Getting Back to Sktchy and Exploring Different Media

After coming back home from the Urban Sketcher's Symposium in Chicago - which was hugely inspiring - I had recommitted myself to getting outside and sketching. But, now that I've been back home for over a month and the kids are back in school, I've decided to get back into sketching some portraits from Sktchy and trying some different styles and media.

Here are some recent pieces inspired by the Sktchy app using watercolor with no underdrawing (for the most part):

I've been enjoying going straight to watercolor with no underdrawing, but I wondered if I shouldn't abandon my older style of drawing first in ink and then adding watercolor. So, I decided to attempt the same portrait in my old style.

Which do you prefer? I've gotten mixed responses on Instagram - with a few more likes for this one with watercolor and ink.

Inspired by James Gurney, I decided to try out using the casein paint set that I picked up at the Urban Sketcher's Symposium in Chicago.

Casein in a milk based paint that used to be very popular with illustrators and designers in the 1930s. It is opaque, yet can also be used watered down like watercolors. It is similar to gouache, yet when it dries, it can be painted over without reactivating the older layers. James Gurney has almost single-handedly brought casein back into modern popularity, so when I saw this 12 color set offered in a wooden box on sale at USK Chicago (at a reduced price from when you can get it for on Amazon), I had to get it!

I struggled a lot with this portrait, but in the end, I quite like it. Another example of needing to quiet my inner critic (monkey).

Next, I tried a technique that James Gurney uses quite often - starting with a casein underpainting and using gouache on top.

I feel like I have so much to learn from all of these different types of media! I definitely love using watercolor, but it is nice to mix it up and use ink with watercolor, or an opaque media like gouache or casein.

What do you think? Do you stick with one primary media? If so, which one? If not, what do you like to use and when/why? I'd love to hear!

Day 4 of the One Week 100 People 2017 Challenge

Continuing this challenge is easier while at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells - there are so many people everywhere to sketch!

I started the day at the practice courts watching one of my tennis idols, Venus Williams. I sketched her in brush pen and watercolors - though, I admit that I did not get her likeness. Also, I now realized that I messed up my numbering and overlapped nos. 54 - 56! Oh, well - I can always use the extra practice.

Nos. 55 & 56 - Karolina Pliskova and her coach on the practice courts

Nos. 57 & 58 - Feliciano Lopez practicing and Bjorn Fratangelo playing Tomic

No. 59 - Bernard Tomic playing Bjorn Fratangelo

Nos. 62 - 74 - Reilly Opelka and the crowd

Nos. 75 - 77 - Barbora Strycova, Sania Mirza, and Jelena Ostapenko

Nos. 78 & 79 - Eugenie Bouchard & Annika Beck

I didn't quite make it to my 80th person on Day 3 - but I started a Sktchy-inspired gouache portrait that I will finish on Day 4. Stay tuned! I would love to hear your comments on my sketches and yours for this challenge!

A New Art Challenge - #OneWeek100People2017

Two of my favorite online urban sketchers and art instructors, Liz Steel and Marc Holmes, recently decided to start a new art challenge - drawing 100 people in one week (really, in 5 days). As Marc puts it:

So – what is this #OneWeek100People2017 all about?

Is it a race? A stunt? A kind of monastic self-flagellation? Or just an excuse to get out and have fun drawing?

Well, why not all of the above!

I love a new art challenge - anything to make me accountable for turning out more art and practicing my skills - like capturing lots and lots of people. So, yesterday, March 6th, I went out to a cafe to start the challenge.

I went to my favorite local cafe, The Coffee Shop, and intended to draw with my Pilot Vanishing Point fountain pen and/or sketch with my watercolor Pocket Palette 20 people before I would go home. This took me longer than I thought it would - about 2 hours, but I'm pleased with the results.

Nos. 1 - 10 across a 2 page spread of my 7" x 7"  watercolor sketchbook — Nos. 1 - 10 across a 2 page spread of my 7" x 7" watercolor sketchbook

For no. 20, I decided to take more time to do a Sktchy-inspired portrait in gouache

Today, I plan to take a trip to my local library to get my 20 people done. What about you? Have you decided to take the plunge and join in? I'm hoping my quick capture skills will improve over the week. We are going to see the BNP Paribas Indian Wells tennis event on Thursday and Friday of this week - so, expect to see a lot of tennis spectators in my sketches soon!

Getting into Gouache

Recently, one of my fellow lawyer-turned-artist Instagrammers, Minjoo Yoon, noted in a post that she initially thought a set of gouache paints that she had bought were watercolors and could not understand why her paintings did not look transparent and luminous. Once she learned that her gouache paints are opaque and not watercolors, she switched to using watercolors. But, she recently got out her gouache paints and gave them a try with wonderful results, in my opinion.

I have been curious about gouache, but hesitant to purchase another set of art supplies that could be quite costly - given my expenses indulging in the wonderful set of Daniel Smith watercolors that I have amassed. But, Minjoo recommended that I check out Minnie Small's YouTube channel and her gouache paintings. Minnie largely uses a limited split primary palette of gouache paints consisting of about 8 Royal Talens colors. So, I researched some watercolor brands and was persuaded by Sade's of www.sadiesavestheday.com review of M. Graham gouache paints - and decided to purchase some hand-picked selections of a split primary palette consisting of these colors:

Cool Red - Alizarin Crimson
Warm Red - Pyrrol Red
Cool Yellow - Hansa Yellow
Warm Yellow - Gamboge
Cool Blue - Phthalocyanine Blue
Warm Blue - Ultramarine Blue
Titanium White
Yellow Ochre
Burnt Sienna

Here are the colors swatched out with my gouache palette set up.

And a color wheel and color chart I created with the gouache paints.

I have enjoyed using gouache to create the following pieces over the last few days. It's very refreshing to be able to continue to work a piece with these opaque paints and I now see why some people think that watercolors, my favorite medium, is so hard to use. You really need to work in a completely different way with watercolors by working light to dark and reserving the whites/highlights in a piece - as well as playing with the transparent and watery nature of the medium. With gouache, I think I need to more fully embrace the opaque nature of the medium and the ability to paint lights over darks. I'm beginning to explore gouache methods of working from a medium tone first, then adding lights and darks; the tiling method of laying shapes of colors together like pieces of a puzzle; and using a grisaille method of putting a dark underlayer down first.

My first gouache portrait - an American hero, Sally Yates

A piece originally done in watercolor that I was satisfied with - but "corrected" with my gouache paints.

A gouache piece with a background done in a gouache wash

A sphynx cat inspired by Sktchy in gouache

What do you think? Have you tried gouache? What are your thoughts on the medium? I would love to hear!