Illustration Friday: "Blur"

"...what happened next was just a blur."

This was another doodle from the sketchbook that I was playing with at the soccer field last weekend. Although I wasn't going for a repeat of an earlier picture, once I had the worm image developing, it only seemed logical to put in a bird. So, I'm re-posting the other - more whimsical - worm/bird picture called "An Invitation to Dinner." As you can see, the new one is a bit more ominous.

I like to see different approaches to similar ideas. In fact, that would be a fun exercise.

Umber is my friend...

Added color to "A Dinner Invitation" using watercolor. Overall, I'm pretty happy with it.

Before I painted it, I played around with some color mixing using my (VERY limited) assortment of watercolors. If there was one thing I remember from my college art instruction, it was the emphasis on getting darks by mixing complementary colors and avoiding black. I never really paid much attention to the siennas and umbers at all (remember - I tended toward the vibrant expressionist color palette back then).

I did have one instructor that required paintings done each week with limited color palettes (as dictated by him). I think it was a great exercise, HOWEVER there just wasn't time enough for me to really get into it and learn from it. I just always felt more focused on getting it done and moving on to the next thing.

Anyway, I have found that I LOVE umber - my new color friend. I love the earthiness it brings to colors - darkens them but keeps them warm (where black darkens but cools). I used both light and dark umber A LOT in the chicken drawing with colored pencil, and I used dark umber in many of the colors in today's painting.

More studio fun...

While the house is still a bit cluttered with leftover school year stuff, I'm enjoying FINALLY having studio time! I can't quite bring myself to face the stacks of papers and books...I'll do it tomorrow (famous last words).

Anyway, I went through the last few months of sketchbook doodles to see if anything spoke up. A little bird did - and I'm back to ink (watercolor will follow). It's changed only slightly. I call it "A Dinner Invitation."

The inspiration for this was a small doodle (shown below) tucked away on a page full of "random musings" done in ink and posted several weeks back. It was hard to notice it among all of the other stuff on the page, but I liked it and it's been calling me.