Line drawings

To motivate myself to g back in learning mode, I bought Veronica Lawlor book One drawing a day. I did not go past day 6 yet because I keep doing the same exercise multiple times. I especially liked playing with ink and nib pens.

Lamp etc.

Last Friday we had a lot of rain, heavy winds and an almost-tornado, so I decided to stay home and scribble on my primed Bristol pages. I drew the lamp by the side of the living room sofa and its shadow on the wall, but the resulting drawing was boring. I played with washes of watercolor and animals ... I could not help it.

Next "victims" - the pillows on the sofa ...

I had the intention of drawing the sectional as well, but the perspective got in the way. I still have not found a way to translate the lines and angles correctly. I get the idea of course, but there seems to be an insurmountable distance between the eye and the hand when it comes to lines and angles...

Hands up!

Practice using stones, twigs and bamboo stick with both hands.

Plein air sketch

 I want to get a regular sketching schedule on track. I went for a walk the other day and decided to try my hand at a building sketch. I took a picture of the church from the spot where I sat:

 I drew small parts of it with pen on Bristol paper. Not a good paper for watercolors of course, but the pads were on sale ... now I am stuck using them. The moratorium is still in place - no more papers until I finish what I have. And no more paints until my skills improve. Hmmm ... this one risks being in effect for ever.
This is the sketch I made on location:

These are variations I drew at home. In the first one I used only pen and contour drawing. For the second one, I primed first the paper with matte medium and I used only brush.

I like the ghostly feeling in the last one - and the way the colors floated on top of the matte medium. The building looks more like a watermill - wrong proportions.

Sun rising

I did not like whatever I drew first on this spread, so I decided to cover it up. Collage, paint, monoprinting, ink. the result makes me think about the sun rising above a lake ...

Ink blots

A while back I bought Margaret Peot's book "Make your mark". One of the marks she uses a lot is the inkblot. Forgot how much fun they are. Here are some:

They are in fact a combination of ink blots and monoprinting. In the colored one, I set out to outline everything I saw. I like the black-and-white ones more. Lots of fun ... except for the part where I spilled the whole bottle of black acrylic ink on the floor and the painting table...

Spring garden

Acrylic on Aquarius II paper

Another painting on synthetic paper using the same approach - spilling paint, going on a scavenger hunt for shapes, followed by what seemed to be hundreds layers of glazes.

Abstract landscape

Acrylic on Aquarius II paper 

I wanted to try this synthetic paper. It is very light and it folds nicely, but I had some difficulty applying the pigment. I expected the drying time to be much longer because it is synthetic paper, but the paint disappeared" almost immediately. On the positive side, this paper takes a lot of beating. In the end it did curve though and I did not stretch it back. This is why the image is a bit off at the bottom. I have another big sheet that I might use for watercolor sketching...