Plein Air painting at I -Fest in Rancho Cordova

Here is a step-by-step look at me painting plein air at the Rancho Cordova I-Fest, a display of the city's international diversity. The Sacramento Plein Air group was invited to document the event.

I started with a rough outline with an Expo dry erase pen,
and then washed in sky and began working on the background.

Working my way down, adding in more background.

Filling in the foreground.

Add in shadows.

A few minor details... and voila!

This was a very challenging project because I have always avoided drawing people, and here was a huge crowd! Also thought I'd throw a dog in there just for sport! Here is my "almost complete" artwork displayed next to David Peterson's work.

Artist at work.

I forgot to give my wife credit for the photos.  I was too busy to even notice that she was taking them, but it worked out well for showing the steps. Thank you Joann!

Model painting January

Back to Patris Art Studio for more figure drawing opportunities!  I'm not much of a plein aire fan when its cold  or the weather is unpredictable so I've been working indoors. There was quite a crowd there, so I know I'm not the only one that feels that way! Plus I can't pass up  the chance to have a free model every second Saturday.  I find the challenge more in the clothing than the figure.  This particular time, the model is wearing a fur jacket and hat (faux fur, I hope). The sheen on the jacket is difficult to capture as well as the texture of the collar. I like the way I was able to capture the "letter" and the bench she was on through negative painting.

dry erase pen  vs. vis-a-vis pen

 
The second drawing was a detail of the face of the same pose (since it was a long pose). I tried the Expo pen again to continue experimenting with it.  I did a little test in the bottom right corner to check how much it would bleed when wet: first with the Expo dry erase pen and then with a Vis-a-vis pen (also by Expo by the way). The dry erase held up much better to the water. The picture turned out a little "cartoony" but I like it.  It is definitely a different style for me. I also felt more confident with my washes without worrying about losing detail.
 I noticed the I've been stuck on profiles so I'll have to get there early next month so I'm in front and not on the side of the model again! Can you tell it's the same model from my December sketches?

That's me on the FAR left! Photo by Patris

Leilani's Competition

It's always fun to try something new. This competition that Leilani Joy put together fell right into that category: use one of Leilani's templates to create a character (full details on her website).  

Definitely not my typical landscape drawings! I thought it would be a good opportunity to get my 15 year old daughter involved in some art, too. I want her to have a chance to explore her creativity now and not wait as long as I did!

 She decided to use colored pencil for her character.

I stuck with watercolor (we all have our comfort zones!) The first one looks like it needed some defining lines so on the second one, I started by outlining the figure with Expo pen just to try it out.  This was an idea I had gotten from David Peterson. He likes using it because the ink doesn't bleed with the water... I like the effect, but I thinkI needed a finer point. 

There was definitely a difference from my regular painting plein air or from a photo. This required me to create it from my imagination, not something I've excersiced recently. I'll have to practice that one...

I also need to learn how to apply make-up to make the eyes pop! Ha,ha! Just kidding

I ended up printing the templates onto plain copy paper and not onto watercolor paper. This was a challenge because the paper's absorbancy was SO poor.  The color ran, the paper warped and wrinkled...I'm sticking with my watercolor paper!

Check out Leilani's website http://www.leilanijoy.com/