How to Draw Animals

I was sketching animals, due to EDM#44. Unfortunately, sketches are based on photos (made in September in Moscow zoo), not real life.
But, considering that they are my first giraffe, goat, elephant ever, not so bad))..

Summer Dreams, Landscapes and Sketchcrawl

24x32cm, Watercolor and Neocolor II pastels

Short and grey winter days in Moscow burst with longing for color and as the result,  imagination provides very colorful subjects for painting. I combined watercolor and Neocolor water soluble pastels in the upper one. And found out that these pastels are specially good to mark the details on wet surface.

Ink and watercolor in sketchbook

The second one is based on the photo I took in Wetcanvas image library few years ago.

Watercolor in sketchbook

Quick sketch of Indian plains, based on the photo of a friend.

This Saturday I joined the Sketchcrawl group for the first time. The idea was to sketch all day long around the city, changing location and finding interesting details. I was going on for 2 hours and here are my results:

Ink, watercolor, sketchbook

The building on the other side of the road from Coffeemania cafe, where we settled down (I finished drawing and added color at home).

Table things at the table where I drank my coffee and sketched.

As I do not feel enough confident to draw people in the cafe, I focused on the toy of the boy who was with our group.













And to continue the tradition, I want to share the link to talented Japanese watercolorist who lives in California, visit him at "Watercolors by Osamu"

This is my version of his monochrome painting, I think the original is so good in tone and composition.

Holidays are Behind

Oil, 35x50cm

10 days of holidays are behind. It was a time when the city was felt to be covered  in big warm fluffy blanket. Empty streets, no traffic, laziness in the air. And I tried to use this occasion to draw and to paint.

Why 10 days? Orthodox church Christmas is on 7th January. And New Year (orthodox calendar) is on 14th January (here wiki calendar's explanation if you want the details). And if you are a dedicated "celebrator" you can start on 25th December and finish celebrating on 15th January..
So our government decided few years ago that Russia needs long holiday in January (some people say that government people set this law for their own winter comfort in the Alps skiing, but I do not believe).

It was good time. And good that it is over, time to wake up!

My upper still life is from the drawing class.  Though the drawing has a lot of mistakes, I like the overall warm impression.

A5, Ink and watercolor in sketchbook

 The EDM drawing list is always great help if you search for drawing ideas. It inspired me to draw "something china". It is china pot and the chick on chicken's back hides the water hole.
The date stamp is my latest purchase.  I saw it in one of the "Urban Sketchers" blog and decided I need the same for my sketchbook.

A5, Ink and watercolor in sketchbook

 

This one was "Draw your toothbrush" in EDM. I spread the idea to wider view of the bathroom interior.

30x40cm, watercolour

I kept the photo of this vase on the windowsill for so long that I can not remember the author exactly. It was one of Jen's photos in Rookiepainter challenge in 2009, I think.


This painting was very well corresponding to the stillness and calmness of January holiday time .

This one is the result of the experiment, which I found in the drawing manual:
Take a photo, turn it upside down and draw lines and shapes, not legs, arms and head. That idea really worked! I did this sketch in upside down position in 30 minutes with almost no corrections. Time to switch off the thinking process and draw what one sees!

A4, watercolor and Neocolor sticks

And apples. I was inspired by apples' photo in this Russian artist's blog.
I wanted to practice watercolor's transparency and color combinations. Instead sketch was started in watercolor and finished in watercolor Neocolor sticks of my favorite bold colors' combination.



And, as usual in this blog's latest posts, I want to share my latest discovery:
Oona and her watercolor wonders.

Jeanne Dobie's Book About Color

I have just finished Jeanne Dobie’s book “Making Color Sing”, and  made a lot of notes. Some her ideas are clear to me and experienced already, other (the ones about color composition, dynamic shapes arrangement, structure of values, relationships in painting, midtones and patterns) need to be thought about and practiced further.

Overall I can say that the book gives a lot of advice about color, especially in watercolor. Very well written (I mean short and clear recommendations, illustrated with color schemes and her amazing, just amazing paintings). Her motto is “Think and plan, then paint” (this is confusing, as I prefer "to start the battle" first))..

Further I post some of my notes/color demos based on her book.

Tbilisi, Georgia

In the middle of December I went to Tbilisi, capital of Georgia, my father's motherland.
Today I want to share some photos and few details about history of the place, maybe it will be interesting to you, too.
Georgia is amazingly beautiful country with long and difficult history.

Challenge

Watercolor on Arches, 30x44cm (12"x17")

 Thank you very much for holidays greetings I received from many of you!  Happy New Year to you, too!

This time I am in time with contribution to Rookiepainter blog. I painted on Arches and could not stop admiring the paper, try it if you did not already and tell me about your impression.

A4 watercolor in Daler-Rowney sketchbook

Drying persimmon branch (with funny drying garlic) and Christmas tree are from the sketchbook. First one from the photo I made during my trip to Georgia.

A4 watercolor in Daler-Rowney sketchbook

 Little tree (about 60cm) is still standing on the counter, and will be removed only on 14th January, New Year Eve (Old Russian calendar).