EDM # 294 - Draw something that makes you smile

EDM challenge #294 (Something that makes me smile.)

I love the EDM challenges. They help me make time to draw things I might not otherwise get around to drawing. For example, these earrings. My husband gave me these peacock feather earrings at Christmas last year. They are so fun and colorful! I really wanted to draw them but couldn’t seem to find the time. I was between projects this week and wanted something relaxing to draw. Enter EDM challenge 294 – “Draw Something That Makes You Smile.”

This drawing is rendered in Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils (for the under-drawing) and Polychromos colored pencils on Stonehenge paper. I’m getting a feel for the oil-based Polychromos pencils. They are so different in character from my usual Prismacolors that it's taken me a little while to get used to them. But they're worth it! The colors are quite rich making them quite the pleasure to work with. I also quite like the Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils. They have a wonderful feel to them. Both types of pencils are color indexed meaning that the same colors will match exactly between the Albrecht Durer watercolor pencils and the Polychromos colored pencils.

EDM Challenge #296: Draw Something Orange

I know it’s more terra cotta than orange, strictly speaking, but I just couldn’t resist! We were having lunch recently at Fado in Seattle and were sitting in a room adorned with these wonderful plaques. Not exactly gargoyles, they must be allegories for the Winds. They were so charming I just had to paint one!

 

By the way, this is my first painting with the new palette. So far so good, I love the colors!

EDM Challenges 291 & 126

EDM Challenge #291 - Draw a Book Cover

I've been having fun with markers recently. It’s always nice to pull out a tool I haven’t used in a while and see if I still have the chops to use it. What made it even more fun is that Copic markers are really great to use in manga drawings and the most recent challenge #219 Draw/Paint a Book Cover, allowed me to draw manga images once again.

I have to admit I miss it. We stopped our webcomic after my mother-in-law's death last year and we haven’t been back to it since. I don’t think we will return to it, for various reasons. I had so much fun drawing the Red River cover it makes me think I’m nearly ready to go back and draw in this style again. Perhaps it's about time to start one of the other manga story projects I've had in mind for a while. I actually wrote a little about one of them some time ago in the arts section of massage website sacredtouchhealing.com. You can read about it here.

EDM Challenge #126 - Draw a Sponge

Having put so much energy into the book cover I’m almost embarrassed by the sponges in Challenge #126. They just seem so ordinary! But I like them all the same. Most especially the little blue one in the upper left.  It was something of an extra challenge doing this page in magic marker. Ironically, if I had done it in watercolor it would have been much easier. But the markers gave me the impetus to add some extra-bright colors to the sea sponges, which, in my husband’s words, made them the most lively sponges he’d ever seen.

 

We’ll just take that as a compliment, shall we? ;-)

EDM Challenges #24 and 125

I was inspired tonight to pull out my Copic markers and do a few EDM (Every Day Matters) challenges. I like how bright and colorful markers can be. They can also be used to create some rather neat effects. I had fun with these challenges and think I'll draw a few more even as the Baxter portrait proceeds.

EDM Challenge #125 - Draw a bird

EDM Challenge #24 - Draw a Fruit

Since I'm doing these challenges completely out of order, I'm interested to see what I pick to do next. ;-)

Painting with a Limited Color Palette

Watercolor camel painted with a limited color palette

 As a continuation of my color experiments I decided to do a watercolor using a split complementary palette. I used my color cards to pick out colors I thought would best suit the subject matter, a stuffed East Indian camel that I have as part of a collection of similar animals. I chose four colors: Quinacridone Gold (yellow-orange), Buff Titanium (yellow), Serpentine Genuine (yellow-green), and Cobalt Blue Violet (blue-violet) for the complement.

I was happy with these color choices but because there was a lot of magenta in the original camel I decided to break my rule and add some Quinacridone Rose as well. Overall, I’m quite happy with the result, especially as I’m still getting my feet back under me in watercolor. However, I'm finding the addition of the Quin Rose a bit jarring to the overall color harmony. Perhaps next time I’ll fight the realism instinct and stick to mixes from my initially chosen colors. ;-)

Oh, and by the way, this piece is my Every Day Matters challenge # 31, draw something that you collect.