Snorkeling Maui

This painting was inspired by a photo that my great-niece, Amanda, shared of her snorkeling adventures in Maui.  I knew right away I wanted to paint it.  I knew I wanted the look of wild hair floating and swaying in the current.  I also wanted to show the light filtering down from above and onto her outstretched arms.  I added bubbles from the movement of her hair and waves above her head but chose to leave the lower portion of the painting rather static because I envision her floating, bobbing with the current while looking at the menagerie of fish around her.  I also didn't want to detract from the eyes and mask with too much movement.

Reference photo

Pencil drawing directly on 140# Arches cold press watercolor paper

To be honest, I actually really like this cropped version.  As you can see, I took a lot of artist license here.  I wasn't trying for a portrait of my niece but rather the wonderful feeling of floating and moving with the gentle current but with some excitement in the colors.

Snorkeling Maui

Watercolor

8-1/2 x 12

Arches 140# Cold-Press Paper 

Pet Portrait - Fundraising Project #2

Commissioned Piece "Kate"

Charcoal on Charcoal Paper

Private Collection 

*To find out how you can get a custom portrait of your pet and participate in a random-act-of-kindness project, scroll down to my post on June 30th, 2013 for the details or contact me via email.  I am offering 10 pet portraits pro-bono.

"Indy" (Flat-Coat Retreiver, 8 weeks old)

This is my friend, Mylou's, new puppy, Indy.  Isn't she adorable.  I just had to draw her.  She is a Flat-Coated Retriever, just like her sister, Luna.  Mylou and I met in puppy class nearly 4 years ago and have been friends every since. :)

Drawing Indy was a bit of challenge in that she is all black, not a speck of white anywhere.  I used my new favorite method of black and white charcoal on Bristol Vellum.  Even though she is entirely black I needed the white charcoal to help pick out the highlights.  I generally use both hard and medium grades of black charcoal, white charcoal and an "ugly" brush to help work the graphite powder into the paper, giving me a smooth and rich undercoat.  An electric eraser is used for picking out tiny highlights in the eyes and the toe nails.

The only compositional change I made was to swap the leaf Indy had in her mount with a daisy.  I thought it added a little whimsy and I like the contrast of the white flower against an all black puppy.

"Indy"

8x10

Charcoal on Bristol Vellum

Private Collection

Practice Piece "Husky" in Graphite

I've been flat on my back for several days, today is the first day I'm really up and around.  Walked the dog around our little court this morning and finished my practice piece.  I found this book on Drawing Cats & Dogs and picked it up for about $8 bucks.  I've learned three things: 1) I do better on my own than trying to following someone else's directions, and 2) I like drawing with charcoal better than graphite.  Who knew?  :)  Lastly, I learned that perhaps Bristol Vellum is not the best ground for graphite, but I still think it came out okay.

"Husky" Study

8x10

Graphite on Bristol Vellum

Pet Portrait Commission "Coco"

I am working pro-bono to raise funds for a friend's surgery.  Brian Wetzel is a long-time advocate and key-note speaker for NAMI (National Alliance for Mental Illness).  He uses his own life experiences in his one-man show and his musical to educate people about depression.  This is the first commission piece so far toward my goal.

"Coco"

8" x 10" 

Prismacolor Pencils on Bristol Vellum

Private Collection

Zoe

I'm having such fun getting re-aquainted with charcoal and the Drawing Cats & Dogs class that I decided to draw my friend's new puppy, Zoe, while I waited for the next on-line lesson.  I've actually drawn out the entire body but now think I should have kept it to a head and chest view.  Here she is, I think I want to adopt her myself!  Just teasing. :)

"Zoe"

8x10

8-week Australian Shepherd

Charcoal pencil on Bristol Vellum

Private Collection

Designer Gouache & Charcoal

This week I'm working on something totally new.  Our Drawing Dogs & Cats class is still working in black and white, but this time incorporating black gouache.  My first piece is a black and white border collie - you might have guess from previous pieces that I'm partial to this breed :)    After doing a sketch of the BC I filled in all the dark areas with black gouache and let it dry thoroughly.   I also started a cat so that I could let that dry while I continued to work on the details of the dog.  I thought this was a really fun project.  I really like the look of the first step, it reminds me of project we did in design class in college using black sticky "tape" to create an image.

Here he is with just the gouache.  I didn't put it on the eyes because I wanted to be 

able to shade them with the white and black charcoal pencils.

Young Border Collie Study

8x10

Bristol Vellum, 100#

For the tongue I chose not to smooth the charcoal out so that I could 

get the appearance of a rougher surface.

 They eyes took many layers of both black and white charcoal.