A Rare Sighting

This weird bird was recently spotted in a jungle somewhere…

A Crawfish-Bibbed Spear-Head Bird

It is so hidden in camouflage…

That it takes people time to recognize it.

Yet, if you are patient you will be lucky to see…

A rare sighting of this bird!

I hope it gives you a smile today…

Happy Weird Bird Wednesday!!

Cheers! 🙂

A Woodland Fairy

I have found new JOY with pencil sketching lately.

It has become a relaxing activity in the evening and my day does not feel complete without a quick sketch!

I find myself focusing on faces yet I am also “drawn” to nature.

This woodland fairy combines a face and nature into one sketch:

My inspiration came from the cover of this book and an oak tree in my yard:

It is one of my favorite books for learning to sketch and paint fairies.  It has so many wonderful ideas to spark my imagination!

These are the supplies I used for this drawing:

From top of the page to bottom:  A Faber-Castell Graphite Aquarelle 8B pencil, Pentel waterbrush, Pentel Graphlet 0.7 mm mechanical pencil, shading stump and a kneaded eraser.  I used a Stillman & Birn Zeta Series sketchbook.

I started with the Graphite Aquarelle pencil and added shading with the waterbrush.  I finished adding details with the 0.7 mm mechanical pencil and shading stump.  A kneaded eraser is wonderful because it doesn’t damage the paper and can be molded to erase small spaces.

I encourage you to draw every day!  Try different pencils, papers and subjects.  It will change how you see the world around you!

Cheers! 🙂

Drawing Faces…

I continue enjoying drawing these quirky faces…

Experimenting with different drawing materials such as a Pentel Sign Pen:

I messed up her neck a bit so I gave her a high collar.  Hehe! 😉

I used same pen over watercolor for this gal – I like how this pen bleeds a little with water:

When I went to my local art supply store recently, I met Linda Schneider (LindaSchneiderArt.com) who does beautiful calligraphy.  I used to do calligraphy when I was in college.  Linda self-published a book using calligraphy flourishes to create women’s hair, hats, etc; called, “Designing Faces, Figures, Florals and More!”

She inspired me create the faces I’m showing you today.

I used a Pentel Pocket Brush Pen for this drawing:

What I like about this pen is the ink is permanent.  It is a little harder to control than the other pen however.  This pen also comes with refills.

And here is a mixed media piece that is a bit wild:

I started with a light background in watercolor, added her face with the outline using a black Micron pen, added Neocolor watersoluble crayons and more scribbles with the Pentel Sign pen.

Who knew that drawing faces could be so fun!

Cheers! 🙂

The Feckenham Family…

The Feckenham family had similar features…

And could easily be found in a crowd!

Hope these funny faces give you a smile today!

Cheers! 🙂

Autumn’s Display

Fall was in the air this last weekend at the lake!

I always like when the wild rose hips turn a blushing reddish-orange:

I did a pencil sketch of them in my journal:

I enjoyed taking these photos of Autumn’s Display to share with you:

 

I hope they brighten your Monday!

Cheers! 🙂

 

“Berry” Quirky…

We were challenged to make a quirky character on any surface using any material from my online class, Drawing Quirky Characters…

This assignment was just what I needed to get my creative juices flowing again!

I started with a previous drawing and folded the paper in half vertically.  Using the white gel pen sketch as my guide, I cut out my quirky gal with scissors:

I don’t think I could have invented this hat without my scissors… (It reminds me of a hat that Wilma from the Flintstones might wear!) 😉

Lucy Cooke suggested I use it as a stencil so I did in my sketchbook with fluid acrylic paint:

Next, I drew details with pencil, added watercolor pencils, pan pastels to soften her features, black pen, white gel pen and color pencils:

I think she is “berry” quirky!  How about you?!

Note:  This was a fun way to create my own stencil.  I look forward to using this idea with other subjects too.

Cheers! 🙂

More Quirkiness…

I don’t think we can ever have too much quirkiness, do you?!  I love drawing these whimsical faces.  🙂

I created these drawings in the Dina Wakley sketchbook that I told you about in this post: A New Art Journal

The first drawing is extra scribbly.  I started with a black Micron pen and added the white gel pen afterwards:

A young man in an extra tall quirky hat!

I’m really liking how the white gel pen pops on the brown kraft paper:

I added a little color and shading to these quirky gals with color pencil…

I am so enjoying Lucy Cooke’s Quirky Characters online class!  Lucy recently did a short video of the quirky character drawings from the class – I hope you check it out at:  ArtcyLucyStudio.com and go to her “Blog” which will lead you to the class artwork.

Cheers! 🙂

Pattern Play

One of my favorite black papers for drawing is this Strathmore Artagain paper:

It is super fun to draw on with Prismacolor pencils…

Faces and imaginary hats were my inspiration yesterday evening:

And pattern play with color!

Cheers! 🙂

Drawing Quirky Characters…

I discovered this online class over the weekend at JeanneOliver.com – Quirky Characters with Lucy Cooke…

And I haven’t been able to stop drawing… a very good thing! 🙂

Here are my beginning drawings in my sketchbook on Friday:

I wanted to loosen up and create more quirkiness in my drawings…

So I decided to start my faces with something familiar…a little paper collage:

Experimenting with different drawing materials helped me relax too.  I also like how Lucy gives different ways to start a drawing of a face:

I started the ones above with watercolor hair and then used water soluble Faber Castell graphite pencils to add the details.

It was super fun to give little “stories” to my characters as I did with my collage ones.

I did the sketches below with a .7mm pencil, blending stump and a little color pencil where mentioned:

I think I have come a long way in my pencil sketches in just 3 days!  I think that Lucy Cooke is such a good teacher.

This class is teaching me so much and I’d highly recommend it if you’d always dreamed of drawing faces that are playful and fun!  It is one of the more reasonable online classes I’ve taken in price yet it doesn’t disappoint in content either.

Cheers to quirky drawing! 🙂

A Bouquet Of Flowers…

I hand picked these flowers just for you!

As I thought YOU needed a little smile today!

Cheers! 🙂