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In Context: Mixed Media Chickens
Sometimes it’s late and you want to get one more sketch in. I find this especially true when I’m trying to take a looser approach. Past bedtime—too tired to be fussy about details and accuracy—it’s a great time for one more sketch. But if something isn’t keeping you up I suggest you get to bed […]
Mixed Media Portrait on Toned Paper
If you’re going to play around with mixed media I encourage you to seek out toned papers. The strokes and values you achieve on the toned background make a fun departure from white paper. This sketch of an Earth’s World Fairgoer (who was wearing black lipstick) is in a hand bound journal I made with […]
A TV Tip: Still Standing
Some television travel shows focus on scenery and local cheeses and such. “Still Standing” shows you the residents of Canadian towns through the eyes of comedian and actor Johnny Harris. I can’t recommend this show enough. Each half-hour show is packed with interesting people and a view of life in their town. The premise is […]
A TV Tip: Remaking Things
If you enjoy watching people tinkering to transform things from one state to another, and then also talk about the fixing and making you might have fun watching “Saved and Remade.” It’s a British show and at the time I am posting it’s on Amazon Prime. People bring in old items that are busted or […]
Limited Palette Portrait
This weekend think about limiting your color choices so that you can maximize your color mixes. Here’s a portrait with the colors I used listed. Four pigments resulting in a lot of different mixes. When you mix with a limited palette your color mixes have a relationship to each mix that is also on your […]
Warm-up Sketches and Studies
I don’t think people spend enough time doing warm-ups and studies. I think part of the hold up is that people listen to their internal critics and buy into the “it’s got to be perfect” baloney. But part of the hesitation in doing more studies and warm-up sketches grows also out of a worry over […]
In Context: A Portrait and Some Beans…and Some Paint
You can click on the image to see an enlargement. This is an “In Context” peak into my journal. (Hand-bound journal with the now defunct Winsor & Newton Watercolor paper which had gelatin sizing. I do not recommend the current paper sold under this name.) Fill some journal pages this weekend!
Simple Things to Sketch
There are a lot of simple things around your home to sketch. What you choose will reflect on what you’re interested in. Shapes, colors, values, negative space. Subjects around us keep us practicing for other subjects we’ve yet to meet. Enjoy exploring your home for simple subjects which yield greater understanding of all those skills […]
Mixed Media View of the Backyard: Expanding Your Visual Vocabulary
It’s always a great idea to take a moment and look out the window. Our neighbors at the back of our yard have a lush growth of ferns at this time of the year. I turned the page in my journal and sketched on this pre-painted background—the verso page background was in the same vein […]
Television: The Big Bang Theory
For various reasons I’ve been rewatching shows I watched when they first ran. These days with all the streaming possibilities it’s hard some days to remember what TV used to be like, with the three networks and seasons, and summer re-runs and everyone in the office watching the same top shows. Then of course we […]