A Pink Elephant

I decided to do a little painting of an elephant of a different color to finish up our last sketching challenge. I drew over, corrected and refined one of my gesture sketches with tracing paper. When I was satisfied with it, I transferred it to my Arches 140lb. cold press watercolor paper and finished it off with some color.

Resting Hummingbird

License this image here.

I've been doing some little watercolors from my hummingbird sketches. When I do the pencil sketch, I  normally use a soft (3B or 4B) pencil and a light touch on Strathmore 300 Series Drawing paper in a spiral bound pad. Tip: Remember to squint! It is an extremely valuable aid in drawing and painting.  It allows you to see shapes and values more easily without getting too caught up in the details.

I trace my drawing onto 140 lb. Arches watercolor paper using my light box. If you don't have one, just tape your sketch to a window and trace with a light line. When transferring the image to the cotton paper, I normally use a broken line and a hard (2H or 3H) pencil with a light touch. Don't press too hard or you'll score the paper.

I also repainted that hummingbird in flight for the third time and posted it on my web log today. There are still a few things that I'm not satisfied with, but I feel this last one is good enough so that I can move on now.  

"With ordinary talent and extraordinary perseverance, all things are attainable."  ~ Thomas Foxwell Buxton

Anatomy Of A Portrait

Here is the sketch I did for this portrait. The first drawing shows the first two steps of my technique and the middle image shows the sketch with the watercolor wash added. This is my forth painting for the "Art For Shelter Animals" project. I decided to do an additional three watercolors, as the oils I did are still not dry. This beautiful girl, ID#D-26033, is named Sasha. The Burlington County Animal Shelter's website says; "What a pretty white German Shepherd Sasha is! She is good with kids, but a bit shy with strangers at the shelter. Her former owner said she is very loyal and is used to being around women and would probably need time to adjust to a home with men. Sasha is very intelligent and likes to play with squeak toys. Can you give this young girl a loving forever home?" See more about this project here on my web log.

Juliet, The Cavalier King Charles Spaniel Portrait

I meet up with a long lost classmate from high school, Maria Czaplicki, on Facebook a month or so ago. What a wonderful age we live in! Blogging and social networking opens up our world to so many friends and experiences! Maria just got a new addition to her family, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel puppy. What a neat breed! From Wikipedia: "The breed is highly affectionate, and some have called the Cavalier King Charles Spaniel "the ultimate lap dog" or the "love sponge" of dogs. Most dogs of the breed are playful, extremely patient and eager to please. This breed is one of the friendliest of the toy group. Some Cavaliers have been known to exhibit traits in common with cats, such as perching in high places (the tops of couches, the highest pillow, etc), cleaning their own paws and can also show some birding qualities. It is recommended that care should be taken when walking a Cavalier off-leash, as they can single-mindedly chase a butterfly or rabbit onto a busy road or other dangerous situation without regard for their own safety if not properly trained." This inspired the above sketch done from her posted photo which I quickly sent off to Maria.

She loved the sketch! I followed it up with this painting. She picked it up last night at a local art show where I was demonstrating my sketching technique. Maria was going to give it to her daughter, but was talking about hanging it over her computer desk when she left! I don't think she is wanting to part with it! I'd be more than happy to do another painting of this precious angel of a dog for her daughter though! : -D

Art Instruction Blog

Last week I was contacted by Ralph Serpe; artist, writer, musician and webmaster, about having my "Sensational Sketches In Six Simple Steps" featured on his blog. He writes; "I own and maintain a very popular blog on Art Instruction. My site receives over 20,000 unique visitors each month, and I have a subscriber base of nearly 9,000 artists, all hungry for fresh new content." I checked it out and saw it was of very high caliber. Of course I said YES!

Please visit: www.artinstructionblog.com and check it out!

Comments about my demo on artinstructionblog.com:

"Sandy's six steps are truly simple to follow, and inspirational to beginners like me." ~Nzo-Nguty Etahoben

"Great article, I'm printing it out and stuffing it into my sketchbook." ~ Cindy Davis

"Thanks for the tutorial. It is great and clear. I was looking for something like this for a long time." ~ Aramond

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I did this sketch today from the wildflower bouquet Jerry got for me on Sunday. The stand was closed, but when Jerry told the lady, Mrs. Knight, who I was, she remembered me from a hummingbird presentation I did at her garden club. When he told her I was painting them, she marched out into the garden and cut these for me. I wanted to sketch them again to go with my special announcement today. Like summer, I guess I don't want to let go of my "SketchingEveryday" just yet.