Problem with greens and blues

Still having problems getting the scanner to pick up the blues and greens of the watercolor. The image on the left is a photo of my drawing, the image on the right is a scan. What a difference! 

My purse

This was EDM challenge No3. The wiggly line kind of reminds me of Shel Silverstein. I loved his books when I was a kid, especially Where the Sidewalk Ends.

Don't like this one

I don't like this one.. blah

Looking for something new to draw

I should mention that another MAJOR influence to keep this sketchbook was a talk I saw by Danny Gregory. It was a total accident that I saw him. I was at a conference for work and I thought I was sitting in a lecture on creative work at MTV, but to my surprise the speaker wasn't even mentioning MTV. I finally figured out I was in the wrong room, but by that point I was hooked. Danny was very inspiring and he made me realize how much I missed drawing just for the pleasure of it. So thank you thank you thank you Danny, and here is the first of the Every Day Matters Challenges. 

Still asleep

Another of Olive asleep. This one was after I gave her a bath and brushed her.

Scissors

In an effort to work at drawing something other than Olive, here is a pair of scissors.

Drawing on location

I took Olive to a great dog park this weekend and while she ran around meeting other dogs and chasing the birds and squirrels I sat and drew a picture of a little tree that still had it's dead and wrinkly fall leaves stuck to it. 

Studies

These are some studies I did for a drawing for a friend. 

Trip to Orlando

My grandmother died and we went to Orlando for the funeral. The day my grandmother died I think I did the worst drawing I have done so far (I am sure there is a subconscious reason for that). But this is from breakfast with my family in Orlando at a Denny's. My Dad ordered coffee and the waitress brought him a water, which my Dad pointed out he did not order. So I decided to draw the unwanted water and the wanted coffee together. 

About my sketchbooks

Some of the bad drawings I have done don't make it to this blog (the beauty of editing!) but some of the pages I also crop to make for a better composition. Here is a sample of an interesting full page showing some little color swatches, quick studies and the final drawing I settled on. 

Baikal's class

I drew this while waiting for my niece's music class to start. 

Going back

Originally I drew this quick line drawing and wasn't happy with it. But a couple of days latter I went back and added some watercolor to it and that really helped it. 

Quick drawing

It is hard to always time find to draw, so here is a very quick drawing I did.  

A foot

When I was in college and had figure drawing classes, I always had a hard time drawing feet and hands. As a result my drawings would end up just being a weird torso with no appendages. I realized that had I actually practiced more at hands and feet, I would have eventually gotten better at it, rather than just avoiding them. So in an effort to push myself I caught Olive in a different position so I could practice drawing her paws.   

Olive's spots

At first when I would draw Olive I would have a hard time not getting distracted drawing her spots. I found it is better to just draw her form, then paint in the spots. This drawing I ended up drawing her spots again, but my favorite part of this drawing is where I painted in the ticking she has on her back right leg.

Looking for something else to draw

I have been drawing with a .25 waterproof pen but I bought a .30 the other day. I thought I might like a thicker line, but it really didn't make much difference. But having a waterproof pen is key, that way I can watercolor over it and it doesn't run. This is a quick drawing of a couple of pens. 

One of my favorite

This is one of my favorite drawings in my sketchbook. Olive sometimes sleeps right up against me. I drew this of her curled up by my leg (see arrow pointing to my foot). 

When I was a kid...

I used to enjoy drawing when I was a kid. But as I got older I have forgotten the pleasure of just drawing for fun, so one of my hopes is that I can refind that enjoyment. 

Here are two of my best drawings ever. The first one is the very first drawing I did at age two! I called it "Man with Shoe". The next one my grandmother had saved and I was amazed to see it because I have no memory of drawing it. I drew it to explain to her a doughnut machine I saw on a field trip. She says that I was four when I did it, but I think it was probably more likely fourth grade. 

A chair

Took a break from Olive to try my hand at an environment. Parts of this I like, but the perspective is wonky and the window is kind of a mess.

 

Details

When I draw Olive I have a hard time not getting involved in the details (her spots, little tufts of hair, etc) and not just drawing the overall forms. This is something I am working on getting better at.

About my model

I thought I should post a picture of Olive, my lovely model. She is a blenheim cavalier king charles spaniel and will be two in August. Her full name is "Eulenburg The Olive Tree" but her call name is just "Olive". I named her after my grandmother.

More Olive

Back to my willing model who can hold this pose for hours at a time...

Break from Olive

I realize that most of my drawings have been of Olive asleep (probably since she is the most convenient model I have!), but for a change of pace I did a blind contour of one of my ceiling fans. 

Colors not being picked up by scanner

My sketches are scanning in weird. For some reason it isn't picking up on the lighter blue tones. The background of this is actually green, but even with color adjustments it still looks yellow... hmm.... something to try and figure out.   Also on this sketch of Olive curled up with her favorite toy hedgehog (which she stole from my sister's dogs), she moved so there are some lines from her original position. 

More environment

I tried branching out a bit and show more of the environment to get it a context so Olive wasn't just floating in space.

Supplies

I thought I would post the supplies I have been using: water color moleskin journal, windsor newton watercolor set, a water pen and waterproof fine point pen. I try to keep it small so I can carry everything with me.

More Olive sleeping

A new semi-blind contour of Olive asleep (again) with part of a rocking chair behind her. 

Now that is more like it!

Finally, a drawing I like! I started out doing a blind contour of Olive, then she moved. I am still not sure how to draw a moving subject? So I started over. I really like this drawing and the two images together make it look like Olive is dreaming of flying. 

My dog has a very round head

Another blind contour, this time of Olive. I never realized how round her little head is. 

Materials experiment

The first supplies I bought included a light grey waterproof marker. This drawing I tried using the marker, but it didn't really work very well. I think I am going to just stick with pen and watercolor.

Blind Contour

I have always like drawing blind contour drawings (that is where you don't look at the paper, just look at the subject). This is a blind contour drawing of some books I am reading.

First attempt

This was the first drawing I did in my sketchbook. After I drew it I realized all the mistakes I made and now I am stuck with it being page no. 1. ...blaaaaaa

How this started

On Christmas eve every year my family makes predictions for the new year. We have five different categories of predictions: politics, sports/entertainment, family, personal and miscellaneous. For my personal prediction/resolution for 2008 I said I would draw in a sketchbook everyday. This blog is about my year of drawing.