Tag: blue

An Afternoon at the Animas River

Further down the Animas River from the bridge is a series of rapids that rafters and kayakers love to play in. I took an afternoon break and enjoyed a late lunch before sketching the beginning of the rapids. These are easily accessible from one of the many parks in town.

Trying to get better with my watercolors, so I experimented with adding some color to the sketch.

Of course, since I didn’t have to leave just yet, I didn’t. While sitting a few different rafts came down. I thought they’d be a fun challenge to capture in sketch.

Watercolor Heart with Seneca Quote

Nothing is more honorable than a grateful heart.
~ Lucius Annaeus Seneca

I’ve always been a list maker and a collector. While playing with my watercolors it only made sense (at least in my head) to combine a drawing with a quote that I’ve saved in one of my lists.

Sometimes it’s easier to start with a quote and create the image that comes to mind. In this case I painted a heart and found an appropriate quote.

Biker in Motion

Playing with my watercolors has been fun, capturing my RV and beloved mountains. I wanted to push a little further, however, to work on a more involved image. What better challenge than one of my most common (and favorite) sights – Ashley riding her bicycle. For the most part, I am quite pleased with the results, though working with a fluid medium in an uncontrolled manner did mean that Ashley appears to be riding with an antenna.

Which Witch?

I’ve been having fun playing with my watercolors, and decided to try a new type of project. While I have a comfortable grasp on drawing portraits, I haven’t spent much time adding color to them.

While my sis-n-law was visiting and trying on a hat that I crocheted, I snapped a quick photo of her. Currently in the middle of re-reading the Harry Potter books, it occurred to me that the image would make a great illustration of a witch.

I quickly sketched her out and added some color to the sketch. Definitely not my best drawing, but as a proof-of-concept for a new-ish style and the addition of color, it worked fairly well.

After years of practice capturing every detail and trying to draw realistic images, I am trying to develop a looser, sketchy style. I love the zig-zags in the hat and the wrinkles in the bottom right corner of the shirts, so I’m making progress.

A fun experiment, one well worth repeating.

Words and Watercolors

I’ve always loved the intersection of pictures and quotes (the stick figures series is a prime example). So when I stumbled across a new drawing-plus-quotes project while reading a watercolor book, I couldn’t wait to try it!

Not only do I get to peruse my quote collection, but I got to try out a new watercolor technique. Win, win!

The heart and rose are on post-card sized watercolor paper. After finishing the painting I added in the quote with a drawing pen.

 

Ashley on her bicycle was the first painting that I did in this line. It’s not yet complete, as I haven’t yet added in a fitting quote – though I do have a couple of them picked out. This is a larger work, nearly 8×10″.

Not sure what happened with that “antenna” sprouting up out of Ashley’s head – re-painting the image will give me more practice with the procedure and the materials and hopefully end up more as I intended it. 😀

Flying Birds

This is yet another of the recurring images that I draw, a series of (generally 3) stylized birds flying up from the left. Their tails, like ghosts, Chinese dragons, or visual after-images, show the paths they’ve traveled to arrive.

For a long time I’ve thought that this might make an interesting letterhead, or a water-marked set of stationery, though I haven’t pursued that concept yet.

Flying birds in color, with an experimental background and a version of my usual corner-framing. It’s painted on 8×10″ cold-rolled watercolor paper with acrylics.

Simple Landscapes

While working on the cityscapes and sunset trees I also wanted to experiment with some simple landscapes. Though I might sketch some scenery while out and about, I definitely don’t paint them very often. It was fun to quickly create these two pieces, especially since they represent real places in Washington that I have fond memories of.

This is the watchtower on Mount Freemont in Mount Rainier National Park. Ashley and I hiked out there with Jackie and Mikel. This view was photographed in the rare few clear moments when we could see. It’s not a detailed “accurate” depiction of the scene, which I had to consciously be ok with. I can tend to focus on the details and struggle to achieve a loose, flowing style.Using the same basic palette I also tried to capture the feeling of our time spent at Lake Crescent. On one of our visits we stopped for an early morning coffee break to enjoy the view and lucked into perfectly still water. The mirrored mountains only magnified the beauty of the location.

Each of these is painted on 8×10″ cold-rolled watercolor paper with acrylic paints.