Sandpointe Cove

Danza

Clouds!

A couple of clouds I made using Procreate for iPhone.

Tree at Parking Lot

Minimal Sky

Seal Beach

I take PCH everyday to go to work. It takes me longer than going on the 405, but I prefer it because I get to see the ocean. The other day I took off from home earlier than usual, so I had time to stop and make a quick iPhone sketch.

                

Parking Spot

iPhone Clouds

Painting with my phone helps me keep things general since I tendency to render the crap out of my drawing. I've been making a huge effort lately to use bigger strokes, work faster and let go of perfectionism. It's been difficult, but it has also been quite liberating.

Desde Mi Ventana

Portability is Key

 

Clearing up the art supply clutter the other day, I found an old piece of watercolor paper that was taped and divided for 6 studies. I knew it was old because the last time I used black tape was around 2012 when I was still in art school.

 

I immediately cut the paper into 6 individual squares and put one in my purse. The next day I did a small watercolor cloud study during my lunch break. I did the same the following day and in a couple of days I had three little studies that I otherwise wouldn’t have done if I wasn’t because of the size of the piece and the materials I took with me.

 

If you’re like me, you probably have a full time job (to pay the bills) and that doesn’t leave you with a lot of time to spend in your studio working on your actual pieces. I love making studies, because I learn a lot from them, but with my limited time, when I’m home, I actually want to work on my big paintings and linocuts… so what do you do? make everything tiny and take it with you!

 

I have a tendency for working very small (check out my Bottle Cap Paintings) so I took advantage of that and made a portable miniature (and minimalist) painting kit. My supplies include:

                          

• 0.5 mechanical pencil
• Ink brush
• Water brush
• Limited Watercolor palette (I made myself a miniature one with the smallest Altoids tin and polymer clay)
• white charcoal pencil
• your choice of pre-cut paper, or small sketchbook

 

See, if you have your supplies with you at all times, you will be doing some work whenever you get a chance. Whether it is studies of people, places, you desk supplies as a still life, or if it’s just doodling, you will be working on polishing your skills.

Happy Sketching Everyone!

WIP

ink sketch for a new linocut.