Ending the old year

 Watercolor for my friend who recently was married.

 A trial in acrylics, I was bored and wanted to experiment.

 Master copy that I started.

 Leaf pencil with color on top

 Pastels with water added, it was a fun experiment. I hated pastels before this but now I know how to use them and it makes for a nice look.

Another master copy, one of Leonardo's

Portrait and pet

Top here is my middle boy who posed for us for art class this week. I am very proud of him for sitting so still for me, and I loved how I was able to capture his look in such a simple sketch.

Below here is Suko, her owners had to put her down recently because of cancer and she was no longer eating or drinking. I had the chance to meet this sweet cat before she passed and wanted to give her family a little gift to remember her by. 

A little sample of nightly works

I am loving watercolors lately. I am still learning how to work them and coloring with blues and oranges instead of grays. Top here is a picture of a rabbit I had when I was younger. Her name was Velvet and she had her own little personality, and I loved her.

 Art class time. This plant was sitting on the table so we drew then painted it. It is one of my favorites but it is for sale.

 A work in progress, love the colors I will be painting in this one.

Art class perspective of a pepper tree. Going to keep working on this one when I get the chance.
I have realized recently that I haven't developed a style still for my works. Photography I definitely have my own style but in painting and drawing I am missing something. It is eating away at me. I am trapped. I am not sure what to do next. Some serious soul searching must be done before I can become a professional artist.

Etsy shop

I opened up an Etsy shop, figured if my tiger drawing is so popular here that everyone was taking it I might as well sell good prints of it and get my moneys worth so I can afford to keep doing art. Head on over and see!
https://www.etsy.com/shop/PaintPencilandPhotos?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Flying

Getting used to watercolors. I am loving how this bird turned out.

Finished shell.

Added stipple and some background lines to this. I wanted it to be a little more whimsical and this is the result.

Fun Friday

 Another week for art class and today was eyes, next week will be faces, then bodies. She was hesitant at first to draw eyes but these pictures say that she was ready for them!

 This was her eye she copied onto black poster board with colored pencils.

 Here is mine, it was fun doing this exercise again.

 Remember this one from several months  ago? I finally finished it using a variety of things, charcoals, pastels and watercolors on top of the pencil. It turned out better than I had imagined and I am loving the symbols of it. What does it say to you? I won't tell you what it was drawn for until at least one person guesses.

Lastly another shell in watercolor. I will work on this one a little more with some colored inks on top of it just for fun. Experimenting with mixed media is always a little scary but the results are fun

This week in The Art Class

 Last night I couldn't sleep so I kept ruminating ideas for art class for the little kids and what would keep them interested. I came up with a desert scene collage. Top one here is my little Bruce's creation. And yes I know cactus don't grow in Egypt.

 This is Jack's. He came up with the pyramid idea on his own and put a mummy in there so naturally his brothers copied him.

 This is an assortment of flowers by Ri who I watched today, she's 3 and super cute!

 This is my youngest's creation, he's also 3 so this was more fun for him just trying to do like his brother's art, looking good.

 This was mine to show them how to start it all, the clouds are added courteously of Tommy.

 Here was my best student so far of the day. She's 15 and is progressing amazingly fast. This is the classic crumpled paper project just to get line and texture down with shadows.

 This one is from my angle and my drawing, it is fun going back to basics again.

 And we have a random apple with stripes. after this it was devoured by my 3 year old.

 Back to my star student, she kept adding more shading on it to bring out the crumples in the paper.

 Her's on top, mine on bottom.

Art class is in session

 Started teaching art classes from my home and here are some of my sketches from today's lesson. The student is already ahead as far as contour lines go so we skipped to shadow and light to create depth. I didn't get a picture of her's which I regret but I did have fun using charcoal and sepia pencils again.

 My middle boy decided that this looked fun so he had fun using the charcoal bits made his own pictures. Feels good to teach someone who is learning as well as M is, next week I will take a few of her's a post them later.

Sunday Scribble to Painting

Entered into a contest for Michaels Arts and Crafts just for fun. This was my Sunday Scribble that I made into a painting. I did it in one night and left in all the mistakes on purpose. I am trying to do something new and realize now that mistakes are part of learning. I know what to do differently next time and will not repeat it. But overall this one turned out just fine.

Eucalyptus

Eucalyptus trees lining a walking path. These trees can be very vibrant on their own but the unique shadows they create are some of my favorites.

Here is the same path but in color. Such a warmth to it. 

See the lovely colors they have on their trunks? As a child I didn't even notice these trees as anything more than a giant playground, the used to line our backyard. After my parents cut them down I realized how much I appreciated them. To this day the smell of Eucalyptus makes me happy.

Dooley is finished

Finished

Dooley's Portrait

 My cousin recently had to put her dog down and her sister asked me to do a drawing of him for her as a gift to remember him by. So here is a little of my process of getting it done. First I traced his picture onto bristol board and then chose my colors that fitted him best in the photo above.

 Next I blocked in the main colors lightly then started on the rendering of his nose.

 Eyes I find are the most important to pieces like this. If you can get the eyes right then it will show in the finished piece. So I worked on his eyes and darkening his features. I work typically from my favorite points on out so if his face wasn't working out the way I desired then I could start over easily.

Last is my current work. I used rubbing alcohol for the blue to make it seem more like a glow behind him. Still layering the browns and reds and will finish that tonight and last of all will be the whiskers and off he goes to my cousin. It is turning out better then I had imagined and I have prayer to thank for that.

Sunday Scribbles

During the first hour at church my kids normally like to draw but occasionally they are busy doing something else and I get time to sketch a few things, yesterday was one of those days. I branched out a little on this drawing with how I normally design things but this one turned out pretty awesome. Sometimes freestyle doodles can look pretty amazing, no thinking, just drawing!

17 years in the making

 I started this idea back when I was 17, that was 17 years ago. So hard to believe that I never could finish this but I managed to redraw it and finish it once and for all. There is a story behind this but I am not going to tell you, it is all up to you to decide for yourself what it all means. I purposefully left in the elements that were not perfect just to show myself that even imperfect parts in art can still make a strong piece. I have hid this one for myself until recently. I am already working on a sister drawing for this one that will face the other way to compliment it. Now to get back to commissioned drawings.