Thursday, December 23, 2010

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Allanah

Quick sketch before getting ready for work, took roughly under an hour.

Graphite on paper, 12 x 9

Monday, December 20, 2010

Young Equestrian Pastel Sketch

Finally got around to trying out the sample sheets of U-Art sanded paper that I got well over a year ago, the U-Art sanded paper is available in 4 different grades: 400, 500, 600, and 800. This is the first sample sheet which is the 800 grit surface, the tooth isn't quite aggressive enough for my style of painting but I think it would work beautifully with Pan Pastels.

Young Equestrian
Pastel on U-Art, 7 x 5

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Nude figure sketch

Experimenting with different brands of paper to see what will or will not work with willow charcoal (besides paper that is made specifically for charcoal). Having read that 100% rag printmaking paper handles charcoal beautifully and having some Somerset on hand, started this small unfinished 10 x 8 sketch. Willow charcoal does indeed appear to work great on this paper, I'm going to have to try using charcoal on this paper again.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Figure Sketch

Soft pastel on drawing paper, 12 x 9

Pink Roses

A quick sketch on 8 x 6 mounted linen primed with colourfix, not sure how long it took but pretty sure it wasn't over one hour. Can't believe I did another floral sketch, second one within a month.

Thursday, December 9, 2010

Sketch before going to bed

A quick sketch on a piece of recycled 6 x 8 piece of Wallis sanded paper.


Sunday, December 5, 2010

Friday, December 3, 2010

Young Gril in Kashmir

After visiting Steve McCurry's website and blog, I saw images that I wanted to recreate using a variety of mediums (though most likely with soft pastels). After receiving permission to use his photos images, I started with a sketch of a young girl in Kashmir in an attempt to capture what I saw in her: sorrow, pain, and strength

Pastel on mat board coated w/ gesso and aluminum oxide, 10 x 8
Reference: Photo by Steve McCurry

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Playing around

Playing around trying to figure how to paint landscapes.

Soft pastel on linen coated with Colourfix, 6 x 8

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

My version of Carol Marine's "Be Discreet"

Inspired by the looseness of Carol Marine's One a Day oil paintings, did a study of one of her recent daily paintings, "Be Discreet", but with soft pastel. Even though the main focus was to paint loosely, I still did a little blending which killed the look of spontaneity. One of these days, I will learn not to blend :D

Soft pastel on linen coated with gesso/aluminum oxide, 8 x 6

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Small study

A quick little rough study using soft pastel on HP Illustration board coated with a mixture of gesso and aluminum oxide, 7 x 5


Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Sketchbook pages

A couple of pages from my homemade 4 x 6 sketchbook



Edit: adjusted contrast and reposted

Monday, November 22, 2010

Portrait sketch

A while back, I purchased the Unison Soft Pastel 18 color portrait set and figured it is about time I try them out. Think I need to practice more ....

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Friendship

When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand.  The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares.  ~Henri Nouwen

Chili Pepper

Soft pastel on Wallis, 3 x 4.5

Sunday, November 14, 2010

Odayga

ConceptArt.com forum member

Graphite on sketch paper, 12 x 9

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Figure Oil Sketch

A small 8 x 6 monochromatic oil sketch on rough canvas using burnt umber and titanium white.

Pastel Portrait Sketch

A 12 x 9 portrait sketch done on Blick brand charcoal paper with various brands of pastel. Think it is time I go have my eyes checked, alignments are off on a regular basis. At first I thought it was from lack of practice but more and more starting to think it is my eyes that is the problem.

Monday, November 8, 2010

Sketches of the Day 11/8

Graphite on sketch paper, 12 x 9

Oil on board, 8 x 6

Soft pastel & charcoal pencil on sketch paper, 12 x 9


Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Joeanna (WIP)

Started working on a portrait study of Joeanna, a couple of mistakes that I will attempt to fix when this burnt umber and titanium white layer is dry to the touch. Oh this WIP might take a while to finish since I usually don't have much motivation to do anything after work.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Another quick sketch of Joeanna

Didn't fare too well with this 12 x 9 charcoal pencil sketch, the facial structure and proportions are slightly off.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

A couple of sketches from my sketchbook that I started on the 1st of October. I rarely ever use a sketchbook but doing it for a group challenge of filling a sketchbook during the month of October. However, I doubt it if I will be able to fill the sketchbook within the month but it might get me into a habit of using sketchbooks.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

Quick Sketch

Did this quick 12 x 9 sketch using a photo ref from Optika Portraits (actually from the Optika Portraits FaceBook page) with the photographer's permission. Started with a piece of soft pastel then using a charcoal pencil to define some details and edges. Didn't capture the resemblance though.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Recent sketches

a quick charcoal pencil on newsprint

and a couple playing around with Mungyo drawing pastel sticks

Saturday, September 4, 2010

Friday, September 3, 2010

Spaz

This started as a quick practice sketch of a ConceptArt Forum member on a 9 x 5.5 sheet of 90lb drawing paper primed with colourfix (painting area is 7.5 x 4), but somehow I kept noodling with it and ended with this result. Done with mostly W&N with a couple of Rembrandts.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Tres_Chic

Soft pastel sketch of another Concept Art Forum member. Done on illustration board coated w/ gesso and aluminum oxide mixture, 7.5 x 10.