Virtual Paintout 20: Timeless Italy!

Last day of the last month of the year! Time for a photo of my studio workspace. Yes... a wee bit messy. And I confess, this is a neat day, ha ha ha!

On to my painting for Decembers Virtual Paintout. For this last month of 2014, we virtually visited Rome, Italy. So full of beauty and history! 

A sense of Timelessness.  Words fail me. 

The site I chose was at the Baths of Caracalla, the famous ancient Roman Baths. Built in the early AD 200's, they were huge public baths. Here's my original location (can click on any pics to enlarge):

Something appealed to me about the ancient ruins, beautiful sky, and green grounds.

And those trees.  

They looked as if they had been around for ages. 

Their height, their shape. 

Old trees that could tell a story. 

And my imagination went wandering, and I saw Others present. 

From an even more distant past. 

Like Time overlaying Time. 

Energy from the Past still interwoven with Today. 

So I played with it. :-)

In progress on my easel:

And the finished painting:

"Timeless"

Baths of Caracalla, Rome, Italy

9 x 12 acrylic on

wrapped canvas

A couple of close-ups... 

first the Triceratops Mama and baby:

And the Brachiosaurus:

My thanks to artist Bill Guffey for leading the Virtual Paintout. He takes us to a new location every month, and spends untold hours posting all of our paintings in our Facebook gallery. You can visit Bill's own art website Here.  Thanks, Bill!

I haven't mentioned it in awhile, but the monthly Virtual Paintout is open to anyone of all skill levels and almost all mediums. It's a lot of fun! For more info, check out his blog Here. 

Thank you for visiting and Happy painting - and Happy New Year!

Retta

PS: for the purists amongst us...

The Brachiosaurus was from the Jurassic era, and was first discovered in Colorado, North America in 1903 (not Italy, ha ha).

The Triceratops, on the other hand, was from the late Cretaceous era, and many skeletons have been found in North America and Canada. Oh, and the flying Pteranodon hung out in about the same timeframe and places as the Triceratops. 

Obviously, my painting is a work of fractured fantasy! :-D

Virtual Paintout 19: Beautiful Luxembourg!

For the month of November our fearless Virtual Paintout leader Bill Guffey led us to a lovely place to visit: Luxembourg. It's a very small country bordered by Germany, Belgium and France.

I thoroughly enjoyed toodling around via Google Street View, and settled on this location for my painting:

Funny story: This is a small country, yes. But it was hilarious to me that as I traveled around randomly, I saw this SAME man walking his dogs FOUR times, in 4 different locations. I recognized his bright yellow shirt. 

Anywhoo... I thought I'd experiment a little with ink and watercolors on this one. And it turned out... well, not as I had expected. The good part is, I finally understood what some other artists had been talking about in Sketchbook Skool. They said: 

Either the Line leads, or the Color leads, but not both.

 I wanted the Line to lead here, but failed. So I kept adding color, trying to get the definition I wanted in the foliage. But then ended up too saturated, losing a lot of linework. After looking at artwork by others using both ink line and watercolor, I realized I could have re-stated some key lines again at the end. Well, live and learn. 

Anyway, here it is: "Over or Under?", a street in Luxembourg:
(can click on any pics to enlarge) 

"Over or Under?"

Luxembourg

6 x 9 sketchbook

Ink, watercolor, gouache

and colored pencil

A close-up of the hilltop house:

Silhouette of MrYellowShirt walking

his dog through the tunnel:

Happy painting,

Retta

Sketchbook Skool &Remembering the Colors of Rembrandt

Oh no, say it ain't so!

This was the last week (of 6) of this session of Sketchbook Skool, called Storytelling.

I've enjoyed it SO much, so decided not to rush this lesson. I'm taking my time with the homework assignment, and thoroughly "sucking the marrow out of it", to paraphrase Henry David Thoreau.

I took my color scheme for the first page from some Rembrandt sketches I studied online. He's famous for the drama of his paintings, but Rembrandt also did wonderful preparatory sketches (ha ha, how's that for name dropping).

This is the first page of several to come. I'm loosely planning on 5 pages. This is the Intro page, with small sketches featuring our fearless leader, Danny Gregory. I took the reference photos from his road trip video he filmed for this Lesson.

First, the close ups (can click any to enlarge):

Mugging for the camera in 

Albuquerque, New Mexico:

His yellow sunglasses caught my fancy 

at the Grand Canyon stop:

And I couldn't pass up the cowboy hat in Texas:

Here's the whole Intro page for my homework 

project I'm titling "My Trip to the Moon & Back":

Intro Page from 

"My Trip to the Moon & Back"

Pitt pens, colored pencils, 

watercolor pencils, waterbrush, 

white gelly pen, on paper 

toned with acrylic

Happy sketching,

Retta

Sketchbook Skool: I need Practice!

Week 5 of Sketchbook Skool: Gesture Drawings

Yikes, that was a hard week for me. 

I am NOT a fast sketcher, painter, drawer, anything-er. But I signed up for this Sketchbook Skool, plunked down my hard earned money, so by golly, I was gonna get my money's worth by giving it a try, ha!

First homework assignment up: Group Gesture Drawing;  Spend the afternoon in a local cafe sketching groups of people. Goal:  gesture, movement, a small "story", not a likeness.

Well... I couldn't go to the local Cafe and hang out (mobility/transportation issues), so I hung out with the singing group Train, recorded singing live on Letterman. They sang a favorite song of mine "Calling All Angels" (thank you, Mr Youtube). (can click pic to enlarge)

"I Won't Give Up"

9 x 12 sketchbook

Pitt pens Med and Brush

watercolor pencils

waterbrush

This assignment taught me several things:

I DO enjoy dancing lines, thick and thin lines, dashes and dots and squiggly lines.

I do NOT enjoy drawing just in black and white, nor do I enjoy drawing under a time pressure, in a hurry.

At first, I did NOT like my finished piece; it seemed stiff and gawky.

So I decided to just cut loose and have fun with it! I added some border lines, lettering at the top, a few of the colors I saw on the stage, and stage lights. Now I like it. :-)

Last line in their song: 

"I won't give up. You don't give up."

If you'd like to hear Train sing the song, visit youtube HERE. 

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Next up: One Person Gesture Drawing.  Follow one person around and make gesture drawings of them.

This was HARD!

Me not LIKE it.

Felt rushed and stressful.

But me DID it.

My "subject" was available for this overcast

and chilly day in Southern Oregon.

He couldn't mow grass until leaves raked.

So I sketched husband while he worked.

(He thought he was working while I was playing).

Filled mower with gas.

Raked.

Raked.

More raking.

Chewed on bone (dog, not husband).

Finally mowed lawn.

By that time I was cold (and complaining 

"but he keeps moving").

Wimped out and went inside to hot tea.

There you have it, my homework for Gesture drawings. 

 

And I learned WHY I didn't enjoy drawing in a rush:

I don't like the results. 

And that's just lack of practice. 

I get better results when I go slow 

but it's not natural and easy,

like the teachers of this kind of gesture drawing. 

My take away: practice, patience and persistence!!

Happy sketching,

Retta

My Favorite Homework Assignment Yet!

Jane Filer is one of my favorite acrylic artists, creating amazingly imaginative, wildly colorful and unpredictable paintings. 

So, I was excited when my latest Sketchbook Skool homework assignment was to create an imaginary book cover, done in the style of a favorite artist. Here's an example of her art (can click on any pics to enlarge):

Since my husband and I recently celebrated our 37th anniversary, I chose to make the imaginary book cover for our Wedding Photo Album.

My sweetie proposed to me all those years ago on a bridge at a park, in front of the children's wooden playground.

Doing this assignment brought back such memories. I enjoyed 
doing it very much!

It all started with a line drawing. 

I drew many of the shapes as an homage 

 to Jane Filer, such as pointed arms and 

feet, angel in the air, fish  seeming to 

hover, flower and tree shapes, and

the running rabbit with ears

streaming behind:

I scanned it and played with color 

schemes in photoshop:

And the finished colored sketch:

"The Proposal"

Done in 9 x 12 sketchbook, Pitt pens, watercolor pencils, 

waterbrush, colored pencils, white paint pen, 

and gold Pearl-Ex for the lettering. 

Close ups:

Thanks for looking, and happy sketching!

Retta

Flying Pigs, Enhanced Reality & Sketchbook Skool

Wow!! I had no idea what went on in my studio after I went to bed. But thanks to Mattias Adolfsson from Sketchbook Skool,  I found out about the secret lives of my studio inhabitants. 

I wasn't able to sleep, thinking about the homework assignment. So I got up and shuffled in half asleep to my studio. Lo and behold... my Flying Pig collection was having a party!! The Flying Pigs were being rowdy, the Blue Birds of Happiness were singing, and Mr Skull was grumpy about being kept awake.

I grabbed pen and paper, crouched low and drew while trying not to giggle. Here, then, is my homework from Week 3, drawing Enhanced Reality:

(Can click any pics to enlarge)

"Flying Pig Party"

9 x 12 sketchbook

Micron pens, watercolor pencils,

waterbrush, colored pencils,

and white gelly pen

And some close-ups for you:

Happy sketching,

Retta

Sketchbook Skool: Unleash Your Imagination!

This 3rd week at Sketchbook Skool our teacher was Mattias Adolfsson. His "specialty" is drawing from imagination. His 1st homework assignment for us, after his excellent teaching videos, was to sketch a memory from our 1st day of school.

Say what?? That was in 1956!! 

But, I did come up with a memory. It was my Mom having to push me from behind, with me digging my heels in to resist. School was not a "fun" memory for me, but as a family we've laughed at this incident over the years.

So... here is my memory. Not of the actual event, but rather the feelings of a little girl, self-conscious in orthopedic shoes, with no friends, starting this strange new place called School.

And for those who aren't familiar with Vincent Van Gogh... he was known for the black crows he painted in the sky of his last painting, right before his suicide. Yeah... this memory was a day of "drama" for that little 5 year old. 

 

First, the inked line drawing (can click any to enlarge):

Next, the shading, done with Inktense 

watercolor pencil and waterbrush:

And lastly, the finished drawing:

"No! No! No! No!"

9 x 12 sketchbook

Sakura Micron pens, watercolors, 

waterbrush, watercolor pencils, 

and colored pencils

Here are a couple of close ups:

This weeks homework was a challenge, but I thoroughly enjoyed the teaching from Mattias about making drawings from our imagination. Highly recommended!

Happy sketching,

Retta