Moody Portrait - watercolor and eatercolor pencil

Recently bought a watercolor book that teaches different techniques. The book teaches you to experiment with different mediums, techniques and tricks. The above portrait is one of the excercises that teaches you how to create your own tone paper.

I used watercolor pencil mainly but the base started as a wash of cerrulean blue and burnt sienna with yellow ochre.

this was my first try. I used chinese white (gouache) for opaque effect. On the right is just a wash effect using watercolor pencils (Derwent) which I like better. I like the way the texture of the paper and some of the unwashed pencils are see n here, although I don't think the portrait was very good ( no reference)

Painting Flowers

I bought a book at National bookstore, painting flowers using photographs. I love all the paintings! Unfortunately, almost all of the paintings require me to use a masquepen or masking fluid for the veins of the flowers and to achieve the intricate  details of the flowers. The painting above and below are just a few of the watercolor projects that does not require any masking fluid.

But the books teaches the techniques needed for flower painting, as well the colors you will need to build your palette.

 for this painting, I made a few alterations and I did not stick with the colors used in the example ( simpky because most of them I dont have ) so I just used whatever is similar. I find that the green stems over powered the flowers abit so I lifted the colors. Maybe I will just correct some tones next time.

 Now for the above paintig, admitedly, I painted itin a hasted. I used a sponge (man made ) to create the effect of the flowers. I was a bit lazy and distracted at that time with my son so I just wanted to finish the painting right away.

Mixed media-watercolor pencil,watercolor, pen and ink. I just googled images  in the internet, so I just wanted to see if this style is for me. My hubby likes it. Honestly, I was not able to capture the essence of the original artwork. It has full of emotion..and thats what I want to paint. I want to capture the emotion.

By the way, all my paintings ARE NOT FOR SALE ( as if there is somebody who will buy it.hehehe)
painting is just a hobby for me and it relaxes me.

Till my next post!

Another grapes??

Another painting of grapes. I venture into watercolor realism. To tell you honestly, i paint every grape and its not that difficult, but time consuming. Its sort of a therapy really. Although after painting a few grapes, which felt like forever :-) I just wanted it to be finished!

But patience is a virtue. Next time I will take my time and just enjoy the process.After all, I dont need to finish painting right away.

Hope this picture makes you hungry.. :-) just like me!

Till my next post, enjoy your day!

Fascination with grapes

The above painting shows the progression from light to dark --I added more pigment and washes to achieve a slightly darker color.

I saw several pictures/paintings of grapes in the internet and I got soo hooked.  I will definitely paint more still life, particularly grapes! One of my fave artist, David Lobenberg painted a lot of grapes, so I got so inspired. Its not as easy as it looks!!hahahaha

This one is really a disaster!LOL but I guess I will post it too! I always tell myself that if I crew up a painting, better keep it to see my improvement.Where I did wrong and how to improve.

The wonder of Watercolor Pencils

First time I used watercolor pencil and ink to create a painting/artwork. I guess when I want a fast, easy way to paint, watercolor pencil is a best bet. Im not saying that all artwork made of this medium is easy..but for me, when I want a loose style, I have found a good medium. I copied this from the internet and only took me 2-3 hours. though I guess I need to improve on my strokes.

It came from the artwork of D.Lobenberg. His artworks inspires me a lot.

 The above sketch was from my old sketchbook. I guess you can say its more of a coloring book. I found a sketch I can color, so I went ahead and colored it.

I find that coloring relaxes me. Hope to make better sketches next time.

Christmas Gift

I made my drawing based on a reference photo, freehand. I should have scaled it because I had difficulty drawing my sons expression!

Last Chistmas I was shopping for gifts for family and friends but I could not find a gift that I think my Father in law will like or need. So my husband suggested why not sketch a picture of papa with Rune?  At first my fear was that I havent sketched for like months. Honestly, I only started painting sketching again, about the time I started this blog.

This portrait was the reason I found my love for drawing and painting again. It made me realize that I can make my love ones happy thru my drawing/painting and share my love for the arts!

Me and my hubby with my father in law. Glad he likes it.