Goldens

Remy keeps me company for much of the time I work in my studio.  He's a restless snoozer.  I looked down and managed to just capture him in a pencil sketch before he decided it was time to move:

Quickly, now :-)

I've been watching animals and people from the back and observing how expressive body postures are.  This is another Golden (done in ball point pen):

"Come home soon."

Making some room

I plan to paint some larger canvases and I prefer to stand while doing this, hence the decision to move my large easel back into my studio.  To make room I did a bit of rearranging and tidying.

Remy, my studio buddy, was "helping" me and it was a nice opportunity to take a break to sketch him - before he moved :-)

Remy, lying down.  Quick!  Grab a sketchbook and pencil :-)

Earlier this morning, a couple of warm-up drawings:

Ball point pen

Dog in graphite

Little dog in action

Warm up sketch this morning of a favorite subject - dogs :-)

Ball point pen

...Fur as the eye can see :-)

This is yesterday's warm-up sketch and it literally warmed up my drawing hand :-)

Drawn with ball point pen.

  

Scribbly warm up

I head into my studio full of energy, ideas, goals, deadlines...

But, there are times when the convergence of it ALL in my head at the same time creates a conflict... "I am ready to dive into three things at once, but where do I actually begin?"...

This is when I do the scribble exercise:

1. Use pen

2. On paper

3. To scribble

Here is one from this morning:

"Little Dog Sitting"

No pressure… have fun.

By the time I have completed three to five quick drawings,  a truce has been declared and I pretty much know what to do next.  If not, I keep scribbling :-)

First sketch of the New Year

A scribbly sketch of a little dog:

"Little Black Dog" in ball point pen

Scribble exercises are great for loosening up... just like morning stretches :-)

French Bulldog

I am waiting for the first isolation coat to dry on a recent painting...a great opportunity to grab a mark-maker, in this instance a ball point pen, and sketch away.

One of my favorite subjects - dogs :-)

This little guy:

"Smiling French Bulldog"

These dogs are rare in my neighborhood; there are more Goldens, labs, and even great Danes living here than any variety of bulldog.  However, my Golden, Remy, and I saw this sweetie at the local pet food store.

More Mixed Media Horses

Horses for 2014: Year of the Fairy Tale.

I had never used washi tape before except in creating a few greeting cards to send to friends.  However, I had seen several instances of its use in collage and I liked them a lot.  So-o-o, combine washi with paper collage... et voici, more horses :-)

 

And then just washi tapes:

If you'd like to see more from before, click here for yesterday's post :-)

Mixed Media Horses

In  Carla's  2014: Year of the Fairy Tale class, we are on our seventh fairy tale - and our prep work involves horses literally drawn from one's own imagination  :-)

After finishing the suggested 60 line drawings of horses, I was looking for another way to create twenty more.  I used a simple technique from another of Carla's online classes, Blobimal Artists Books, random collage pieces adhered to the paper and from there "finding" and defining the horse with line work.

These are some of my favorite horses created this way:

 

The random collage elements get my creative juices flowing :-)