Sketch a Day Number 1!

Hello Internet!

In between art projects, I like to play around with different mediums and styles, so I thought it would be fun to post some of the sketches I do. I'll even talk a little bit about what I'm trying out, sharing what I learn with them. I've always wanted to have a blog about using different art supplies and my experiments with them, and I'm finally doing it! I'm very excited about this. So, today is Day 1 of my Sketch-a-Day.

Today I've got a little watercolor painting of an owl that was brought into the school building for people to draw last year. I took a lot of pictures of the little guy, and this was painted from one of them. His name is Icarus. He was such a cute little guy, even let us pet him without screeching at us. 

Icarus, the chill screech owl

Lately, I've been working on my color theory and lighting. To practice, I focus on areas of colors rather than looking at outlines, and watercolor sketches are a good way to practice that, at least for me. I didn't sketch outlines first, I just painted from general to specific to get a good likeness. These little exercises really help me to look how a subject interacts with light rather than get stuck on what it actually is and what color they are supposed to be. This one actually turned out pretty well, which is why its a bit more finished than a sketch. The light on the feathers was just too much fun to capture.

As far as materials go, I just used a mixture of Winsor Newton watercolor pans and tubes.  Really the only unique way I use them is that I've got this great bead storage box that I keep my tube water colors in.

It's plastic and has individual cups with screw-on tops that fit snugly inside. I keep unmixed and mixed colors in there. It's nice and easy to store and carry them, and if I'm outside of my studio, the caps and box lids are a good place to mix new colors. It was a really good find at Jo-Ann Fabrics.

Anyway, that's all I've got for today. Come back tomorrow for a sumi ink drawing or two.