Artwork-Zebra Zensations Technical Pen, QoR watercolor and White Signo Uniball gel pen on a Hahnemühle Cold Pressed Watercolor Postcard. Brushes: Princeton Elite Travel Round size 10.
Numbat – I know. It sounds like something you’d call your brother or sister when you were kids. It wouldn’t be much of an insult though. Numbats are termite-eating eating marsupials from Australia.
They ARE a bit oddball – unlike other ant-eating species, they don’t dig and don’t have those usual big, nasty claws. And they don’t have pouches like other marsupials. So if that’s what you meant when calling names, you were right on. It’s still not much of an insult, because Numbats are cute enough to get away with it.
Now are these cactus unbelievable because no one can believe such cactus exists or because they are unbelievably cool cactus.
I love words almost as much as I love drawing and painting and it gives me joy to come up with a title that can have more than one meaning. No doubt though – these cactus were done with the stippling – little dots – technique.
Thank you Alice for giving me this Cuttlelola dotspen. It IS unbelievably cool!
I’m taking off from posting, the rest of the week so Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate and I hope everyone has something wonderful to be thankful for whether they celebrate or not!
I started this one while at the airport, waiting to come home from Florida. Airports always feel a little bit like a black hole to me, sucking all the energy from you – hence the title.
Since I got home, I’ve played hide and seek with it, finding it and adding a bit, losing it and finding it again. I’m convinced it was hiding out in that Black Hole!
This painting is what is known as a ‘line and wash’ because it is drawn in pen first and then painted with watercolor.
Before You Start
Some paintings, you just start and go with the flow. But if you are using a reference, it is often best to think about what you like about it and how you might achieve it. Don’t stress, even if you don’t know for sure, it will help.
Did you know that dogs have a sense of time? It’s been scientifically proven.
And what I wanted from this reference photo was that expression of patient waiting for something to happen. He knows it isn’t time yet.
I chose the Hahnemühle Rough Watercolor Postcard so that the texture would add to the dog’s wild ‘do!
Pencil
(This scan is darkened so you can see the pencil lines. You should pencil lines in lightly)
Even as he patiently waits, this guy is busy – all that hair and the big eyes and nose and the division of color. I did a little more pencil work than usual, to get a sense of what went where.
Not sure if you’re up to drawing this? Art Tutor has a great grid program that will help by applying a grid to your uploaded photo. You can also crop and adjust color and value.
Pen
There’s a lot of penwork going on here and I thought I break things down a little more than I usually do.
Some of my penwork was done to establish values:
The lightest area, I leave the white of the paper.
For the lightest grey, I draw long even strokes.
The mid-grey at the bottom, I use long, even strokes that curve to the shape of the nose
The nostrils are the darkest part of the nose – I used tight, curling strokes, but still left space for the paint to show.
Some of my penwork was done to establish length and direction of the fur.
For long hair:
I used long strokes that curve in the direction of the hair – they’re pretty wild, because the hair is
I’m sneaking in some values too – I darken some areas
where the hair separates
where the hair casts shade
For shorter hair:
I use strokes of varying length – more evenly than the long hair strokes
For value, I just add more strokes where it is darkest
For texture:
I use swirling lines – very loosely – to imply the texture of the carpet.
So I did manage to get all the episodes of Lost in Space Season 1 watched, but I wasn’t totally artless while doing so. I always have a set of my Zebra Zensations Technical Pens and Nostalgie Postcards sitting close to my chair.
So no list of favorites discs ( I don’t have favorites that way – they constantly change), just lots of linework.
Another quick post today, because my free Netflix trail ends soon and it’s very important that I see every episode of ‘Lost in Space’!
A fully grown dik-dik is about 12-16 inches tall at the shoulders, weighing 7-15 pounds. Fortunately, they can also run about 26 miles an hour, because their small size makes them a favorite snack size for predators.
I was goofing off last night, but I do have several projects to complete before Christmas and I know everyone else is going to be crazy busy. I decided that I’m going to cut down my posts to 3-4 times a week until after the first of the year. Hopefully, that will give me more time to do more interesting posts.
This is the last of my lost and found postcards, along with Sunday’s caracal cat, and Monday’s Sheep. So details will be sparse because I can’t remember that far back.
The White Tail Saki monkey of South America weighs about three pounds. This is a painting of a male. The females are lighter, and have bright strips of hair from eyes to chins.
This painting is what is known as a ‘line and wash’ because it is drawn in pen first and then painted with watercolor.
Before You Start
I didn’t take enough time before I started this card. I was getting ready for my trip to Florida and painting cards ahead so hubby would have them for his lunchbag while I was gone (then I mislaid them – cheesh!)
No painting is a waste of time, though. I know why this one didn’t come out the way I wanted it too. And that happened before I even began.
Usually, I look at my reference, and think how I might create the values, the textures and the colors, I’m seeing. These days, it only takes me a few minutes, and I know which palette I’ll choose and the brushes I’ll use. But those few minutes are probably the most important in the entire painting.
I’m not really satisfied with the way this painting came out. NOT BASHING! Just not totally satisfied. And this is the step where I went wrong.
Pencil
(This scan is darkened so you can see the pencil lines. You should pencil lines in lightly)
Another reason I can tell that I rushed through the beginning stages of this painting is because my pencil sketch is really minimal-even more so than usual. Mostly I made sure it fit the postcard and placed the facial details and foot. That’s all that is really needed, though.
Not sure if you’re up to drawing this? Art Tutor has a great grid program that will help by applying a grid to your uploaded photo. You can also crop and adjust color and value.
Pen
With all the fur going every which way, it can be hard to figure out what’s fur and what’s foot, arm, leg or hand. I tried to get away with the direction of the fur, and a little value.
I would have been happier if I had decided to go all fur and merely suggest the arms or been much more detailed and really worked on getting my values correct.
Paint
I like the background to this painting much more than I like the monkey. It’s pretty abstract as my backgrounds often are. I used negative painting in places and lifted color in places to create the feeling of foliage.
I have to guess at the colors, but I’m pretty sure these are the ones used.
