Birds Again

I painted these two birds yesterday. The first is a copy of the work of the talented watercolorist-blogger. I saved a copy in April 2009 and only now found the courage to repeat. I am so sorry, because I remember that I wrote to the author and asked permission to copy her work. Permission was granted. And now, it took one and a half years, and I can not remember the name of artist. I'm sooo ashamed ...
UPDATED. Sandy Maudlin (link) helped me to find the author. It is Mary Jane Noe (link) and her watercolors are so beautiful and painted by talented hand.

The second bird - my own, although I repeated a lot in the same technique. Limited palette (yellow ochre, burnt sienna, ultramarine blue), the contrast of warm and cool colors, the isolation of the object by darkening the background.
And one more thing. I draw the birds on Daler-Rowney 300gr. and I like the paper very much.
Drawing - it is happiness and joy to the mind and soul ..

About this and that

This sketch was again inspired by warm Montenegro and its tasty red wine, Vranats.

Here I was trying to sketch Helsinki, but was too tired, that could not concentrate on the details, besides, the weather was foggy and the day light was going away. No good conditions for sketching for sure.

And the photo of the day is the zoom of one of my birthday flowers.

How do they call this flower????

Sketching at last

All past week I was busy and could not find time for drawing (except for my drawing class still life I posted previously). And I missed it so much. So  today I post my quick sketches, it was so good to feel pen in the hand.

The upper one is the flying seed I found in the park and talked about it a lot in my Moscow blog (link).

And the second one is done in the Sushi-bar veery quickly, as I was too hungry to seek for painting perfectness. It was coloured at home. These are baby-sushis, forgot their name (weak excuse about the size...). I try to control eaten food amount. But often fail.

And photo of the day are autumn colors. Great "How-to" watercolor manual. How many tints of the colour you use in your paintings?

Still Life with Cucumber

68x48 (27"x19"), Watercolor on Arches

Done in drawing class (4 Saturdays, 2 hours each with tea and candies between the sessions). It is big and I feel good about the result.

Photo of the day is small yard in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Faces

My  attempts to draw faces.
The woman's face supposed to be my participation in "Inspiration All around Us" challenge (link) and the man's profile (yes, it is man!) was inspired by Boston photoblog (link). On one hand I have to inform the owner of the blog that I used his image, but on the other hand, I just can not show him this disaster...

Good news here. My friend artist Ken Barklay (link to his blog) sent me the link to great site with huge amount of information for beginners in drawing and painting. They explain the problem of face drawing with help of mathematics (link to the site). Ken, you gave me hope, thank you very much.

And photo of the day is  the sky above Montenegro, I took this shot from the bus window.

Montenegro again

I found lovely place near the sea and started sketching. Then fell asleep. When I woke up I realised that the sun did great job over my skin, I was burnt! Legs, arms, face (excepting the sunglasses), holes in my saldals, mark of the watch on the arm.
This is another great quality of sketching: when you look at the picture your memory shows you the impressions of the time passed. Diary without words.

The tree was in bloom and I documented it.

Do you know the color of the Adriatic sea? Look at it!

Montenegro Openhearted 3

And then I went to Dubrovnik, Croatia, 30km away from Herceg Novi. The jewel. Founded in 7th century and being the republic in 14-18th centuries with strong influence of Venetian republic in architecture and modus vivendi.

It is interesting, how the harmony of architecture influences people living in it.

Do they notice the architecture treasures or do not care. I think that when you live in great decorations your inner self becomes harmonious too, helps to develop a special feeling for beauty.

Photos can not show how beautiful Dubrovnik is, you need to see it with your own eyes.

Montenegro Openhearted 2

This church and the seascape below are also drawn in plein-air and coloured afterwards, at home.

Today photo is the image of pottery shop, I could not leave this color feast unnoticed. I love clay pots, plates, cups, they give a warm feeling when touched. And tea tastes better from the clay cup.

I like that they kept this failed pots-to-be inside the shop, eye catching group.

Montenegro openhearted

Few days ago I returned from warm, welcoming, beautiful Montenegro and my posts will show the time spent there.
This sketch was not planned, I was walking down to the sea, saw the house, decided to sketch, took the chair (who left the package of plastic chairs and sunbeds on my way, I do not know) and did it. There was nobody around during the process on the usually very active street. Amazing country, full of presents.

This photo is from the last day in Herceg Novi. Two rainbows. Dividing the area in two completely different scenes: sun and blue sky behind the rainbows, scary clouds and starting rain in front of them. Amazing country, full of presents it is.