Working through Liz Steel's Sketching course, I am trying to do lots of sketches; this week she talked about using guide lines and I found that guide lines did help, particularly with the distance between the objects.  While she has encouraged us to go outside and sketch ... I suspect she has not done this during a Canadian winter! 

This was finally finished yesterday - I can't tell you how long I have been working on this little piece - but usually for only 2 hours a week at the Grasby Studio where I often go to paint.  It is a watercolour.

I splashed some colour on this to begin with - and then added some quick leaf outlines. 

Still working through the wonderful lessons in Dion Dior's Watercolour Pencil course.  I am pleased with my pears but still trying to figure out how to do leaves.  At a drawing studio this week I decided that I just need to paint leaves and not "draw" them - but that was after I finished this one.  ...on to the next lesson this weekend, I hope!

A quick sketch (with a Micron pen) of a Big Horn Sheep.

Another week and now it is the end of October.  Where does the time go - well I know it goes to a lot of yoga classes as I continue to attend all of my teacher training classes - despite the voices in my head that say I am too old.  I am in week 3 of Dion Dior's Watercolour Pencil class - this week I managed to draw/colour/paint this rose.

Another exercise from my drawing class.  We were asked to do portraits from photocopies that my instructor brought to class.  In addition we were asked to use oil pastels.  Now you have to know that I am not a fan of oil pastels so I decided to use water soluble crayons instead.  We were also using German Expressionism as a style reference - it was a challenge!

In my drawing class last week we were working with ink and sumi brushes.   The excellent instructor often brings in photocopies of things she has found on-line for us to use as reference/copy - this is a copy of one of those pictures.  I love drawing with ink and skewer but have little experience with the sumi brushes.

Another piece done while working through Dion Dior's Watercolour Pencil course - just an amazing course with a really great, talented, generous instructor.

I am in Dion's Watercolour Pencil course and this week worked on colour temperatures.  These are my cool and warm strawberries.

It has been a wild week in so many ways, not the least of which was the more than 15 centimetres of snow that fell and the number of broken tree branches I now have to deal with.  Thoughts of warmer climes inspired me to sketch this little fellow.

This is a very large watercolour painting that I have been working on for many months and finally finished today.  If you take a look somewhere below you will see that I also painted this in acrylics.  I think I am now done with this particular subject!

The week has been spent at a Sketchbook Course offered by the Alberta College of Art and Design.  Most of the time we have been outside sketching nature, people and buildings; it has been the hottest week of the summer as well which has led to a few sweaty pages!  With all the flowers and foliage in the park I managed to choose this half dead fir tree!  What does that say about me?

I am a follower of the Joggles weekly videos - I look forward to an early morning coffee on Wednesdays and watch Barbara's latest project.   This week's video was about making Artist Tiles and I just happened to have a package of the Strathmore Artist Tiles and of course some (OK - many) Twinkling H20s. 

Back to painting birds.  (watercolour)

I tried to draw Tommy Kane with ink and skewer - not good!  So then I decided to draw him in pencil on top of the ink drawing.  !!

Using a skewer and ink and then adding a bit of watercolour, I drew the first peony I have ever cut and put into a vase.  With all the ants I have left the vase on a table on my deck rather than invite more critters into the house!

Sketchbook Skool - second semester.  The homework was a piece of toast - well, a gluten free bagel (not nearly as good as  a "real" bagel) was what was on hand - toasted, a tad burnt and voila.  I used a Micron pen and two Twinkling H2O colours.

I live near the mountains and am definitely land locked so it is perhaps not unusual that I just adore the ocean and beach combing.  My table is now quite well stocked with shells that I was able to bring home from Tofino.  I was delighted with this find -  a shell with very large barnacles attached.  My cats are also enjoying inspecting and sniffing the shells and attempting to assist me with my drawing!

 

There were not an abundance of birds in Tofino.  The eagles were wonderful but impossible for me to photograph so I simply enjoyed watching them.  But there were lots of crows, often quite willing to pose.

A few days out on the beaches of Tofino and a lot of shells collected, wrapped up and brought home to draw.

An acrylic and ink piece - taken from a photo I took from my front balcony.  A quintessential Chinook cloud!

I adore the sound of robins in my garden.

I tried using Pan Pastels today.  I love the softness of them but find edges really difficult.  I also found it almost impossible to keep or add the white highlights so I resorted to a white Uniball pen.  Hmmm?

Today's poppy - for the Friday Sketch - splash and scribbled.    Perhaps more splashed than scribbled but also done with complementary colours only as requested in another class I took this week.  I used Twinkling H2Os Ruby Red, Iridescent Red, Pretty Peridot and Green Tea.

My beloved Zoe.
Mixed media, mostly acrylic.  She lived to be fourteen and half years old - rescued at six months, she lived a happy but often wary life.  An abused animal does not forget, no matter how much loved and cared for!  I miss her so much.

I was working from a photo I was given in a recent drawing class - I was supposed to do this in graphite but after trying twice and being unhappy with the result I decided to try it with my skewer and Sumi ink.

Three months work on this acrylic piece - with thanks to Teresa Grasby for her help and encouragement.

Cuppa

Loving Twinks II and using a pen and skewer to draw.