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.

Fairgrounds Cloud

Studio View Quickie

I've been having a blast painting these digital color studies of clouds. The simple matter and the medium has helped me immensely in my traditional painting. Thank Goodness for ctrl+z and unlimited art supplies :-P

 

Cold Morning, Placentia Ave.

 

Still Alive

These past months have been ultra hectic at work leaving me with very little time to draw. I did manage to doodle a bit during Thanksgiving break... 

Inktober 6-10

Inktober 1-5

Ventana 6:18 - 2nd Proof

... Still working on getting a decent delicate gradient. I need to invest on a bigger brayer and make registers for the blocks to align better.

Sketchbook Cover

Gerundio Perpetuo / Perpetual Gerund

Graphite and digital painting

18x24

Monster Doodles!

I have so much fun trying to give personality to random marks I make on the paper...

Police Blotter

5/12/15

Disturbance 1:38 p.m. Jeronimo Road.

The caller reported 10-15 men drinking in the bushes.

Cloud Study III

Cloud Study II

Cloud Study I

Mixed Media

I've always enjoyed the drawing stage of a piece. To me, it has a special quality that I sometimes want to keep in the final illustration. Drawings can have a looseness and gestural quality that can give a lot of life to the piece. The variations between thinner and thicker lines and the smoothness of graphite or charcoal adds an almost dreamlike quality.

Cloud Study, Mixed Media

When I first started learning about mixed media, I read about Jessie Willcox Smith’s technique. She studied under Howard Pyle and made gorgeous illustrations for Good Housekeeping. She drew with charcoal and applied a coat of fixative to then apply layers of oil glazes. Her work was absolutely beautiful. Illustrator Peter De Seve also uses mixed media on his illustrations. He builds the drawing with color pencil and then applies watercolor washes to build up tones, finishing details with color pencil and gouache.

Borrego Hills, Mixed Media

I like keeping my original black and white graphite, charcoal or ink drawings. That way I can see all the possibilities and by mixing traditional with digital techniques can have an advantage. It also gives me room for experimentation. I like taking my time finding the right palette and I do lots of digital color studies with the final piece without damaging the original. This way, I can carefully plan the right lighting, temperature and mood of any piece.

Borrego Hill