Boxing day sketches

For the uninitiated, Boxing day in Canada is the day after Christmas, where every store would offer special discount and/or door prices with ridiculously low price tag. Every year, there would be army of shoppers battling it out for some bargain in hoping to save a few bucks. This year is no exception.(and so is my annual event in sketching the feeding frenzy)

 Some tired shoppers resting on the bench in front fake plants, while at the same time discussing the next move in the plan of attack.

A couple of teenage girls seated on the floor after a round at Old Navy. Not sure why all the husbands and boyfriends need to be standing when it is much more comfortable sitting down. It seems to be happening everywhere I go.

Once a gift wrap station for Christmas gifts, now turned into "high rise" bench. With all  the "never before seen" citizens showing up in the shopping center, there is barely even a place to stand. All the regular height benches were either taken or given to senior citizens.

A line of well trained husbands and boyfriends waiting outside the Ladies room, guarding all the precious loot. I am not sure if their puppy at home behaves this well.

Back to pencil

For no real good reason, I have been avoid using pencil for many years. Time to get back into it. From the figure study this week. Roughly 1.5~2 hours, 9x12in Cason sketchbook.(the red one, for those who wants to know)

In case you were wondering, the contacts/links on the right disappeared after couple of click in the blog setting.(bad fingers, bad fingers...) Hopefully I will get them back some time soon.

The obsession for purple continues...

This weeks purple figure. Where is the purple? as one may ask. Trust me, it is in there. If you were only there to see the bucket of the violet brush washing water at the end of the painting session... The challenge this week was mainly about capturing the model's delicate frame while preventing things from feeling out of proportion.(that was the original goal before the green entered the picture... stiff green paint... arrrg....) Looking at it on the day after, part of the background actually seems digital for some reason. Perhaps some had use similar source to create the custom brushes in Photoshop? Anyways, the picture was done with the usual material, acrylic on board 18x24 and about 1.5~2 hours.

From this week...

 Still following the trend of purple figures while trying slightly different palette. 18x24 Acrylic on board, about 1.5~2 hours.

Finally got to draw life animal for the first time in a very long while. As one may expect, it was total panic right from the very first stroke. Boy, do I need more practice.

Purple...

Study from today. Acrylic on board, 18x24. Roughly 1.5~2 hours.(No, don't ask me why it is purple...)

Here's to you, Kazu

Summer Sketches

Finally there are some nice sunny days and it is time to head out with the watercolor box!

Did this in the shopping mall near by while the water in the fountain kept splashing on my back...(only realized that after sketching for a while...)

Still in the mall, sketching around bunch of old sleepy people on couches. Free air conditioning is hard to resist.

Sitting on the grass while avoiding bird dropping just to my left while being crawled all over by spiders...(bringing my stool next time for sure.)

Sitting in Starbucks sketching another Starbucks across the street. Yeah, they are everywhere...

 Painting rocks on nude beach, believe it or not. There are all kinds of naked guys and gals tanning around the spot, with a boat blasting dance music from few miles away. I am sure those on the boat were either deaf or going to be...

Some new stuff

Thumbnails

Usually I post stuff from life studies. Just for a change of pace, here is a sample page of thumbnail studies I usually do for compositional studies.(un-edited and all...) Each is roughly 2 inches wide, done with Lamy fountain pen and about 1~2 minutes each.

Sketches from California

Just came back from my visit to California. Love the Spanish/Mexican influenced architectures. Had great time visiting friends and simply wonder around to sketch. All were done with watercolor plus white gouache.

About 2 hours total. Sketched in the overall shape the first day and completely gave up after 30 minutes. After a night of sleep, crawled back to finish it off.

Similar story... except the painting portion went a lot faster. About 2 hours total.

Hanging in Starbucks while drinking nice cup of coffee.(Thanks Kevin!) About 1.5 hours total.

Change pace and went directly with paint without the usual color pencil drawing. about 1 hour.

Repetition, repetition...

No matter how I try, just can't get to the point where it is possible to "auto-pilot".("auto-pilot" without falling off the air that is.) No sure how some can claim to know it all... From this weeks session. 20 minute poses, charcoal on sketch paper.

 

 

Good old newsprint

Finally got to draw on newsprint paper for the first time in about 3 years. The archival drawing paper are nice, but there is just something about newsprint that make the charcoal goes on very easily. One was done during 2 minute poses, the other was 5 minute poses. 15x24 newsprint with pastel pencil.

 

 

 

Never ending descipline

Here are some more of it, 20 minutes each.

Super size my painting

Although I used to paint quite large for studies, after much attempt to make more time to work on the painting, the size have been gradually reduced over time. Now the size is so small I can hardly remember how it was possible to make much larger painting in the same or less amount of time. Yep, it is time to change that. This took roughly 1.5~2 hours on scrap wood.(16x25.5 inches) Still a lot of work ahead, but it does feel nice to waste large quantity of paint so quickly. Ironically, it seems like I actually wasted more time by painting small.

Recent studies

After two weeks on the road and three weeks away from my regular routine, my skills are very rusty to say the least.  It is mind boggling to think how much time and effort one needs to put in to improve on painting. On the opposite end, how quickly the skill can slip away. In any case, it is good to be back on my regular routine.(or dose of addiction.) Starting with the acrylic on board, 1.5~2 hours each.