Graphite and Ink

I enjoy looking at all the lovely details of old buildings.  My husband use to take black and white photos of them so, I pulled out one to draw.  This is taken from the street level looking up.  I love the angel.  Since the picture is in black and white, I decided to do the piece in graphite.  I also combined it with pen working using a 005 micron pen.  I enjoyed combining those 2 mediums.  I used my ruler a lot for this one and luckily it is a see through ruler which is the only way to go.  If you try something like this, you will find that much easier to use over a standard wood or metal ruler.

 I used watercolor paper for this piece so, I get grainy type of texture.  I saw another artist who used colored pencils on Strathmore Bristol 400 series with vellum paper.  That piece had a very smooth texture so, I decided to try that out.  I have it on order now and look forward to playing with it when it arrives.   I think it's a matter of taste what type of paper you like using but it's worth experimenting with it so I learn how different mediums react to different papers.

Graphics Fairy Website

One of the websites I visit a lot is called the Graphics Fairy.  It has free images for download.  Many are vintage images, which I love.  I have used this website to obtain images for collage type art and also for inspiration.  If you have not visited this website, check it out and find the great freebies.  You don't even need to give an e-mail address.  Here is the link.

http://thegraphicsfairy.com/


Here is a sample of art inspired by one of their images.  In this piece, I have used colored pencil to draw this little Christmas Girl.  The finished size is 4 x 6.  In this piece, I have experimented with using a Prismacolor Premier Colorless blender marker pen.  I put in the layers of color pencil first and then basically use the blender marker like a brush and blend the layers of colors together.  I'm always learning new things and this is a simple technique that I will use again.  By the way, I also tried the Tombo ABT NOO blender pen and that did not work very well at all especially compared to the Prismacolor.  If you have other blender pens, I recommend drawing with colored pencils on a test sheet and seeing how your pens react before applying it to a piece of art you may have already spent hours on.

Charcoal and Watercolors

I seem to be mostly drawn to Charcoal/graphite and watercolors.  Those are my favorite forms of art that I enjoy working on.  Lately, I have been mostly doing 5 x 7 pieces.  I try to pick a certain aspect of art that I want to concentrate on for awhile.  It may be faces, hands, pen work etc.  Here are a few of my current pieces.

This is just a whimsical picture that was fun to do

In this picture, I'm working on drawing from a real life photo

Here, I'm working on folds

More folds

This was from a challenge to draw something from a famous street or road..  After doing this, I realized I need to concentrate more on perspective drawing.

It's all great fun!