Sketch 365: Week 5: "Birds"

Okay, THIS week I stuck to the theme this time: BIRDS! And had a lot of fun with my new Prismacolor markers.

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All drawings based on my own photos, drawn in Sharpie pen, colored with Prismacolor Premiere double-ended markers, in an 8.5" x 5.75" Sketchbook. 1) Wilson's Warbler
2) A little one-eyed ambassador owl from Bird TLC.
3) A swallow in Katmai National Park & Preserve
4) Immature Bald Eagle, Katmai National Park & Preserve
5) Magpie and Hawk Skulls
6) Willow Ptarmigan in Hatcher Pass, AK
7) Immature (l) and Adult (r) Cormorants on the Brooks River in Katmai National Park & Preserve

I actually missed an entire day this week so the cormorants were extra to make 7 drawings but I still have to tack that missed day onto the end of my 385, so consider the Cormorants a bonus drawing. :)

Sketch 365: Week 4: "Leaves"

Okay, so, my friend chose "leaves" because where she lives, there are still leaves around. Here in Alaska, they are long gone and I didn't really have any good photos of leaves that I felt like drawing, so after one leaf… Well, you can see what happened. :)

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This last one is my first attempt at using Prismacolor Premiere alcohol-based markers and I'm in love! You'll be seeing more of these. Also, again, all of these are based on my own photography and are drawn in an 8.5" x 5.75" sketchbook with Sharpie pen - no pencil sketching first!

1) Leaf frozen in ice
2) Utility Poles
3) Utility Pole
4) Utility Pole
5) View from Turkey Red, Palmer, AK
6) Abandoned and rusting aerial bucket tram equipment in Hatcher Pass, Alaska. 7) Old car used for river erosion control in Knik River, Alaska.

Sketch 365: Week 3: "Reflective"

This week is short 2 sketches, one because I missed a day, the second for anonymity purposes, so there are only 5 to share. And then I'll be caught up with what I'm drawing as I am currently working on week 4. :)

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1) Glassware on a towel
2) Copper scoops
3) Self-portrait reflection in a metal vase
4) Self-portrait reflection in a chrome bumper of a junk car on the Matanuska River
5) Self-portrait reflection in a spoon

Sketch 365: Week 2: "Kitchen"

Sketch 365 week 2's theme was picked by Rachel: "Kitchen". Remember, the weekly themes are optional so not every sketch will necessarily fit the theme. :)

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1) Airline lavatory
2) Black-billed magpie
3) Jars of pickled watermelon
4) Magnetic rack of kitchen knives
5) Plastic toaster
6) Abandoned car in a river bank

*Note there isn't a 7th post; the first day of week 2 we did the thrift store painting improvements, which counted toward a day of art.

Sketch 365: Week 1: Flowers

Sketch 365 week 1's theme, by pure accident, was "flowers". Remember, the weekly themes are optional so not every sketch will necessarily fit the theme. :)

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1. flowers in Hatcher Pass, photo by me
2. flowers along Brooks Falls trail, Katmai Natl. Park, photo by me
3. flowers on Dumpling Mt, Katmai Natl. Park, photo by me
4. "zentangle" doodle attempts
5. fire bricks from behind the po-ho in Kennicott, Alaska, photo by me
6. lupin along Ukak Falls Trail in Katmai Natl. Park, photo by me
7. Naknek Lake sunrise, Katmai Natl Park, Alaska, photo by me

Sketch 365

Most of you don't know this but I've been suffering from some pretty bad anxiety that is causing some awful artists-block. The paintings I've done over the last several years take a lot of effort for me to create because of this. The difficulty extends to drawing and sketching as well. I've been very proactive in trying to get through this and a few weeks ago my best friend and I decided to undertake one of those 365-day challenges as a way of helping me get back on the horse. 365-day challenges can be about anything: take one selfie a day, cook something new every day, write a story every day, etc. We decided to "sketch" something every day for a year.  

THE RULES:

• Minimum of 1 "sketch" must be done per day
• A "sketch" may be in any medium; a painting would count as a "sketch"
• Minimum dimension of 5"x8" taking up at least half the page
• Multiple pieces do not count toward future days of sketching
• If you miss a day, you may make it up the following day; days do not roll over.
• If you miss a day and do NOT make it up, that day gets tacked on to the end of the "year"
• Each week (Mon-Sun) a theme is picked, taking turns picking every other week from the pre-agreed upon list.
• Drawing in the theme is optional.

We decided to have rules in order for there to be accountability but not so many that it becomes daunting. The idea is to challenge ourselves to draw EVERY day, not just once a week. We are already on week 3 and the themes are helping a lot; they make it a bit more challenging, more like a game. I think having things too open-ended makes me too indecisive and nothing gets done.

I'll be attempting to post everything I've drawn a week at a time so folks can see what I'm up to. It's been a lot of fun so far!

Thrift Store Art Improvements

If you've paid any attention to some of the art memes going around the internet, you may have come across the exercise of buying "ugly" thrift-store art and "improving" it with the addition of monsters. This is usually done with Bob Ross-esque hack paintings. The paintings can be bought for fairly cheap and it's fun practice for mixing colors to match and to let yourself paint something free-form. Last month, my best friend and I decided to give it a try. We bought 3 art pieces and added monsters to them, free-style, without drawing them first. Here they are:

1) Original art by "Carter",
monster by Kara Stenberg.

2) Original art by "AY",
monster by Rachel Richards.

3) Original art by Lucy B. Roberts, 1986.
Monster by Kara Stenberg.