Touille - completed

Touille (c) Susan Langdon 2015   watercolour pencil on  8 x 10 inch 140 lb CP Strathmore paper

She is done and soon to be on her way to her new home. 

Touille - updated

There's still a lot to do on this but it's really starting to feel like Tweet looking back at  me! So far this is just dry watercolour pencil. 

What I'm currently working on

Now that I've sorted out my Windows 10 issues with Blogger - seems Google and Microsoft just can't play nicely together - I wanted to post this start to my portrait of Touille for my sister's birthday. So far so good - the face looks like her. Now I just have to get her to sit still long enough so I can get her calico markings right! 

Once the drawing is complete, I'm thinking I'll play it safer and start out with watercolour pencils so that I can feel a bit more in control before I start hitting it with water. 

ETA: Seeing it here I can see I need to make her pupils the same size otherwise it looks like she's had some sort of neuro injury.

Something a Little Different

This card is done using a glue resist I had seen used on Pinterest. The pumpkins were 'drawn' with ordinary white glue which was then allowed to dry overnight. 


This allowed it to flatten out somewhat but in the areas where I got a little heavy handed it's quite dimensional! The glue is then outlined in ink and the rest painted in as desired. 

Doesn't really show it here but it's kinda neat in person, very tactile. I'll definitely be using it again with other subjects. 

Line drawings

 

 

Just needed to 'see' for myself these line drawings before I go any further. The one on the left is both front and back of a 5 x 7 in card. The image on the front of the card will be watercoloured; the remainder of the image, once it's completed, will either be coloured or left as just the ink lines. I've seen cards where the design is carried over to the backside and wanted to give that a go myself. Not sure I'm making my idea clear here but it will make more sense when I've posted the completed page.

 

I'm also fairly pleased with the whippet line drawing - trying to get the proportions right was a bit of a struggle but I think I got there in the end. 

More Card Ideas

Previously I've printed some of my work as A2 size notecards for use as either general notecards or xmas cards but lately I've been more focused on hand painted A7 (5" x 7") cards that will be one offs. Here's a sample of what's been swirling around in my brain of late.

  

I think the one on the left surprised me the most as it started out as dobs of pink and blue paint randomly placed on a cream coloured wash, with no idea as to what the final outcome would be. I stepped away from it for a few hours and Alliums came to mind when I revisited it. A few simple ink stems and I'm calling it done.

The Emergence of Orange

Didn't realize until I went to post this one that orange has suddenly made a more prominent appearance in my work lately. Definitely not one of my usual hues but perhaps I'm gearing up for autumn.

A Couple of Card Ideas

 

Playing around with some 5 x 7 watercolour cardstock that I had on hand. (It's always good to shop at home!) The one on the left incorporates some stamps I had along with some line and wash work. The puffin was painted from a photograph by a UK photographer named Gary Jones, with permission granted via the Paint My Photo website. You can see more of his work at www.portraitsofnature.co.uk

Just a doodle

Playing with my paints!

Shari's class

Signed up for an online class at Craftsy with Montreal artist Shari Blaukopf. This is my rendition of her sketch of the Flatirons near Boulder Colorado. In doing this I realized just how long it's been since I painted a landscape LOL. Overall this was quite successful. I have a few more modules to complete but I'm looking forward to incorporating what I'm learning into my own reference images.  

Painted on 9 x 12 140 lb cold pressed paper but my scanner bed is only standard letter size so the quality of the scan is less than optimal.