Boba fett, photo progression

I guess I've got a Star Wars theme going here. Here is some retro Star Wars for you: Boba Fett. I started this portrait as a quick pencil sketch (not shown) with the intention of tracing it onto watercolor paper so that I could do this in watercolor. But then I just kept adding on to the original sketch which was on copy paper.  First I added in all the shading with just pencil...

Then I started to add in some color with colored pencil...not something I work with very often so I wasn't too happy with it at this point, so let's keep working it...

Smoothed out some of the colored pencil lines and added in a background but the shading originally done with pencil has lost its some of its effect...

What do you think?  I still like the one in just pencil but it is interesting how far a simple sketch can go!

Tapping into inner child through art

I usually paint from a photo or plein air. I rarely paint straight from my imagination, but it's good to exercise my imagination once in a while. In our Artist Way group we had a meditation to tap into our creativity and childhood memories of it. What do we remember about being creative as a child and how has that changed as we became adults? Many times we fall into a routine as adults and forget to make time to be creative in our busy, hectic schedules.
I cut "doors" into either side of the paper before I began, writing a word from my childhood inside on the top, something for my adult self on the bottom. Then I created this whimsical piece with watercolor pencils and colored pencils. 

If I was to do this again, I would have cut the doors after the piece was finished so it would not bleed through to the paper taped behind,  but it is harder to cut into art that has already been created.

Experimenting with watercolors

I taught a class about water coloring to my Artist Way group, focusing on different effects that can be created with watercolor. We started by talking about the different consistencies of the paint, depending on the water-paint ratio: tea, milk, or cream.  Start with tea, and work your way up to cream.  We discussed the nature of water always going to where it is dry...going from wet brush to dry paper, or wet paper to dry brush. I showed how to do washes and wet on wet blending of color, as well as resist with crayon, blotting, and even trying a salt effect. Sometimes I think I know just enough to be dangerous! It was just a fun night of playing with watercolor. Here are a couple of pieces I created...there was no plan, both of these just developed into something from trial and error.

Mandala in colored pencil

I actually started this drawing with a Tupperware lid.  I created the pattern out of  8 circles drawn around a center point.  From there I used colored pencil to create a rainbow effect. For some reason I started with yellow, with a touch of orange in the middle. As an afterthought, I should have started with red and had purple on the outside edge.

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

Study of a Sunflower

Playing with other mediums other than watercolors keeps me on my toes. I started with a colored pencil sketch of a sunflower from imagination.

  Then I tried translating that into acrylic on canvas. Acrylic is definitely my weakest medium here. Some people love it because it is a forgiving medium, but I still don't have a strong grasp of it.

Colored Pencil Sketch of Miner's Ravine

This was just a beautiful, and relaxing scene just as the sun was setting behind me and the sky was turning all kind of deep blue. The lighting just couldn't be captured with my camera, being a point and shoot where it "tries" to adjust to the optimal lighting but instead washes out all the nuances of color. I was sitting on the edge of the Miner's Ravine greedbelt avoiding the hustle and bustle of Roseville, watching the evening walkers and bicyclists going by, while being serenated by the red-winded blackbird flitting about the reeds in the marsh below me. It's no wonder I love plein air art SO much!

The Oak within the Acorn

A quick colored pencil sketch inspired by a talk at Clarity Academy of Spiritual Arts by Dr. Kim, about how the potential of the acorn to become a great oak is within all of us!
Check out the new entry, "Potential", the oak within the acorn, revisited and renamed.