I love the song Blackbird by Paul McCartney. But, blackbirds are very territorial when they have young ones in the nest. There is a sunny tree-lined path I like to walk in the summer. I have seen a fox running out of those woods, a doe lying in the sun-drenched grass, and an irate couple of blackbirds diving at my head while I was peacefully walking by their nest of young ones. I had to start carrying a stick to ward them off. Blackbird Fly! Just stay away from me!
This started as a line drawing based on a photo of peonies in the garden. It’s drawn with three different pens: Micron 005, Micron 03 and Faber Castell Pitt superfine (0.3) on 11x14 Strathmore Bristol Vellum. The paper isn’t terribly tolerant of wet media, so I played around with tinting it in Photoshop because I wasn't sure how it would go. But I liked it in color enough to chance painting the drawing with the nice and bright Dr Ph Martin Hydrus watercolors. It's photographed it on my drafting table with my glasses for scale. The lamp has a daylight bulb, so I think the color (at least where the light is more prominent) is fairly true.
Things have been so busy of late and my output has greatly reduced. However, I have returned to oil painting. I revisited this piece I started last year and put in a few more hours to finish it. The scene was from a few summers ago when I visited Pen Arthur forest for the first time. The piece takes me right back to that day when the late summer afternoon sunlight struggled to penetrate the canopy.
I was thinking about oposites and enemies and realized. Well not realized but understood that everyone has a person deep down inside, that is their alter ego. It is important to reach that sometimes. Here we are.
This is the basic, uncolored sketch of a project I'm doing for art class. It's a little different from my usual style because I tried to go for a more realistic style. I bet nobody will be able to guess who my favorite KotLC character is (hehe)... Also ignore the horrible lighting, my room is not the best when it comes to that kind of thing.
Alright , people, who here remembers a brilliant show by the name of Samurai Jack ? Just me ? C'mon now ! Don't be afraid ! Say it loud and proud ! Samurai Jack is A W E S O M E !
The things pulling me down seem so huge - cancer treatments, empty nest, COVID, depression, and big world problems. It's amazing how small things, a wren, a breeze, a smile, a bud, a furry friend, can lighten the load.
Here is a painting I made from observation on the top of Mont Bélair in Canada, just before sunset.
I am painting those in a 5x8 very convenient moleskin watercolor book. I previously eyeballed the dimensions of this book at 4x6 when I had no ruler to verify but I was slightly wrong. Now the info is exact. :)
My vision of the character ‘Smaug’ from J.R.R. Tolkien’s ‘The Hobbit’.
Pencil sketch, coloured digitally on IbisPaint X.
Here is a passage from The Hobbit describing Smaug’s appearance: “There he lay, a vast red-golden dragon, fast asleep; thrumming came from his jaws and nostrils, and wisps of smoke, but his fires were low in slumber. Beneath him, under all his limbs and his huge coiled tail, and about him on all sides stretching away across the unseen floors, lay countless piles of precious things, gold wrought and unwrought, gems and jewels, and silver red-stained in the ruddy light. Smaug lay, with wings folded like an immeasurable bat, turned partly on one side, so that the hobbit could see his underparts and his long pale belly crusted with gems and fragments of gold from his long lying on his costly bed.”
August pictures...
Highlights include spending time on a lake with beloved friends, a chukar (a partridge native to Asia) walking into Home Depot and a happy young woman in a beautiful red dress in a subway. I love watching people in subways (and everywhere else).
#dailydrawing
A character concept drawing of a pirate vampire character I created for a collab writing project that died. His clothing and even his hair borrowed aspects from various jelly fish as inspiration. " The snap of inky sails catching the wind punctuated the subtle wooden creaks of the Sea Nettle as it slid over glossy black waves. The night was oppressive. With the moon obscured by clouds, the ship, with its doused lamps and its dark wood was nearly invisible as she crept closer to her prize. Tallis stood on the forecastle, one foot propped against the railing, his hands supporting a spyglass. He drifted the lens between the lights below deck, counting each of them and making note of any movement on the upper deck and in the rigging. A single sailor was at the helm. Another was lazily standing beside him, possibly engaged in conversation that distracted him from his watch. This was to be expected, not many would dare to disturb such a well-equipped vessel of the Luthen royal fleet. Nettie's crew was lesser in numbers, but they were experts in what few on the high seas could manage. Tonight, would be a quiet strike. Open combat spelled unnecessary danger for his crew."
This is about the sensation of finding some hope. He hated his life so much. Got frustrated about the life choices. This boy here is looking for some HOPE in his life.
Then the sun shines. Looking at the beauty, he refreshes himself
