Outdoor sketching

Emily and her peeps:
That looks very comfy, doesn't it?

I cut the grass for the first time this season. Surprisingly, it all went very smoothly. My reward was sitting quietly at the bistro with a cool drink by the chickens. Of course, this act prompted a desire to draw and I ran to the studio, grabbed a few things and started in on fleshing out my gals.

I had quite a lot of scrap watercolor paper left over from when I cut matts for the fortune cookie illustrations so I decided to use those to draw on. In the process I found that I love the way the watercolor takes to both the graphite and the watercolor paints. With very little effort I was obtaining the results I was slightly struggling with on the bristol board. I'm going to explore some mouse drawings on this watercolor paper tomorrow I think.

Outdoor sketching table

Outdoor sketching table with Oreo


Best Sketches from the Session:

More Candy Please

Bee wings

I'm on a roll. All this isn't stopping. Went shopping today all I could think of was mice, illustrations, and painting. The sky was an amazing grey color. Perfect for the canvas. The housewares at Tuesday Morning had mice scampering upon the tea sets and lamps. The lamp mice were throwing stuff at the tea set mice. The tea set mice were winning. Even the shower curtain section held entrainment for my brain with it's colors and designs. So naturally when I got home I had to pull out more candies and I just let the mice have a ball.

Of course, our little heroine is still in loads of trouble. Thank you to everyone who has sent me such lovely letters about the two little mice. The kind words are very much appreciated. As you can see, Im having a wonderful time with these two.

Angel Wings

Ooh work those feet girl. LOL

"The Escape"
Graphite and Watercolor on archival bristol

Indian Silver Tutorial (Cont.)

Third layer on the Indian Silver.
Applied just like the first two...slowly.

After the Indian Silver had a full day to dry we revisit him and apply one more oil layer. This layer is applied the exact same way as the previous layers. The color used is just slightly darker than what was already placed on the piece. It is blended in using the silk sponge. After the horse is layered it is allowed to dry once again for a full day.

Certain areas that will naturally
be darker can be pushed a bit at this stage

Oil painted quickly added
to the top line. It doesn't have to be neat before blending.

Chestnut is the *HARDEST* color (IMO) to
photograph but you can see how
the color has changed already with the glazing.

"Dinner Is Served"
Graphite, Acrylic and Watercolor on archival bristol

‘If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.’ ~Henry David Thoreau

Dream...

"Taken"
Graphite and watercolor on archival bristol.

"Dream what you want to dream; go where you want to go; be what you want to be, because you have only one life and one chance to do all the things you want to do."