The Ballet Dancer

I’ve always admired the beauty and grace of ballet dancers.

When I saw that Ivy Newport was going to be teaching an online study of Degas called, The Lovely Dancer, I jumped at the chance!

I tried to capture some of the ballet dancer’s style in quick gesture drawings with charcoal:

It makes me want to get up and twirl!

How about you?  Do you like ballet?

Happy Friday!  Cheers!  🙂

The Fox Trot

My hubby and I took ballroom dances several years ago.  It was so much fun!  It challenges the mind and keeps one physically in shape… need to get back into it!  😉

This week has reminded me of the Fox Trot rhythm which is slow, quick, quick!  Lol!

Here is my slow part – painting my doodle in watercolor – making progress in this dance:

And a quick, quick flower sketch in my art journal with Tombow markers.  Added some water, white charcoal and color pencils to finish it:

Wishing you all a fantastic Saturday.. dancing to your own rhythm!!

Cheers!  🙂

Big Bold Blooms 2

I’ve started a new online art class with Lynn Whipple, “Big Bold Blooms 2.”

I love the positive energy that Lynn brings to her classes.  It is a 5-week class so you will be seeing a lot more flowers in my art!  🙂

Perhaps you remember some of my  mixed media flower paintings from her first class – you can find two of them here and here.

I enjoyed doing these simple thumb nail sketches of flowers with Tombow markers:

And then looking for the shadows as you can see in my second photo below:

And a third one I did with an elegant writer pen and Tombow markers and water:

I encourage you to give these a try with a fresh bouquet of flowers!  They are so FUN!

BLOOM where you are planted!  Cheers!  🙂

Loose Landscapes

Letter “L” is for loose landscapes at the lake!

As a warm-up exercise for my online class, Y is for Yellow with Carla Sonheim; I did some quick sketches on leftover watercolor paper scraps with a gray and black Neocolor crayon:

I painted several pieces of  watercolor paper with house paint samples that I had leftover from Lynn Whipple’s Big Bold Flower Painting class.  Once dry, I used Dick Blick’s Economy “Blickrylic” acrylic paints to paint landscapes based loosely on my sketches:

It was lots of fun!  🙂  This assignment inspired me to paint landscapes in colors I would not normally use such as these colors:

As you can see, I have them ready to put in my old “ledger” that I showed you in my post yesterday.

Now, I want to try large and loose landscapes on canvas!

I encourage you try painting loosely and boldly today!  It may give you a new perspective on life!

Happy Painting!  🙂

Quick Flower Sketches – Part 2

I hope you enjoyed my quick flower sketches from yesterday!

Today, I sketched an arrangement of “Peonies and Orchids” in charcoal:

I then painted it with my fingers and acrylic paint:

I thought it needed a little something more, so I added a few color pencils for definition:

It has an oriental feel to me.  What do you think?!  I’d love to hear from you!

Happy Painting!  🙂

Quick Flower Sketches – Part 1

I decided to try a few quick sketches of flower arrangements in charcoal.

I like the simple lines of these Calla Lilies:

Or this mixed bouquet in a mason jar:

I then finger painted a single red rose on black paper from my imagination:

Finger painting really makes me capture the “essence” of a flower.  I would not have tried this exercise if I wasn’t taking the Fingerpainting – Fingerprinting online class from Carla Sonheim!

And afterwards, I sketched it with charcoal:

It was much easier to draw than paint!  And extra challenging to paint with my fingers… but it helped me to really SEE the shape and form of my flowers.

What is your favorite flower to draw or paint or buy?  I’d love to hear from you!

Happy Saturday!  :-)))

P.S.  I hope you stop by tomorrow to see my painting of Peonies and Orchids!