Quick Sketching.

There are all kinds of things wrong with this, but it was done on a long wait in a doctor’s office.  In the new year I’m going to give my students a half a face from a magazine and have them complete it.  They’ll probably do better than I did.  When I’m quick sketching I go in first with pen, no erasing, hence little problems.  If I’m serious I make sure everything’s correct before I finalize. What serious means is when people hire me.  Generally I’m not picky about fast sketching; I’d just rather enjoy the process and get ‘er done.

Watercolor Sketch of Duckling

Inspired by the little babies that congregated under our picnic table (wonder why) I did this quick little watercolor sketch of one of my newfound friends. Made it messy, just like a duckling must certainly be!

Sketching on a Plane

This is what an artist does when on a plane.  I look forward to being forced to sit down and make plans to get stuff done as I’m really terrible at sitting... EVER.  I copied this from a Vogue magazine.  A four hour flight is good for a couple drawings and a good read. No movies for this girl!

Lunchtime Sketch at the Guthrie

We had lunch with Grant at the Guthrie Theater in downtown Minneapolis on the banks of the Mississippi River.  This was our view, and my quick sketch whilst waiting for food. (I painted it at home.) Our view was of these condos, which were built out of the old Gold Medal plant.  They were beautiful.  We never saw, but I’m sure the sign on the top of the building, which faces the Mississippi, said Gold Medal all those years.  I’m guessing it still does.  Adjacent to these condos is the Gold Medal Museum, if you feel the need to find out about your history. The big yellow space on the left was actually a huge outdoor pillar outside our building.  Wanting to maintain the vertical feel, I chose to draw it in and fill it with Latin words as we’ve studied a lot of Latin. I chose the words that had a lot to do with family, since we were reunited with Grant.  I never did take a photo, but this little sketch brings back the memories in a much sharper and more memorable way.

Sketching Portrait of Our Son

Doing some quick sketching in my small pad to keep my chops up. I never know what people are going to hire me for next, and sketching a wide variety of everything is always a good thing.  This wide variety of everything just happens to be our youngest son. :) 

I started this on a plane, minus the knife, of course.  It’s extremely sharp and works really well to sharpen my big fat pencils.  I’m not that good at it but it reminds me of my trip to Cuba and making music with the Cuban musicians.  When we needed to correct our music or make notes, I noticed that they could sharpen their pencils to deadly weapon status with a few strokes.  Sheesh!

Anyway, if you need me to do some artwork for you or sharpen your pencils, let me know. :)

Watercolor Sketch

I love doing quick watercolor sketches of people. This was a demo for mixed media in my classes. First, I laid it out with a fine point pen and went to bigger nibs as I corrected. Not much into the erasing thing. The background and hair were layered with gesso and painted. Nice textures and interest are created with gesso and it moves and separates the sedimentary paint pigments. I like it!  Yes, I do commissions.

Dog Sketch in Class

VERY quick in-class sketch with my students. One of them got a new dog, a German Shepherd/Bloodhound mix. Haha!  He looked like this... well, except that he wasn’t green.

Quite a funny fellow, his eyes didn’t match, and he was the soulful fellow.  I’m sure he will be getting lots of love.  Actually, I think he looks kind of cute green!