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.  

Boston Terrier in Watercolor

First painting I've done with my new Holbein professional grade paints I got for Christmas.  The Kuratake artists quality paints were good but the Holbeins are incredibly potent, mix well, and glaze unlike anything I've seen.  It's really easier to paint with these.  A good analogy is using a sharp knife versus a dull one.  Looking forward to trying a landscape with these.