Skull Art for Day of the Dead

plain sugar skull, front and back

Instead of all of the art celebrating Halloween, I thought I would try some art in celebration of Day of the Dead. Spanglish Arte had a workshop for decorating sugar skulls, and Day of the Dead face painting.  I figured I would let my younger daughter do the face painting while my older daughter and I did the skulls. "Painting" with frosting was a unique experience, but the sugar skulls are completely edible! (sugar, meringue, and water) My mask turned out a little like a mexican wrestler mask.

My daughter's sugar skull

My sugar skull

My other daughter face painting

As long as I was in skull theme, I figured I would practice some pencil drawing as well.  It is challenging to smudge purposefully and not smudge in places not intended as in some of  my other pencil sketches. I tend to smudge the bottom left side due to my left-handedness.

Watercolor of a starry night

Now that we are finally getting some fall weather here in Sacramento, I was reminiscing about a painting that I thought of doing while camping this summer. One of those scenes that I only wish I could capture with a camera: a starry night under the trees!
And then after attending the Rancho Cordova City Hall art show themed "UP", I could not resist putting this idea onto paper! The perspective definitely makes you think of looking "up".
I have been wanting to try mixing salt with watercolors for a while and I thought it might create a "starry" sky. Not quite as dark and contrasting as I had hoped for, but definitely interesting texture. Once I was all done, it reminded me of one of the paintings from the Subaru commercial with the plein air painter! Ha ha!

Sailboat on Lake Natoma

What better way to spend a Saturday morning than sitting out by the smooth glassy water of Lake Natoma painting?  We'll let me tell you:  sleeping in and then enjoying a nice cup of coffee with my wife! So I got to the aquatic center on Lake Natoma around 10:30, just in time to see about 30 kids heading down to the dock. The water was smooth, but not for long. I decided to toss out the idea of plein air painting and take a picture before the kid started rowing.  Then I went home and painted in my studio from the picture.

Watercolor painting and sketching from a model

It's been a couple of weeks since I have painted and it's always easier to get inspired (or peer pressured) if there is a group of artists working, so I went to Patris' Studio to paint from a model. The last time I was there, practicing portraits, I felt the painting was a little flat or dull, so I decided to liven this portrait up by focusing just on the face and incorporating some brighter colors.

Then I  moved to the other side of the room and did a full body sketch with pencil. I'm old-fashion and just use a #2 pencil. I also have a tendency to make smudge-marks.  I still need to work on hands, one of those things that always seem to look a little awkward.  If I had more time, I might have created this in watercolor. I will put it on my "art" to-do list...

Potential, the oak within the acorn, revisited and renamed

before...

Back in March, I had done a quick colored pencil sketch in my sketch pad. I called it " The Oak Within the Acorn".  As I was going back through my drawings this week, I thought "what a waste to have it sitting in a sketch pad on a shelf." I decided it needed to be "grounded", so I finished up the acorn by giving it a shadow and some grass to root itself in.  I have renamed the piece "Potential", and figured that if this art was going to fulfill its potential, I should frame it and donate it to Clarity Academy of Spiritual Arts, the place that inspired the drawing in the first place. I hope it will be enjoyed much more being displayed on a wall than sitting inside a sketchbook!

Completed and framed - Potential