New Dog Portrait! Gypsy the Chihuahua

 

Painted this for my girlfiend's birthday.  She loves her little mutt so she was ecstatic to see this.  I used pen and ink for some of the details.  I've come to the conclusion that pen and ink on top of watercolor is the way to go.  I'm starting to go with what looks good, not what is expected or considered normal.  I don't see anything wrong with mixing media as long as the outcome is what you're looking for.  Even thinking of trying watercolors with colored pencils and pen and ink.  

 

 

Plein-air in Cyprus

Had a full day at the beach with no schedule so I took the oppurtunity to try my luck at painting outside for the first time.  I really enjoyed being able to paint between swim breaks.  I found that painting outdside was a bigger challenge than I thought.  I also felt like I was taking in a lot more information than just looking at a photo provides.  This statement seems obvious but I think it's interesting because I think a plein-air painting is capable of capturing the feeling of the moment rather than just a replica of what someone's eyes witnessed.  You get the other senses involved too.

Working on dramatic skies

Painted a series of 4 until I started getting better results.  Tilted my board for the water.

Amsterdam Urban Sketching

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I love urban sketching but these sketches are taking me a LONG time to complete.  There's so much detail in most buildings and to capture that there is a lot of drawing and inking involved.  As I continue this urban sketching class, I'm hoping to see some improvement - better realism yet quicker and more confident. It's a process and takes time I know. 

Another Dog Portrait!

Painted this Husky pup for a friend.  I'm thrilled with how it turned out although I'm not sure how others see it.  I'll keep cranking out paintings and doing drills..

Another Dog Portrait

Painted a friend's dog.  Since the dog was so monochromatic, I took the challenge of using a wide range of colors.  

I used some metallic paints to create some interesting light effects.  I'm happy with this outcome.  

Heidelberg Urban Sketching

I'm currently taking an online class for urban sketching and watercolor through craftsy.com.  Our homework was to sketch something in our local area and add color to it.  This is the beautiful old bridge in downtown Heidelberg which crosses the Necker River.  

This is the first urban sketch I've done with watercolor that I've really liked.  The Holbein paints are so transparent, it's easy to add shadows and value where needed.  Used a Faber-Castel small waterproof pen for the inking.  Will keep exploring urban sketching and see where it takes me.  Would like to be able to crank out a nice urban sketch faster - this one took a few hours to complete.