Currently Browsing: Sktchy App 62 articles
Remembering My Budgerigar and the Naming of Pets
When we lived in Australia I had a budgerigar—a.k.a. budgie, a.k.a. grass parakeet. They are native to Australia and fly in great flocks over the iron-rich red desert of the interior of the continent. I thought I loved birds until I saw these in their natural habitat and then everything clicked together for me—geology, geography, […]
A Sweet Dog to Wrap Up the Week
I think drawing a dog is always a good way to wrap up the week. Or the day. Even if you don’t have a dog at home (and I don’t any more) find a friend with an interesting dog, or go to the dog park, or, in a pinch, if you can’t get out, find […]
Portrait of a Black Dog
I paint a lot of black dogs. I lived with black and white dogs for 14 years. I have never liked using black paint in my watercolors and acrylics. The same is true of my color pencil work. So I always used mixed neutrals to make black. There are lots of advantages to mixing your […]
Have You Done Your Warm Up Sketches Today?
I hear from a lot of frustrated students. “My drawings don’t work.” “I messed up the page.” And permutations of those thoughts. The best remedy for this situation is always to make more sketches and “ruin” more pages! Things to try: Start you sketching session with quick sketches on loose paper. (Don’t throw them away. […]
In Context: Familiar Faces
We all have subjects we love to draw over and over. This repetition allows us to go deeper into our understanding of form. In my notes on the page I refer to Rick Niece’s face as comfort food. He can be found on Sktchy and Instagram. He puts his talent and time into providing interesting […]
In Context: Two Conversations with Richard
As with other “In Context” posts you’ll need to click on the image to read the two conversations. The first conversation, on the verso page is small. I’ll just explain a little more for context—in the 1980s I worked mostly in color pencil in photorealism. I started a sketch of Dick one day and, as […]
Okay, One More Reason to Sketch and Paint the Same Subject Multiple times
This additional reason to paint the same subject over and over multiple times is so simple, I forgot to mention it last week when I was writing about this. You mess up and pick up the wrong tool! Laughter ensues. That’s what happened in this session. I’m still unpacking supplies in the studio. I wanted […]
Do It Again
Anyone reading my blog knows how important I think practice is. Too often people make a drawing or painting, get halfway (or more) through, and give up. I hear from students who’ve done this. Typically they don’t draw after such a session for several days or more. The better action is to have another […]
The Case for Changing Drawing Tools?
Almost a month ago on my Instagram account I posted the brush pen sketch of the dog on the recto page of the spread in today’s post. I promised I’d have more to say about it the following week on my blog. Recently someone wrote to me and asked me about this. Oops. Life […]
Watercolor Layers in Portraits
I think it’s important when painting to think about the way colors interact. In watercolor we typically glaze one wet color over a dry color so that the dry color will continue to show through to the surface and impact what the eye sees. That’s what’s going on in today’s video. The trick is to […]