Inktober Day 3 - Bait Prompt

Norman's Bait - inktober2019 day 3
marker on paper
3" x 5" (7.62cm x 12.7cm)

Jake Parker's Inktober challenge is on! Instagram prompt list here.

I did this quick simple marker sketch from the prompt list for day 3, Bait.

Inktober Day 2

Industrial Landscape - inktober2019 day 2
marker on paper
3" x 5" (7.62cm x 12.7cm)

Jake Parker's Inktober challenge is on! Instagram prompt list here.

Another marker sketch of a favorite subject. I don't do any pencil layout on these. Just uncap the marker and draw. Great practice for that skill.

Inktober Slug

Slug - inktober2019
marker on paper
3" x 5" (7.62cm x 12.7cm)

Jake Parker's Inktober challenge is on! Instagram prompt list here.

I did this quick little sketch this evening to get started. I may not do one every day but will do as many as I can throughout October so stay tuned to this blog Avid Art, my Instagram or Avid Art 2.

... and a couple more digital comps

Digital Sketch-city3
Digital Sketch-industrial1
digital, iPad Brushes app

Still comping with the old iPad. Playing with tonal values in the skyscraper and flat values in the industrial.510,511

Three digital comps

Digital Sketch-hill

Digital Sketch-city1

Digital Sketch-city2

Digital Sketch-hill
Digital Sketch-city1
Digital Sketch-city2
digital, iPad Brushes app

Here are 3 more digital value comps. I am frustrated with the resolution of the these. I am not sure if it is the Brushes app, which is the second version, or my old iPad. What has happened is the resolution just went kaput! I noticed it while doing these and became annoyed that they now have those jagged edges especially noticeable in the diagonals and smaller details. So disappointed!
It only shows up in the second Brushes version and not the first version which I still have.
Yep, I need new tools.

Other than that I enjoyed doing these three. They seemed to just fall out of me onto the digital 'canvas'.
The hill is based on a local hill here in San Pedro but done from memory and modified. The two cityscapes were done from my imagination.507,508,509

Industrial Marker Sketch Watercolor 2

Industrial Plain 2
watercolor on paper
5½" x 8" (13.97cm x 20.32cm)

This one like the previous post is from this post.
I mentioned I generally do the watercolor the same value or light/dark pattern as the marker sketch which is generally true. But this one I wanted a little more separation between the fore-middle-backgrounds so I did not darken the middle ground, the two fences, as dark as the foreground to distance them from the foreground and let the building fall back into the background by keeping it lighter. The middle ground has more terrain to it than it does in the marker version due to the taller format.

This is one reason for the marker sketch which serves as a way of trying out a composition and not just the notan. With that in mind I don't mind these kinds of changes. The decision I had to make was where to put the extra space. Do I add to each F-M-B ground, two of them or one? I chose the middle ground. I like the squeeze of the sky and the relative size of the foreground so it all went to the mid-ground. It opened up the composition and put a little more distance between the fore and mid-ground.506

Industrial Marker Sketch Watercolor 1

Industrial Plain 1
watercolor on paper
5½" x 8" (13.97cm x 20.32cm)

Here is another small watercolor from one of my marker sketches from this post.
I have had a lot of fun painting these in watercolor from the marker sketches. You can see some slight differences from the sketch with part of that resulting from a different size proportion but I generally maintain the original light and dark value pattern or notan.505

Digital Palm Studies

Palm Studies
digital, iPad Brushes app

Here are some quick studies I did a while ago from life. These things are everywhere!
I didn't need color for these since I was recording the infinite variety of shapes you can find in what would seem a simple singular form.
From fully bearded to spruced up and downright willowy.504

Digital Value Sketch Nocturne

Digital Value Sketch Nocturne
digital, iPad Brushes app

One benefit of the digital medium is the ability to duplicate an image and do other versions from it. I turned this one into a nocturne. See previous post for the day version.

Still really simple without much embellishment, details or textures.503

Digital Value Sketch

Digital value sketch
digital, iPad Brushes app

With the approaching rain storm it was turning cloudy here today in Southern California so I thought I would post a digital value thumb for a change. This is in the same spirit as the marker sketches. It was done on my iPad in the brushes app. I still find it a bit clumsy because the stylus is not very good.
Simple. Black/white with (roughly) two gray values. Four values total.502

Demo at South Bay Watercolor Society

"Industrial Terrain 2" work in progress
watercolor on paper
9" x 15" (22.86cm x 38.1cm)

Sketchbook Drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, king size, fine point, ultra fine point, 2017-18

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Here are a couple pics from a recent watercolor demo at the South Bay Watercolor Society in Torrance California.
I was invited by another National Watercolor Society member and gallery director Louisa McHugh who also provided the demo photos. Thank you Louisa!

I decided to do the demo from one of my marker sketches. If you are familiar with pasts posts on these marker sketches you know that most are from my imagination. I draw in marker because it is immediate and it forces me to use the design skills I know instead of interpretive skills you use while drawing from life or a 2d source. It also helps that I have done so many industrial paintings so I am familiar with how they look.

Since my watercolor process is relatively slow and demos are short I came in with the lay-in and first few washes painted. I knew I would not necessarily end with a finished painting so I spent the time talking about my process, my influences, how I arrive at a finished watercolor and answering questions while I painted.
I also had some examples of other watercolors done from these marker sketches, finished and in progress and several of the marker sketch books on hand.

The posted painting here is the state of finish I had at the end of the demo. I managed to get it past the really 'ugly stage' that all my watercolors go through. You know how some watercolorists have beautiful paintings at every step? Not mine!
I have never like my watercolors early in the painting. The first two-thirds is so awful to look at and if I didn't know better I would never finish one! I just know to stay with it to the end.

When I finish this one I will post it.

Marker Drawings 38

                                                                                 



















Sketchbook Drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, king size, fine point, ultra fine point, 2017-18

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

More marker sketches.498,499,500,501

Marker Drawings 37

Sketchbook Drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, king size, fine point, ultra fine point, 2017-18

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Here are a few more of the marker drawings. I haven't posted as much recently and have gotten behind but these were mostly done while sitting down at Laguna Art-A-Fair last year.494,495,496,497

Industrial Watercolor and Marker Sketch

"Industrial Terrain"

watercolor on paper, 2017

9" x 15" (22.86cm x 38.1cm)

Sketchbook Drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, fine point, ultra fine point, 2016

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

Long time since a post!

Here is a watercolor painting I did from one of my marker sketches. I originally started it as a demo for the National Watercolor Society show at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center worked on it a bit down at Laguna Art-A-Fair and later put some final touches on it in my studio.
My work in that Muckenthaler show here and here.493

Laguna Art-A-Fair 2017

We are almost half way through Laguna Art-A-Fair and I am just getting around to posting. Busy.
Pics from Preview night. Friend Amanda Fish in her booth near mine and another friend Yuri Kuznetsov, standing center bottom photo, across from my booth.
Both great artists.
The layout was changed this year and is so much better for flow, seeing more booths from any given spot and not as confusing as before. Love it.

See my Laguna Art-A-Fair page here.

Nocturne from Marker Sketch

"Suburb Nocturne"
watercolor on paper, 2016
4" x 7" (10.16cm x 17.78cm)

Marker sketches
black markers
sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)
Not for Sale

Here's a small watercolor from my marker sketches and another imagined nocturne landscape.
You can see the marker sketch original post here.
I am working from the marker sketches as an excuse to experiment in a variety of paint applications or treatment of the medium, taking my cue from the manner in which I drew with the marker.
The marker sketches were experimental in themselves and often were dictated the complexity of subject, my patience for careful study vs quick sketch and even by my mood at the time.

I am back to posting on a regular basis again so stay tuned. For now I will be posting these watercolors from the marker sketches.492

A Watercolor and its Marker Sketch

"Tree w/ Lightning"
watercolor on paper, 2016
4" x 7" (10.16cm x 17.78cm)

Marker sketches
black and value markers
sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)
Not for Sale

A watercolor painted from one of my marker sketches, original post here.
Most of the marker sketches were done while sitting in my booth at Laguna Art-A-Fair the last two years.
These sketches allow me to draw from my imagination. It is drawing for the simple pleasure of drawing.
I also enjoy the marker because it is so direct and forces me think ahead while still having the freedom to let it flow onto the page. It is very much like watercolor since you must plan on preserving the light areas and whites of the paper.
As you can see the watercolor is stretched out horizontally from the marker version. Having done the marker sketch first allowed me to see the proportions and make adjustments before the painting. I decided it needed to be more elongated for its simple composition.
Maintaining the value pattern was important and in this one, the textural quality of the tree.491

Marker Drawings 36 - LAAF Collector Thank You's

Sharpie markers, Magnum, king size, fine point, ultra fine point, 2016

card 5" x 7" (12.7cm x 17.78cm)

Drawn on the inside of the Thank You cards... to collectors who bought my work at Laguna Art-A-Fair 2016. I had a heck of a time photographing the glossy cards so forgive me if the image quality is not great. 485,486,487,488,489,490

Marker Drawings 35

Sketchbook Drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, king size, fine point, ultra fine point, 2016

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

I'm back up and running again after my computer debacle. We have come to rely on tech so much I felt a little lost without it. I was able to Restore System from backup after all and a few little glitches remain I'll have to fix but now all is working. Other than that I have to learn the new OS which I updated as well.
I will start more regular postings as soon as I can.
Here's some more marker sketches for now. 481,482,483,484

Where have I been?

My hard drive crashed a month ago. Instantly no computer.
Really wierd. We expect it to be there always.
Yes I do have an iPad but it is the first version and likes to crash (shut off) while I'm using it but of course it likes to wait until I am in the middle of writing a comment, on your blog?, or researching or visiting the art sites I go to and especially while I was researching my computer woes and how to fix it.

Arrrrgh!

I got in there, replaced the hard drive with a better SSD but am still slowly restoring the system from the back up drive, with many annoying little snags along the way. Restore System with one click? Nooooo. I got message, something about there is not enough space on the new drive even though it was the same size as the old one.
Missed it by that much?! I should have went bigger with it.

Woe's.

I will get back to posting something soon. I am behind.
Stay tuned.

Marker Drawings 34

Sketchbook Drawings

Sharpie markers, Magnum, king size, fine point, ultra fine point, 2016

sketchbook 6" x 8" (15.24cm x 20.32cm)

And a few more.477,478,479,480