Turning a Sketch into a Painting

I've been making sketches of Wise Wildwomen of late, and I wanted to size this one up to fill a canvas. 

There are lots of ways to do this. 

I used a video projector, connected to my laptop to project a photo of the sketch onto the prepared canvas. 

Turning down the lights in the studio helped me to see clearly to copy the projected image onto the canvas.  

If you use this approach, it's important to take a few minutes to adjust the projected image so that it's the right size, in the right location, and is in true proportion.  

My canvas was tipped back slightly on the easel, so it took a little adjustment on the projector to take out the "keystoning" and make the image flat and undistorted.

I traced the projected image onto the canvas with a burnt sienna colored pencil, then worked in more colored pencils, added some washes of watercolor, and used watercolor crayons to finish the artwork.

I initially prepared the 18" x 24" canvas by pasting on a variety of papers that had been treated with rust and vinegar. You can learn about the rust-staining process in this blog post.

After the paste dried, I covered the surface with clear gesso to give a little protection to the papers and add a touch of grit to make drawing easier.

The rusty colored paper created a toned base to work on, so I could add highlights easily with a white colored pencil or watercolor crayon.  I like the effect of using old book pages, music sheeting, etc. to express emotion, thought, and the complexity of being human.

If you like to draw or paint faces, remember that you don't have to make them look like anyone in particular.  They can simply represent a character, thought or quality you are curious to explore.  Drawing faces can help us express emotions, and navigate transitions in our lives.  We can express a part of our personality or a quality we admire.

Happy Creating!

Portrait of a Kitten

I recently taught a Pet Portraits in Colored Pencil course at 

the Community College of Beaver County.  

As a demonstration, I used the photograph below to create the drawing above.

A high quality photograph is the best reference to have, so references like this Life magazine will give you a great start.  Because photos like this are copyrighted, you can't sell your resulting artworks, but they are very helpful to use when you are practicing.

I started with a graphite sketch, then erased most of the graphite marks, and began adding in the colors swatched along the left side of the drawing.

I started with the eyes, as I find that they are the most important feature in a portrait.  If you get the eyes right, and give the idea of the other facial features, with loose lines for the fur, 

the viewer's eye fills in the rest.

If you'd like to practice drawing animals from high quality photos, 

check out my Pet Portraits in Colored Pencil page here: 

https://betsyblissart.blogspot.com/p/pet-portraits-in-colored-pencil.html

I hope you have fun drawing these beautiful animal friends!

My New Studio!

The last two years have seen my living room evolve into a Zoom studio.  My art studio used to be in the hay loft of my old barn, but the heat and cold up there made it uncomfortable to work in except during spring and fall.

With our Zoom sessions mostly over, I'm using the space for my painting, drawing, art journaling and preparations for classes.  It's lovely having a comfortable space with room to store my art materials!

Along the walls, we've hung gallery railing that allows me to admire artworks from my work table, and to easily change the display without drilling more holes in the walls.  Notice the portrait that I use as my avatar on the left -- an oil painting by Pittsburgh artist William Pfahl.  You can see more of his work here: https://williampfahl-fineart.com/

I'm loving being able to stop in and play in my art journal for a few minutes, or for hours, and having the space to leave projects out without concern for little mouse feet running over them while I'm away!