's drawing challenge in less than five minutes, copying it from the photo upside-down. It probably would have taken me longer had I approached it right-side-up. This approach made it easier than ever to see the shapes and forget about what it actually was that I was drawing.

Tip Of The Day: There's no need to print these photos out. Just draw them from your computer screen. I rotated the image 180 degrees for this exercise with my image editing software.

Here also is this week's challenge photo. I hope a few of you will give it a try!



Have a great 4th Of July holiday. Thanks for reading, drawing and for your feedback!

Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain

I just got my new and revised, expanded and updated copy of Betty Edwards' wonderful classic, "Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain". Betty says learning to draw is like learning to drive or ride a bike. Once it's learned, we don't have to think about it. I decided to go through the book and do the whole class again. (It has been a while.) The first steps are:

1. Draw a self portrait.



2. Draw a person from memory.



3. Draw your own hand.

Here are my attempts. I did all three in under an hour. I imagine we'll be drawing the same subjects again at the end of the course, with lots of improvement, no doubt! The person from memory is Zack Arias, a photographer who I've been watching on video in an online lighting workshop from Creative Techs. Zack Arias' three day seminar and all the Creative Techs courses are out of this world!

Draw A Simple Sunflower

Today's drawing is a really simple sketch of a sunflower. Why not give it a try? The structure is a couple of ovals for the flower and a line for the stem. I've indicated the outside shape of the flower, but notice I don't draw every petal. The leaves are free form shapes and in the top versions I've tried to remember the Momma, Poppa, Baby Formula.

Blue Heron Sketches

More two minute gesture sketches! Today here are drawings of a miniature blue heron wood carving. I added some color with loose strokes to give them some character.