After being immersed in a failed oil painting portrait and a major home construction project it was wonderful to return to sketching despite feeling rusty. The funny flat peaches in the drawing above are called “Donut” peaches. They’re just as yummy as the round ones and way better for you than donuts. Below are more banana and peaches sketches.
In the foreshortened banana sketch above I was experimenting with the “Flatting” brush in Procreate.
While I was away from my blog, WordPress made some nice changes that are making it easier to post so I’m trying to get caught up with a few months of sketches and paintings. Today a couple of fruit bowls sketched in Procreate on the iPad.
Now that I’ve come out the other side of the kitchen remodel I’m so grateful to be done and be able to enjoy it, to have the house to myself again, to not continually have noise and dust despite the careful screening, and to have completed making seeming hundreds of decisions and purchases big and small. Now I get to return to a “normal” routine of painting, drawing, hiking and spending time with my dog, friends and family.
I’ve been doing a lot of drawing practice to improve my people portrait drawing skills. Mouths and teeth are the most challenging I think of all the features. All done in Procreate on the iPad.
More mouths!
Inspired by a Sktchy photo, created in ProCreate on iPad with Apple Pencil, when it was too early for bed and I was too tired to go to the studio. Sat the iPad on my knee, looked at photo in Sktchy App on iPhone. And here’s the inspiration photo:
Let me know what you think about shorter posts like this. I’m going to try to post more often to the blog, with more pictures and less words. Sometimes less is more (posts) if I can get stuff posted quickly without long explanations. But don’t worry, there will still be lessons I’m learning in the studio posts too.
I painted this oil painting from a 2nd generation scan of a difficult photo. The harsh shadows, eyes hidden behind sunglasses, and brilliant fall foliage in the background created a challenge. But this was the photo her husband wanted painted so I did my best. The subject of the painting is a beautiful woman, a brilliant researcher and educator, a terrific hostess and a wonderful mother. It was a pleasure to paint her, even with the technical challenges.
Like I said, very different portraits, very different women. I sketched this on my iPad while watching The Voice, a singing competition TV show on which Christina Aguilera was a judge. I don’t understand why the women on these shows wear skin-tight clothes and so much make up that they look like cartoon characters, but at least it makes them easy to sketch since they already look like caricatures of themselves.
I’m enjoying Nicki Minaj on American Idol. She goes even further in the makeup, false eyelashes and wigs department, looking even more like a cartoon character…and acts like one too, the way she says absolutely any random crazy thing that goes through her mind. Sometimes she’s really funny.
I guess not just movie stars are wearing false eyelashes now. The receptionist at my eye doctor’s office gets hers glued in at the salon when she has her nails done. I’d rather buy those hairs glued into a handle of a brush to paint with. Much more practical, don’t you think?
Happy Holidays to everyone! I made the digital sketch above in a new-to-me iPad app called ArtStudio. I’ve tried all the others and like this one the best. It has all the features of the other programs and more but just works more intuitively for me.
I did the nighttime digital sketch below in SketchbookPro, my previous favorite program. Several of us tried sketching in the dark on iPads on this sketch outing since it lights from within so you can see what you’re drawing.
The carousel in Tilden Park is beautiful and they have a special Tilden Christmas Fantasy holiday lights and decorations event every year. But every time I try to sketch there I get overwhelmed by all the sights and sounds and have trouble sketching anything I like. My sketch buddies posted some great results: Cathy’s colorful merry-go-round here, Ceiny’s coverage of it all here, Cristina’s bold drawings here, and Micaela’s lifelike digital sketches here.
Not only is the giant tree and field in front of the carousel covered in lights and decorations, but the interior is filled with a hundred or so trees, animals and other items, all decorated with different themes (e.g. there was a Hello Kitty tree and a 49’ers tree). Plus all the historic carved animals on the Merry-go-Round and the kids riding them whirling around. And Santa and the Elves taking wishes. Plus the merry-go-round music and Christmas soundtrack music being played over loudspeakers, and the smell of popcorn and cocoa from the refreshment stand.
It’s no wonder I get overwhelmed and have trouble settling down when I draw in there! Outdoors I sat on my stool by the restrooms way across the parking lot. It was quiet there.
Best wishes for love, joy and peace (and hopefully a little art)!
Jana Bouc, Artist 